Consul meets officials to discuss property issues

PAUL RODWELL, the British Consul in Alicante, and Alexandra Brown, property advisor at the British Embassy, met with Catral residents and Valencia Region officials to discuss planning issues in the area.

They first met with a small group of Catral residents in order to get a better understanding of the issues, which was followed by a meeting with the Mayor of Catral and the town planning team to discuss the way forward.

The Town Hall confirmed that they are keen to resolve the planning problems and that they are working on a special plan to enable the majority of properties to be regularised and to access utilities.

They hope to have further news on this by the end of February and will communicate developments to residents.

Paul and Alexandra then met with Isabel Bonig Trigueros, the Regional Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and the Environment, and her team to discuss property issues in the region, focussing on Catral and Lliber, amongst other areas.

Paul Rodwell said: “I am pleased that the local and regional authorities are starting to work together to address these issues although we realise there is still a lot of work to be done.

We will continue to engage with the Valencian authorities on these issues whenever we can and advise British nationals on what action they can take if they are affected by property problems”.

British nationals considering buying a property in Spain or experiencing property problems are strongly urged to read the property section of the UKinSpain website, http://ukinspain.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/living-in-spain/property-in-spain/.