ARCHIVED - Foreign residents from urbanisations in Murcia municipality call for solution to historic planning problems

The newly created association has written to Murcia municipality council requesting solutions to problems that date back nearly 20 years

The problems all relate to urbanisations in Gea y Truyols, which falls within the jurisdiction of Murcia city council as the developments all lie within the Murcia municipality

The newly created association, AUN-Murcia (Abusos Urbanísticos No – Murcia), has submitted
a petition to the Murcia Town Hall asking for a solution to the planning issues in the areas
known as El Valle del Sol, Los Molinos, La Loma y Los Pinos asking “Why are we still the victims
of planning abuses here in Murcia when we can see that things have improved in other
Regions?”

The problem houses were constructed by a promoter in the early years of 2000 and nearly 19
years later, due to planning issues, their owners, some 200 pensioners, mainly British, continue
to struggle to obtain basic services such as water and electricity and still cannot register their
properties at the Land Registry.

According to Linda House, the president of Abusos Urbanísticos No – Murcia (AUN-Murcia) and
organizer of the petition, “We bought in good faith, believing that everything was in order and
we paid the market rate for our houses. Only later did we discover the properties were
blighted by planning issues, resulting in grave consequences for us, the owners, in spite of
paying our IBI like everyone else”.

“The total lack of progress is very frustrating especially when we can see what has been
happening in other autonomous communities such as Andalusia. Why do we continue to be
the victims of planning abuses here in Murcia?” she added.

In a letter directed to the Town Hall of Murcia, the residents ask for a solution to their planning
problems saying “If it is not within your power to help us, we ask you as victims and as
neighbours and voters, that you advocate on our behalf before those who do have the power
to bring to an end this unfortunate chapter in the history of the real estate market in Murcia”.

“We are the victims of a situation that is not of our making, but we are the ones who are being
punished. This cannot be right” the letter concludes.

The newly created association, AUN-Murcia, has been set up with the help and support of the
ex-president of AUAN (Abusos Urbanísticos Andalucía No), Maura Hillen and the legal advisor
to this association, Gerardo Vazquez, an Anglo-Spanish lawyer based in Mojácar, Almería.

Hillen and Vazquez are known for having helped many of those affected to resolve their
planning issues in Andalusia, and for having brought about legal reforms in this arena both in
Andalusia and at a national level. For her work, Mrs Hillen was awarded an honorary MBE by
the Queen of England in 2016. In addition, the association has the legal collaboration of the
Lawyer Pedro Rivera Barrachina, of the firm Aethicus Real Estate Lawyers of Murcia.

Celebrating the constitution of AUN-Murcia, Mrs. Hillen declares: "If practical solutions can be
found in Andalusia with good will and collaboration between the different political tendencies,
I am convinced that the same can be done in the Region of Murcia".