Costa Blanca Property News – LRAU, (‘Land Grab Law’)-Update September 2006

Admin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 05:32:14 +0000

Since launching its intent to bring a case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg contesting the Valencian ‘Land Grab’ Law,(LRAU), in November 2005, solicitors Irwin Mitchell have yielded over seventy enquiries from potential claimants.

The surprisingly small number of claimants against a law that has potentially affected thousands, is mostly due to the requirement of aggrieved land owners having to try to effect compensation through the Spanish courts before being eligible to bring their action under the ECHR, (European Human Rights Convention)

The fact that no action against the law, has been successful, (to our knowledge, to date), combined with the need for any action for remedy in a property dispute to have been brought before the Spanish courts within six-months of the loss to the land owner, calls into question whether the vast majority of people who have suffered financial loss due to the LRAU will ever see compensation.

The case is expected to receive a hearing date sometime in the next two years.

History of the LRAU, (Ley Reguladora de la Urbanistica)

The LRAU was introduced by the Valencian Comunidad authorities in 1994 to facilitate the development of rural areas of the region into urban communities.

Its impact was soon felt by property owners in rural areas of the Costa Blanca, Costa Calida and Costa Azahar who found themselves in the position of having their land ‘confiscated’ in the ‘public interest’ and many also being billed for large amounts of money to pay for the cost of developing new infrastructure.

It soon became clear that the expropriation of land from existing owners and the charging of infrastructure expenses to the same owners was being openly abused by private developers who were openly seen as acting as agents to the public authorities.

The problems within the law lay in several areas, but not least in the lack of definition of ‘public interest’. It is this justification for the expropriation of private land that has been used to circumvent any successful remedy in the Spanish Courts and allowed developers to benefit for ‘private interest’.

Other areas of concern were finally highlighted by the European Parliament in December 2005. These included the bases on which the ‘Ubanistor’ or developer was selected; the lack of adequate procedures for the awarding of the public contract and the need for adequate procedures for the notification of land owners so that they were notified individually, effectively and in good time of any development proposals that may affect them, thus giving them adequate time to consider appropriate action.

In February 2006 the Valencian authorities replaced the LRAU with a new law governing the development of rural land. The LUV, (Ley Ubanistica Valencia). The new law whilst addressing some of the issues still fails to deal with many of the concerns highlighted by the European Parliament the previous December.

The case has now been taken up by the UK firm of solicitors Irwin Mitchell and three Monckton Chambers barristers, Piers Gardner, Ian Rogers and Ben Rayment.

The case, to be taken to The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg will be based on Article 1 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, (ECHR), which guarantees the right to property.

The case which would normally be too expensive for private individuals to bring to the court has been made possible by provision by the solicitors of a Conditional Fee Agreement, (CFA), which limits the cost liability to the individual claimants allowing aggrieved parties to partake in the action without fear of enormous costs.

Potential claimants can contact Irwin Mitchell on 00 44 0870 1500 100

By: Neil Ebsworth

Shropshire Solicitor Divorce Warning To Wealthy Husbands Regarding European Court Of Human Rights!

Admin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:42:12 +0000

Shropshire Divorce Solicitor leading the Family Law team at Martin Kaye Solicitors in Telford warns divorcing couples after a husband leads a divorce “pay fight”.

The Telford Solicitor said that “well-publicized divorce cases have led to several wives becoming millionaires in their own right. But now, it seems some of the husbands are planning to take action and many others could follow suit.”

It has been announced that Alan Miller, who was instructed to pay his wife £5 million – even though they had only been married for 18 months – has decided to challenge the ruling in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

“His original case and its result set the standard for this kind of case, and it has had far-reaching effects in divorce courts all over the UK,”.

The Court decided no matter how long a couple had been married, the starting point for dividing the assets should be a 50-50 split. And although they said Mrs Miller did not ‘need’ 50% of the assets, they decided that was irrelevant, and that the assets should be divided equally. Mr Miller claimed that the law was now “confused and unpredictable” as family court judges were given too much discretion. He also claims the payout to his former wife had breached his human rights and is challenging the decision.

“The same rules were applied to the case of Mr and Mrs Charman, and paved the way for her £48 million payout, despite the fact that Mrs Charman had run the home and it was Mr Charman who had built up the major share of their assets.”

“Family Law teams such as ours will be following this appeal with great interest, as the European Court’s decision could have massive implications for day-to-day divorce hearings. District Judges work very hard to reach sensible decisions based on what is fair and reasonable, and they will no doubt be pleased to receive clearer guidance on the approach they should be taking.”

Couples considering divorce are strongly advised to seek legal advice from a specialist divorce solicitor.

This article is free to republish provided this resource box remains intact.

By: Nadia Davis

Human Rights Law » Solicitors

Costa Blanca Property News – LRAU, (‘Land Grab Law’)-Update September 2006

Shropshire Solicitor Divorce Warning To Wealthy Husbands Regarding European Court Of Human Rights!