Illegal homes to be demolished in Catral, Alicante, Spain

October 2, 2006

Hundreds of expats are facing the prospect of losing their homes in [b]Catral[/b] after being told they were built illegally. It is the latest in a series of threats by Spanish authorities to demolish homes built without planning permission. Regional government officials sent shockwaves through the expat community of Catral near Alicante after stripping the town hall of its housing powers and threatening to dissolve the local council over the scandal. The British Daily Mail reported more than 1,200 homes built on green belt land on the outskirts of Catral hangs in the balance. Hundreds of the homes have been built inside a nature reserve, with many of them sold to expats seeking a new life in the sun or a holiday home. The rest have gone up on green belt land next to farms and orchards to the south of Catral, whose foreign population has rocketed in the past five years following a construction boom in the area. Esteban Gonzalez Pons, director of housing for the Generalitat Valenciana regional government body, said: "The homes built on protected land inside El Hondo Nature Reserve will all be demolished. " The future of the remaining homes will be studied on an individual basis. For an extensive choice of legal property for sale in Spain on the Costa Blanca and Costa Calida, visit the Novocasa website.