THREE British couples have been awarded a €135,000 compensation payment after a landmark ruling against the developers of an illegal urbanisation in Albox.

Judge María Teresa Vidaurreta ruled that the couples had suffered anguish and uncertainty over the properties in the Los Patricos district for ten years, after buying them in good faith.

Albox Town Hall, along with two developers and the architect, will pay each couple between €40-50,000 to compensate them for ‘moral damages’. A fourth British couple will also receive €7,800.

The judge, in Almeria’s penal court, found developers Hilario Alfonso Granero and Amador Gázquez García guilty of planning offences and handed them a year’s imprisonment.

She also ruled against the demolition of the seven properties, built on non-urban land, on the grounds that they could eventually be legalised.

President of the association Abusos Urbanísticos Almanzora No (Auan), Maura Hillen, told El Mundo: “The ruling is good news but I believe the ordeal is not yet over.

“This is a positive step but there is still a chance of the defendants and the Town Hall appealing the sentence.”

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