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Spanish government considers new compulsory purchase powers, says paper

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Spanish newspaper El Mundo has claimed that it has been shown draft legislation that would allow the government to compulsorily purchase empty property if an owner refuses to rent it out.

The Spanish government is currently considering options to ease domestic home affordability problems and massage the housing market down from its recent record highs.

Housing minister Maria Antonia Trujillo has denied the claims but did say that the government was examining options to encourage more owners to rent out property.

Spanish law at present is weighted heavily in the favour of tenants, making it hard to evict them or collect on rent. The new law promises to address the balance by offering more "guarantees" that rent will be collectable and making it easier to secure eviction.

The Spanish also historically pass property down over generations and may leave it empty for long periods. Currently up to 500,000 homes lie empty in the Valencia region alone.

The El Mundo story, reported by website Expatica, also claimed that the government would be empowered to levy fines on property owners if they did not take on tenants.

The new legislation comes while Spanish homeowners are planning to challenge the current compulsory purchase Urban Development Activity Act- the LRAU - in European courts.

The LRAU enables developers to purchase tracts of rural land that give them more than 50 per cent of an area flagged for urbanisation, then claim "majority" rights over any homeowners in the area.

Councils are required to offer quick approval for the "majority" request and then approve compulsory purchases of homes in the area.

The European Commission has ruled that the current rules violate EU ownership laws and has the power to enforce sanctions if it is not repealed.

"I suspect that they'll simply keep stalling until a new law is ready to be put in place, and then keep on doing much the same thing," said former Canadian diplomat Charles Svoboda, who has led the No to Urban Abuses association since 2002.

"And anyway, the repeal of the law would affect only future developments, not those already approved.

"Individual mayors of towns involved may now face personal legal action," he says, "and that may be enough to make them start listening. They could face ruin themselves, if the European human rights court rule against them."

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