Spanish "Land Grab" Law Must Cease

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 22nd Jan 2004

London's Liberal Democrat Euro-MP Baroness Sarah Ludford has called on Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar to immediately suspend a 'land grab' law on the Costa Blanca (Valencia) which continues to devastate homes and terrify expatriate property owners in Spain.

With an estimated 600.000 in Spain, many British people have been affected by the law. Having followed the case of one couple in particular, Baroness Ludford has demanded a stop to the expropriations pending action from the European Parliament.

Campaign group "Abusos-No" under its president Chuck Svoboda have highlighted the law known locally as the LRAU (Ley Reguladora de la Actividad Urbanistica) under which owners are forced to give up their land to unscrupulous developers of luxury villas, under pretence of enabling infrastructure to be built.

Said Sarah:

"This law is having a devastating effect on British property owners. Jan and Phil Richards, typical in that they moved to Spain after a lifetime's work in the hope of a quiet and peaceful retirement, are now at risk of losing everything they have worked for with little compensation."

"Under the apparent protection of local town halls, a law which may have once been justified to install sewers and roads has become a rip-off charter for the benefit of ruthless property developers."

"I welcome the fact that this issue has been admitted to the European Parliament's Petitions Committee, and I will work to get action taken at EU level to uphold the fundamental rights of those concerned if the Spanish government fails to do so."