Jose’s ridge. Spain 2003.
When Rita decided to move to the tropical coast in the province of Granada three years ago, she dreamt of change. She dreamt of leaving behind her business life, a life of investment and the endless search for profit. She now dreamt of growing vegetables, and organic fruit, eating tofu and living a more sustainable lifestyle. But when she first saw the sun-baked hillside that ran from the top of the ridge to the gulley of banana tree’s below, Rita´s dreams proved no more substantial than a bowel of bean-curd.
Jose hobbled ahead of her. The elderly farmer would pause every few paces, and wielding his walking stick like a cattle-prod, he would poke Rita in the thigh when he wanted to point out the variety of olive trees planted in his youth. He poked her in the back when they reached the vegetable beds under the trees, and again sharply in the buttocks upon arrival at the herb beds.
“Now let me show you my manure mound” offered Jose .
“You know,” Interrupted Rita backing away from the stick, “this land is no good Jose, you can’t build anything bigger than a dog kennel on it”.
“That’s why you’re getting it so cheap” snapped back the farmer, “and anyway, nobody bothers with permits in this valley. Build what you like here!”
“No permits you say?”
“Not here Rita, not on the ridge”.
Rita, rubbing her bruises, plucked a large green olive from a tree: “Can your eat these old man?”
“Best olives in Andalucia they are”, replied Jose as Rita popped one in her mouth. “Of course, I prefer to soak them for a month first”.
Inefficient Land Laws in Spain
Since the introduction of the Euro, a lot of paper money has entered Spain and has gone straight into property investment. Today almost a third of all 500 euro notes in the European Community circulate in this country. And every year, the cases of corruption have increased. Now, each day the press reports on fraudulent councilors, property agencies, construction companies and politicians of all parties.
But the compatibility of corruption and power has never been more evident than in the property market. And in the property market, speculation, political bribery and land reclassification are neither new nor exclusive to Spain. Despite appearances as a modern phenomenon, the present scandal has its roots in the 1950’s, a time of great internal migration when the rural poor filed into the more prosperous cities in search of work and a decent wage. It was during this era, in an attempt to limit the unauthorized expansion of the cities, that the Franco Dictatorship proclaimed the 1st Land Law in 1956, reformed in the 1970’s and 1980’s. But it was in the 1990’s, when the Conservative Prime Minister Jose-Marie Aznar liberalized the building land restrictions of the past and declared that “Espana va bien” (Spain is doing OK). Consequently, between 1990 - 2005 urban land area increased by 40% at a rhythm of 800.000 new dwellings per year. This was as much as France, Germany and the UK together.
Spain’s economy boomed on the back of this building wave, but like the quality of many of the buildings that went up, the foundations were a little shaky. Whilst Individuals put their saving s into a second home rather than in the bank, the prices of rentals soared, mortgages increased and flat prices rose by 150% in a six year period. With a generation of youngsters not able to afford a first home, housing became too important an issue to be left to the free market.
Rita´s ridge
Rita decided not to settle for a dog kennel. After inviting estimates from local builders, she opted for a large villa and pool, just where Jose’s best organic vegetables were growing so well. The builder told Rita that the local mayor - Rafael - was a cousin of his and that she need not worry herself with permits. He would take care of it all.
Rafael, like most mayors, was not always prepared to listen to those he represented, unless of course they were a relative. In the village bar at lunch time, Rafael was forever being harassed by distant cousins: “ Hey Rafael, I’m too old to work my land any more. If I sell to a forestero (outsider) you wouldn’t stop them building a little home on it would you now? By the way, I got you a good deal on a new 4×4 in the showroom your uncle works in…..”
Soon, every day was the same: “Hey Rafael, if you let me build a couple of small houses for that forestero, I’ll be able to give a job to your cousin the plumber to come and work on the pool! And of course with all this building work, I’ll need help. How is that good-for-nothing-son of yours? Still looking for work?”
A few months later, Rita’s visiting friend fell in love with the ridge and agreed to buy a corner of her land for a hefty price. Down went more fruit trees and the herb beds disappeared under concrete foundations as access roads were laid and holes drilled for wells. Soon after, word traveled through the village and every land owner close to the ridge offered something to Rita at a special price. Rita became a property agent and pushed her tofu-making machine to the back of the cupboard. Three years later there are over ten villas on the ridge and plans for a dozen more, each with pools draining water from an ever-diminishing underground supply.
Lahti Summit. Finland October 2006
With a shrug of his padded shoulders, Vladimir Putin sneered defiantly, his eyes locked on Josep Borrell. The President of the European Parliament had just raised the issue of human rights in Russia to which Putin was now responding: “Spain”, countered Putin, “with so many of its mayors in jail for corruption, is in no position to give any lectures on democracy”.
It was an awkward moment for all concerned. Recent property scandals had shown that promoters, construction companies and politicians were acting with impunity. Rarely had anyone been stopped, rarely had anyone been investigated and when cases have gone to court, sentences passed had generally been ignored.
With Putin’s comments, Spain’s corruption problems were becoming internationalized and bringing a new wave of notoriety to a country that was still defining its democratic standards thirty years after the death of its dictator
Rafael’s Great Plan
He put down the newspaper and sighed deeply. Putin’s comments had increased publicity over corruption on the coast and so Rafael had decided to keep out of the bar at lunchtime. The Ridge was proving a problem, it had grown beyond what anyone had expected and was increasingly visible to passing traffic through the village. People were beginning to ask questions and this years drought had meant that all the new private swimming pools were diverting water form the fruit orchards in the vega. But Rafael had a plan. If Rita’s ridge were part of the town there would be no legality issues. So why not take the town to Rita?
Every eight years the town hall had to revise the town’s urban structure and reevaluate its social and spatial needs. Rafael decided to gather round him a small group of interested people that could benefit from a new town plan.
As mayor, he was to decide which bits of land were to be reclassified and what would be built on the new urban land. So he invited contacts to buy up rural land that would be reclassified by him, in return for personal favors. They then would make a vast profit on selling the land to promoters once it was reclassified. And overnight Rita’s Ridge would be legalized.
Concrete examples
But it was not just Rafael’s town that Putin was referring to at the Finland summit. In the wealthy coastal resort of Marbella there has been almost 80 companies involved in their town scandal, over 2.6 billion euros of assets have been seized and more than 50 people have been arrested. And towns such as Villanueva de Gomez in Avila, with just 150 inhabitants have publicised plans to construct 7.500 new dwellings and 3 golf courses as part of their urban plan.
One of the problems is that the law just can’t keep track on corruption of this scale with such a limited investigation force. The Guardia Civil (the police that patrol the motorways and countryside) have a special department called Seprona, that looks out for illegal buildings going up in rural areas. Between January 05 and June 06 Seprona reported 13000 illegal constructions.
But Seprona doesn’t have the resources to tackle this by itself. New laws are needed and at last the local governments are beginning to act. In Andalucia, The “Plan de Ordenacion del Territorio de Andalucia (POTA)” will limit town hall expansion to 40% over an 8 years period. But towns outside Andalucia such as Villanueva de Gomez (in Castilla y Leon) will not - as yet - be limited.
One national law intends to limit Councilors who have worked in town planning from working in the private sector for 2 years after leaving public office. Well-paid company positions in the construction sector were often a perk for outgoing town hall officials in the recent past.
Buying in Spain
Despite such widespread fraud, each year thousands of people still buy property in Spain and encounter no problems. But if you are considering a purchase on the Iberian Peninsula there are some measures you can take yourself.
Firstly, find out from someone who has already gone through the process. On the web, post an enquiry on one of the many Spanish notice boards and forums run by ex-pat’s. They are full of advice from individuals that have and are living through the process. Secondly, get informed yourself. If the land is rural, then check its ownership status at the towns registry office. Find out if the land is considered irrigated or “dry” land because this will determine the size of any potential construction you may have in mind. Visit the “Catastral” office in your town to find out if any major works are planned in the vicinity (prospective motorway and railway routes are often absent from house sale descriptions). Finally, don’t listen to Jose, his cousin or even the local Mayor. The Regional Parliaments now have greater powers to pressurize local town halls to comply with new legislation, and as was shown in Marbella, a town hall can be replaced in its entirety if the Government sees fit. (For a complete list of town halls that are under investigation see www.20minutes.es and look for the Ladrillazo section.)
In May 2007 there will be local elections in Spain and all the parties have expressed the same reactions of concern and anger about the present wave of corruption. Let us hope that promises made to clean up their respective parties during this electoral campaign will be kept.
Finally, if you should come over to view a country home and the owner waves impatiently at your concerns over papers and permissions remember Rita’s Ridge, for when I looked over there this morning, I could swear I saw a Seprona vehicle heading up her drive.
 |
|
 |
|
