Government U-turn on coastal property law

By Richard Torné
A LAW which threatened thousands of foreign nationals with expropriation of their coastal properties may be covertly reformed. 

Reports this week suggest the government may amend an obscure navigation law which can bypass congressional approval, a move described as a radical change by experts.  This would make it easier to buy and sell homes located on beach fronts and along the shoreline on public land, said to affect around 45,000 properties throughout the Spanish coast.

According to the amendment, which was introduced in December, any beachside property built before 1988 will be made legal, prior to authorisation from the coastal authorities.

Affected owners could now be allowed to pass on their homes as inheritance and to put their properties up for sale if they wish. The environment ministry will then have up to three months to decide if the deal has met strict criteria.

Until now, the unpopular Ley de Costas gave the owners of beach-side properties a 30 to 60-year concession - under which they were not allowed to sell - before their homes were earmarked for demolition.

Although the law is 20 years old, it was not rigorously implemented until 2004 by the then minister for environment, Cristina Narbona.

The law caused a widespread backlash, with the British and German governments presenting formal complaints and the creation of pressure groups

The reform has yet to be approved by the main Spanish parliament, but the government has tried to ward off any criticism by trying to downplay the changes, with the director general of coasts, Alicia Paz, saying that “only an adjustment” had been made to the law. By contrast, experts are hailing it as a radical reform, adding that it could increase the value of homes and make it more difficult for the coastal authorities to seize properties.

Ecologists reacted angrily at the news and accused president Zapatero of “cowardice” in the face of opposition from home owners.

Pressure group, Ecologistas en Acción, said in a statement this week that the government could have saved millions in the construction of breakwaters had the law been upheld.

“Those who applaud the reform are probably unaware of the environmental and economic cost of legalising properties,” the statement said, stressing that coastal erosion as a result of rising sea levels would endanger homes in the future.