Rob Horgan
AN expat couple have been given 30 days to vacate their dream holiday home after the town hall sold it at auction without them knowing.
British pensioners Adrian and Margo Campbell have been ordered to hand their two-bed home over to their Spanish neighbour in Tozar, Granada, after she bought it at auction.
The €50,000 property was sold off after neighbour Adoracion Gonzales submitted a complaint about damp in her house, resulting from works carried out at the Campbell’s adjoining property.
It led to a Granada Court ruling that they had to pay Gonzales €43,000 in damages.
However, as they were back in the UK and did not know about the ruling, they were unable to defend themselves and did not know about the result.
The first time they heard about the auction was in June this year and after a failed appeal in Granada’s courts, they have no choice but to hand over the keys.
“It is an absolute travesty,” Glaswegian Adrian, 65, told the Olive Press. “We didn’t know about it until it was too late to do anything.
“It is so sad, we have so many memories here, bringing our kids here when they were young, we even spent Christmases and New Years here.”
The former IT technician added: “It is quite clear the courts did not try sufficiently hard to contact us when they knew it was a holiday home we rarely visited.
“But the court didn’t agree which is devastating.”
Despite now appealing to the High Court in Madrid, they are still being told to hand over the keys while they await a hearing.
Only a fool buys property in Spain…
And the most stupid comment of the day goes to…….
How long was the court process in this case? Expat home owners should be very worried if it only took six weeks but ten years less so.
If this kind of corruption had been dealt with decades ago by a strong British government (yes I know a contradiction in terms) then this couple would’nt have lost their home – is May going to make real sanctions against Spain – no of course not, this couple are’nt important.
If damage was caused to neighbours house, why did the neighbours not claim from their insurance rather than going through court?
Who said they were insured? Even if they were, the insurance company would have taken the same route to regain their money.
And did these neighbours actually prove that these foreigners were to blame. I have experienced the sick joke that is Spanish justice in both Galicia and Andalucia. Did this couple receive a copy of what was ‘proved’ in court?
Call it like it is. This was a scam by “them” next door.