VRSA council faces €100 million in compensation claims for illegally authorised buildings

Paul Rees 01 November 2016

varandasGuadiana The Varandas do Guadiana urbanisation in Vila Real de Santo António was illegally authorised by the city council, according to a court ruling.

Demolition orders for several illegally authorised buldings are included a decision by the Tribunal Administrativo e Fiscal de Loulé and demolition orders are due to be issued, leaving owners to seek compensation from the council.

The council executive says that if it has to compensate property owners, it will have to declare bankruptcy.

Included in the court’s judgment is the Varandas do Guadiana urbanisation, consisting of dozens of apartments overlooking the VRSA river with views to Ayamonte, seven houses in an urbanisation at Lota beach, a villa in Vila Nova de Cacela, two buildings in Monte Gordo and the Monte Rei Golf and Country Club.

Luís Gomes, VRSA mayor, said damages will run to over €100 million.

The Varandas do Guadiana estate has been legitimised by the council which retrospectively included the area in its city masterplan.

"In the case of Monte Rei, we are talking about houses of €2 million or more for each one, the city council has no financial capacity to pay," said Gomes.

All of these buildings were authorised before 2005 when António Murta was mayor. The court ruling may harm his re-election chances as he wants to get back in as mayor of VRSA despite the current uproar that planning regulations have been flouted with disastrous consequences.

For the Policy Committee of the Vila Real Social Democrats, this "set of illegalities" committed during the mandates of António Murta "can not go unpunished, as it is concerns the sustainability of the municipal coffers, the welfare of the Vila Real de Santo António population and the mortgaging of our county in the coming years."

Comments

-4 #4 Tavira Resident 2016-11-13 13:38

Correira charges only scratched the surface of what was going on in Tavira. No matter how "small the beer" if it was illegal it should be investigated and if necessary charges brought against the guilty.

-7 #3 algarveandroid 2016-11-02 07:34

So no news on whom is to blame on this one , houses and the like just cant be started and sold - someone has to have applied for the licences , someone has to have funded it , ie banks and developers whom can be pursued - but wait the Portuguese way of voiding a company and reforming as another will probably have prevented that from happening.

So if the likes of Monte Rei is illegal , then why is houses and plots still up for sale , why is it not closed down?

Follow the money?

-5 #2 Geoff Harris 2016-11-02 07:32

This case, like so many others, just emphasises what little progress Portugal has made in applying established EU Planning Laws.

Anyone with the slightest awareness of Portuguese Municipal Planning knows that the checks and balances that exist in more developed EU countries have all been transposed into Portuguese legislation. But entirely missing is any comprehension of their purpose.

A classic infringement of rights, as seen here, is the requirement in Portuguese Planning Law to consult, or invite to scrutinise, building plans by neighbours. Transparency. But how many of us have ever had the slightest clue what is being built just beyond our boundaries? And if requesting information it gets officials backs up as it is an infringement of their liberty to do, or cover up for, back room deals.

-11 #1 Peter Booker 2016-11-01 14:01

This case makes the complaints against Macario Correia seem like very small beer indeed. Shall we see António Murta pursued through the courts over ten years?

I doubt it.

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