Spain's Property Market Clean-Up

The Spanish government is getting tough on real-estate corruption, with more than 100 investigations opened into suspect public officials and developers just six months after special police units were set up to fight corruption in the sector. So far the civil guard has arrested 57 people and charged 126 others.

The investigations are tackling a huge volume of corruption that erupted during the ten-year property boom, especially in Andalucia, where British investors have been victims of many of the building scams.

The majority of the culprits are town halls officials who accepted bribes from construction companies in order to push through building permits or break zoning laws, allowing properties to be build on beaches and on protected green areas.

The Spanish government has already begun clearing the Spanish costas of illegal buildings, which the Ley de Costas planning law stipulates have to be 106 metres from the waterline. The Ministry for the Environment has demolished more than 660 homes and hotels built too close to the shoreline this year.

The civil guard units are also working to set up a registry of all illegally built properties across the country. This will help to discourage government officials from accepting bribes in future, and developers from offering, all of which makes the Spanish property market a much safer place to invest.

Full story from homesworldwide.co.uk