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According to Hillen “It’s possible that this fireworks display will dazzle some but if you look at the detail of the Decree you will see that it does not help those with ongoing court proceedings, where perhaps the majority could face the chop”. “If what the Junta wants is more cases like the Priors, the decree certainly does nothing to prevent that” she added. “Actually, I sometimes despair at how little the administration is in contact with the real problems of its citizens. They must know that what looks nice on paper is not always workable in practice. It appears that they don’t and all they want to do is inundate us with a byzantine tangle of laws and, whilst they are about it, completely destroy foreign investment in Spain”. Hillen asks “What shall I tell elderly retirees who have demolition orders against their homes? Can I tell them that the Decree will save them? I can’t because it doesn’t”. “What can I say to hundreds of retired couples who live on irregular urbanisations without escritura for their land? Can I tell them that the Decree will give them their escritura? No I can’t, and indeed some of those who currently have escritura are at risk because, according to the Decree, escrituras can be annulled because of the possible illegal segregation of land.” “On the other hand, the regularization of these developments still has to go through an unrealistic, expensive, arduous and painful process which will take a very long time” she added. Regarding the new provision for isolated houses she states that “I regret to say that these houses are relatively blighted, since according to the decree they are not entitled to a licence of occupation or use; are subject to yet to be defined future regulations and some theoretical minimum standard of habitability; Furthermore, the decree states that these houses can only be repaired and preserved; that they should have self sufficient supplies of water, electricity and waste treatment and that only in exceptional circumstances can they be connected to mains services; In other words they are of dubious legality” “That is to say that the Junta, instead of making an important legal change , and by that I mean changing the LOUA, to resolve a major problem has instead only created more confusion in addition to creating a category of second class housing”. She concluded by saying “I hope that not too many people are lured by this bait because I think that it doesn’t fix very much. In fact among our members we think that only 16% of them will benefit in any way from this Decree”.
Posted in: The Decree to regularize houses in Andalucia
