Continues on

AN expat is facing prison for failing to demolish his home after he fell foul of a town hall’s ‘laissez faire’ planning rules. Gurney Davey, aged 67, only found out about the six-month sentence when a court document was delivered to a neighbour’s house. “I went straight to Tolox town hall with it. They told me I shouldn’t have received it yet,” he told the Olive Press.

Legalise

“They said they were going to be sending the notification to me once they had stamped it.” The news came as a massive bolt from the blue for Davey, whose wife has just died of cancer, which he believes worsened from the stress of the case. He had never been told about the court case that followed on from a Guardia Civil denuncia for an ‘illegal build’. Davey’s two-bed home - built in 2004 - should never have been built according to the Malaga court. In 2016, and then again in 2017, Davey was ordered to knock down his house, but, in common with a neighbour, he waited for more details. While his Spanish neighbour,

THE much-anticipated Palma International Boat Show has opened its doors at Palma’s Moll Vell. Running until Sunday (June 6), the show not only marks the beginning of Mediterranean yachting season but is also the

NOT AgAIN

British expat faces demolition of his 17 year home - and a spell in prison

EXCLUSIVE By Dilip Kuner

Irene Millan, 29, did eventually hear from the court again, she was given six months to ‘legalise’ her property - an option Davey was never given. However, his neighbour’s apparent good luck turned into a poisoned chalice. Having spent €20,000 with the town hall to legalise the dwelling, the court finally refused to accept the new paperwork provided by the council. Instead, demolition was ordered - which went ahead last week. To add insult to injury Irene’s 54-year-old father, Manuel Millan, whose name was on the deeds, was also sentenced to six months jail and handed a fine of €6 a day for a year. Now Davey is terrified he is set to lose his home at any moment. It comes just two months since his wife Diana died from bowel cancer, at the age of 71, in April. “We thought we had done everything right at the time. We got legal advice and went through a lawyer in order to get permission to build the home. “Diana fought breast cancer for six years before bowel cancer - I from legal firm Manzanares, told them that planning permission would be applied for as an almacen - or ‘warehouse’. This way it would come under the remit of Tolox town hall, which would give permission and later they could ‘legalise’ the property. The language of one legal letter, seen by the Olive Press, suggests this would be a mere formality. But the property never got legalised. In fact, the Tolox mayor of the time, Juan Vera, has since been jailed and fined for his part in a scheme to allow up to 350 properties to be built on land classified as ‘rural’. In most cases he had used the very same ‘lax’ procedure of applying to build an ‘almacen’ to try to keep the prying eyes of the Junta authorities away. “We thought that was the way things worked in Spain,” said Davey, a retired builder. “We went to see a lawyer and got advice. It turns out that was not the smart thing to do. “Why would we deliberately try to build illegally? It makes no sense that we would sell up everything and risk it all.” Now Davey’s first thoughts are to avoid serving the jail sentence. He said: “My lawyer is trying to get the sentence suspended.” In the meantime he has been forced to ask the town hall for permission to knock his own property down. “I will do it myself. I will borrow a JCB from someone and flatten my home.”

Ship shape

first on-site boat show in Europe in more than a year. Over 185 boats and 227 exhibitors will finally have the chance to showcase their nautical equipment at this year’s show, after having to present their offer ‘virtually’ over the past few months. Stretching over 80,000 square meters, the show will also include a separate ‘Palma Superyacht Show’ and designated refit and repair area.

DEMOLITION: Expat Gurney Davey is being forced to knock down his own house and faces six months jail

Open All Hours

BARS and restaurants in the Balearic Islands will be allowed to stay open until midnight, from Sunday. Initially, bars and restaurants had asked the government to extend their opening hours by just one hour, to 11pm, following the news that the curfew was being pushed back until midnight from May 23 - instead, the government matched it and allowed them to open their interiors too. Inside, bars and restaurants will be allowed to open at 50% capacity, with four customers per table and a limit of 150 in total, while outside can open at 100% capacity, with eight customers per table, limited to 250.

Easing

The President of the Balearic Government, Francina Armengol, confirmed that the easing of restrictions will put all the islands onto level one health alert. Bars and restaurants across the Balearic Islands have been far the worst hit under the coronavirus pandemic and particularly since the start of this year, first operating under limited hours and then being told to close indefinitely. Even when allowed to reopen their doors, they then faced capacity constraints and the prohibition of the use of their indoors until recently.

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