Hundreds of Britons lost money after they were sold homes built on protected land
MADRID – They saved up for decades to buy villas in Spain in the hope of spending their retirement living happily under the Iberian sun.
But hundreds of Britons lost money after they were sold homes built illegally on protected land, which were worth about 30 per cent less than they paid.
More than 20 years later, these buyers have finally seen justice done after three builders, a council architect, and a former village mayor were convicted of fraud and related crimes.
Adrian Hobbs, 67, a retired businessman from Southampton who has lived in Spain for five years, bought a €500,000 (£435,000) home in the village of Llíber, near Alicante, in 2001. The property’s value has dropped by €150,000 (£130,000).
Mr Hobbs, who is living with cancer, said his health has been affected by the ordeal. “The best medicine I received was getting a copy of the sentence,” he told The i Paper after the ruling last week.
He has been awarded €100,000 (£87,000) in compensation, but he and many of the other victims are doubtful they will ever get the money from the fraudsters.
Mr Hobbs, who led the campaign for justice, says he will fight on until it is paid.
“We will not stop until we get compensation. That’s my promise to my colleagues who helped me during this campaign, who have sadly passed. About 40 people have died.”
June Mason, 73, from Solihull, bought a house with her late husband John in 2002 for €250,000 (£217,000). She sold the home for €375,000 (£325,000) – below the market value of €425,000 (£370,000).
“It has been a nightmare right from the start when we realised the place was illegal. They were like a mafia,” she said.
“But I bet they did not think we would come and fight them like this.”
The scam took place between 1999 and 2003 in Llíber, a village of about 900 people, at the height of Spain’s building boom in the early 2000s, when many Britons fell victim to unscrupulous builders who were in league with village mayors.
In what is believed to be the largest case of its kind, about 500 Britons learnt that their properties, which were worth between €200,000 (£174,000) and €1 million (£869,000), were illegal.
Three builders, a council architect, and a former mayor of Llíber, knew the 292 properties were built on land classed as “rustic” where housing was prohibited.
Last week, a court in Alicante convicted the builders, one of whom is British, and the architect of fraud and the former mayor of prevarication (a Spanish crime referring to a civil servant who issues an arbitrary decision with the knowledge that it is unfair). All denied wrongdoing.
The court handed out fines, suspended sentences and made compensation orders with a total of €3.5m (£3m).
Despite the long fight for justice, the victims have not seen their homes made legal, as the local council has not granted licenses.
Amador Signes Arabí, a municipal architect, and builders Miguel Muntaner Alomar, Peter Antonius Schmidt and Trevor John Henry Bourne, who is British, were convicted of fraud. José Mas, a former mayor, was convicted of prevarication.
Arabí, Signes, Muntaner and Bourne were jailed for two years, which in Spain amounts to a suspended sentence if a defendant has no previous convictions.
Mas was banned from public office for three years and fined €1,800.
Gerardo Vasquez, a property lawyer and campaigner against illegal homes who is a dual British Spanish national, said: “It is certainly the biggest case that I have heard about involving foreign buyers.
“It has taken a long time and I admire their tenacity, especially that of the leader of the affected, Adrian Hobbs.”
