Andalusian | C&D Solicitors

HOME BUYERS ACTING IN GOOD FAITH, MORE PROTECTION IN THE CRIMINAL FIELD

Geschreven door Gustavo Calero Monereo op 26 maart, 2015. Gepost in AFO, Andalusian, building permit, costa del sol, Headline, judgment, lawyer, non developable land, Property law.

Spanish home buyers acting in good faith

Yesterday Thursday 26 March, the Lower House of the Spanish Parliament ratified the amendment to article 319 of the Spanish Penal Code, approved by the Senate last 12 March. A paragraph has been added to section 3, which reads: “In any event, the Judges or Courts of Law may issue a reasoned order to demolish the works and restore the physical reality altered at the expense of the principal thereof, without prejudice to the compensations due to third parties in good faith, and, assessing the circumstances and after hearing the competent government body, shall temporarily subject the demolition to the constitution of guarantees that ensure their payment. In any case, the seizure of the earnings from the offence shall be available, regardless of the transformations that these may have undergone”.

This new regulation will be into force next 1^st July.

Until now, in proceedings regarding an Offence against Town and Country Planning, the judgment ordered the demolition of what had been built illegally and compensation was set by way of civil liability for the developer, in favour of buyers acting in good faith. The problem is that, in most of these cases, collecting said compensation was very complicated since the developer was either insolvent or had disappeared. However, enforcement of the demolition was not stopped, for which reason we could find ourselves before an unfortunate scenario where a buyer acting in good faith and recognised in a judgment could have his home demolished without being effectively compensated.

From now on, in criminal proceedings for Offences against Town and Country Planning, the judge may stop the demolition of the home until due compensation to the third-party acting in good faith is guaranteed.

From the literal wording of the amendment introduced, it seems that the judge will be the one who, after assessing the specific situation in each case, will stop said demolition, for which reason I understand that it will be an essential requirement to prove that the buyer is really a third party acting in good faith.

Likewise, it seems interesting that, in assessing whether to stop the demolition, it is required for the competent Government Body, which I take to be the City Hall, to be heard in the proceedings. I suppose that, in these cases, the City Hall can provide relevant details leading to stopping the demolition. Also, since the City Hall is the one responsible for executing the demolition, it may argue on the suitability of stopping it until it can ensure compensation for the third party acting in good faith.

Lastly, this amendment refers to stopping the demolition temporarily, i.e., a specific period of time is not established but, in any case, it should not perpetuate over time. However, the concept of “temporarily” is very wide and it may be interpreted as sufficient time to guarantee compensation to buyers acting in good faith.

I can say, with full knowledge, that this amendment of the Penal Code has been possible mainly thanks to the work of two associations in Andalusia that have been working on protecting buyers acting in good faith for several years: SOHA and AUAN, especially noting the great work done by Gerardo Vázquez, a colleague of mine, attorney and legal adviser at AUAN. The efforts of these organisations and their mobilisation have made this amendment possible.

The aforementioned organisations, along with many others that have been created, are justified by the great problem faced in Andalusia, which has 300,000 homes built in non-developable land (NDL). On the Andalusian coast, due to foreign residential tourism, many buyers are foreigners and this has led these owners, facing the legal problems with these homes, to move to defend their interests, to strengthen and to tell authorities about the existing situation.

The main problem, at least in Andalusia, has been the complete inactivity and inefficiency of Urban Planning in Andalusia, which has led to a failure in regulating non-developable land in Andalusia and to the existence of many homes built on non-developable land.

Regulations with very fixed and strict criteria governing construction on non-developable land were approved. However, Autonomic and Local Governments have completely neglected to provide the necessary oversight to enforce these regulations.

From the beginning of the years of the housing bubble, the competent government bodies have shown no predisposition to initiate and solve disciplinary procedures against offenders, with all the legal consequences that this entails, such as demolishing what has been illegally built. The governing party in City Hall should have assumed the “feared” political price that these unpopular measures may have entailed.

Most of these buildings have everything: registered deed, pay IBI (Property Tax), are registered in the Property Register, have electricity and water, and have paid autonomic taxes such as ITP (Tax on Asset Transfer) and AJD (Stamp Duty).

Many of the properties have changed owners, meaning that the person responsible for construction is no longer the owner of the home. When these properties enter legal proceedings, third parties acting in good faith appear, affected by this situation that the Local and Autonomic Governments, with full knowledge, have allowed due to their complete inaction in the field of Urban Planning.

The regulations provided in the Urban Planning Law of Andalusia (LOUA) to govern the very strict use of non-developable land were based on environmental protection and on maintaining the rural value of a large portion of the Andalusian territory so as to preserve this environment and its values.

However, its lack of application due to a lack of real and effective control of what was being done on non-developable land has given rise to the failure of regulations on the use of non-developable land provided in the LOUA.

In reality, this has resulted in large rural areas becoming full of unregulated buildings, achieving the opposite effect, as the lack of protection of the rural environment is clear in these cases.

In practice, a total lack of protection of rural land has occurred in some areas under greater urban pressure, where, without controls or any type of criteria regarding what was being built at the architectural level, construction has been allowed, of palaces, warehouses, terraced houses, one-storey homes, towers and everything in between. There has also been no control of the necessary infrastructure or facilities for these homes to be used: discharge of sewage, illegal wells to obtain water, etc. Furthermore, many of these homes did not pay local building taxes, as the majority were not eligible to obtain a licence under the LOUA.

However, as we explained in a previous post, it should be noted that, in some cases, the licenses for segregation, building and initial occupancy were indeed granted for some of these homes. The fact that the Government is responsible in these cases is more than obvious and the damages suffered by owners, who purchased the homes in good faith, are completely reprehensible.

This situation of deregulation of non-developable land has an undesirable effect on citizens, as there is a feeling that there are citizens who ignore the law and go unpunished and that there are others who are required to comply with it.

If the urban planning disciplinary proceedings had been started quickly and efficiently at the beginning of that frenzied period of real estate development on non-developable land, the message that citizens would have received would have been very clear and many buildings would not have been built. There would still be homes on non-developable land but the magnitude of the problem would be quite different.

Faced with this situation, the legal response to solve this problem should be consistent with the reality that exists and that has been tolerated by the Government itself for so many years. This is why the necessary legislative reforms in this area must be tackled rigorously and without propaganda messages, avoiding a focus on the debate on “amnesty for everyone” or “offenders must pay” because the situation is much more complex.

In the administrative field, the majority of these homes should be regularised as, in many cases, penalties for using land illegally would have expired and many of the developers-builders are not the current owners.

In the future, there should be a debate regarding the effectiveness and efficiency of Urban Planning under current regulations, as well as regarding whether the regulation of non-developable land in the LOUA is adequate for the purpose it intends to fulfil.

Author: Gustavo Calero Monereo, C&D Solicitors (lawyer)

Torrox-Costa (Malaga/Costa del Sol/Andalucia)

ERFBELASTING IN SPANJE: EINDELIJK ZIJN WE EUROPEANEN!

Geschreven door admin op 11 februari, 2015. Gepost in Andalusian, Andalusie, Erfenis, Erfrecht, Headline, Spanje, Successierecht, Testament.

The Inheritance process in Spain — Erfbelasting in Spanje

In onze postvan afgelopen maart over de Wet op de Schenk- en Erfbelasting hebben we besproken dat Europese burgers die niet ingezeten zijn in Spanje, gediscrimineerd worden ten opzichte van Europese ingezeten in Spanje. In gelijke situaties betalen de niet-ingezetenen een erfbelasting die veel hoger is dan een ingezetene.

Het verschil in behandeling ontstaat wanneer de erflater of de erfgenamen geen ingezeten zijn in Spanje. In die situatie moeten ze belasting betalen volgens een staatsnorm die veel nadeliger is dan de norm van de autonome regio die voor ingezetenen van toepassing is.

Deze discriminatie werd bevestigd door de Uitspraak van het Europees Hof van Justitie op 3 september 2014 waarmee deze kwestie beslecht werd en waarbij schending van het vrije verkeer van kapitaal binnen de EU door Spanje vastgesteld werd vanwege een verschil in behandeling tussen residenten en niet-residenten.

Om aan de deze Uitspraak te kunnen voldoen is in Spanje op 1 januari 2015 de aanpassing van de Staatswet op Erfbelasting van kracht geworden. Er is een speciale regeling ingesteld op de erfbelasting waarbij niet-residenten in Spanje, die ingezetenen zijn in de Europese Unie, de regelgeving van de Autonome Regio’s kunnen toepassen net zoals de residenten dat kunnen doen zodat hun situatie nu gelijkgesteld is.

Met deze nieuwe regelgeving bereikt men dat wanneer de erflater geen resident is in Spanje, de erfgenamen geen resident zijn in Spanje men toch de regelgeving kan toepassen van die Autonome Regio waar de grootste waarde van de bezittingen zich bevindt die de erflater had in Spanje. Als de erfgenamen resident zijn in Spanje dan zal de regeling van de autonome regio toegepast worden waar deze erfgenamen ingezeten zijn.

Als de erflater resident was in een Autonome Regio en de erfgenamen zijn geen residenten in Spanje, dan betalen de erfgenamen hun erfbelasting volgens de regeling van de Autonome Regio waar de erflater resident was.

Op dit punt aangekomen moet ik u eraan herinneren dat de heffing van de Erf- en Schenkbelasting wordt overgelaten aan de Autonome Regio’s waardoor deze vrij zijn om hun eigen regelgeving te bepalen.

Dit heeft als belangrijkste effect dat het bedrag dat betaald moet worden voor deze belasting sterk varieert tussen residenten in Spanje afhankelijk van of men in de ene Autonome Regio of de andere woont. Er is in feite een fiscale “oorlog” tussen de Regio’s ontstaan in verband met deze belasting. Er zijn personen die zich hebben gevestigd in de Regio’s met het meest gunstige belastingklimaat om zo minder Erf- en Schenkbelasting te hoeven betalen. Dit geldt vooral voor diegenen met een groot vermogen.

Het meest beroemde voorbeeld hiervan in Andalusië is de recent overleden hertogin van Alva. Hoewel ze gevoelsmatig gelinkt werd aan Andalusië, was zij dat fiscaal niet omdat zij haar residentie voor dit doel in Madrid had. Dit had voor haar erfgenamen als belangrijkste voordeel een besparing van meer dan 90 miljoen euro op de Erfbelasting.

Omdat nu ook niet-ingezetenen van dezelfde regelgeving op de Erfbelasting gebruik kunnen maken als ingezetenen en omdat de toegepaste regelgeving die van de Autonome Regio is waar de erflater de grootste waarde aan bezittingen heeft, zal ook het verschil in behandeling tussen de Regio’s van invloed zijn.

Wanneer u geen ingezetene bent in Spanje en u heeft een eigendom gekocht dan is in meest normale geval dit eigendom de grootste waarde van uw bezittingen in Spanje. Hierdoor kunnen uw erfgenamen zich beroepen op de regelgeving van de Regio waar dit eigendom zich bevindt. Wanneer dit eigendom zich bijvoorbeeld in Andalusië bevindt dan kunnen zij zich beroepen op de regelgeving van Andalusië.

Maar stel dat u geen resident bent in Spanje en u heeft geen eigendom maar wel geld op een bank in Spanje. Welke regelgeving zou in dit geval van toepassing zijn op uw erfgenamen? Het lijkt erop dat het die van de Autonome Regio is waar deze bank zijn zetel heeft. In dit geval is het dus niet hetzelfde wanneer u een bank heeft met zijn zetel in Madrid, Barcelona of Sevilla, om maar wat voorbeelden te noemen. Ik zeg, het lijkt erop, omdat ik van de Spaanse Belastingdienst hierover nog geen definitief antwoord heb kunnen krijgen.

Kortom, goed nieuws voor de buitenlandse burgers van de Europese Unie en hun erfgenamen en welkom bij de “chaos” van de regelgeving voor de Erf- en Schenkbelasting in de Autonome Regio’s .

Auteur: Gustavo Calero Monereo, C&D Solicitors, (advocaat)

Torrox-Costa (Malaga/Costa del Sol/Andalucia)