Thursday 24 March 2011

A Room – or home – with a View!

I don’t know whether you have seen the furore that has erupted in Corfu over Strictly Come Dancing winner and news reader Natasha Kaplinsky's £1.5m villa in the north-east of Corfu? Evidently she and her husband bought a resort property off-plan in 2008 which is now being completed in a way that utterly blocks her neighbour’s sea view.

They have complained to the local council and the Greek ombudsman about this, insisting that the section blocking their view should have been restricted to one storey. According to reports they are considering court action to reduce the size of what they call ‘the
‘monstrosity’. The developer evidently has told other residents in the area the property is ‘totally legal’ and in accord with all planning procedures.

Short of a miracle, or an enormous act of kindness on Miss Kaplinsky's part, this looks set to become a real issue, one that may well include a long drawn out legal battle, costing an arm and a leg and perhaps achieving little or nothing for the unfortunate complainants.

It reminds me all too clearly of an unhappy case that was brought to my attention a number of years ago now. This time the offending property was in Crete but was much the same problem. An older couple had bought a delightful apartment on the island and were planning on spending time there with their children and grandchildren. Soon after buying it they returned to Crete to find that a block of flats had been erected, totally obscuring their sea view.

Let’s face it, when you buy a property such as this the view is probably 90 % of the attraction and to lose that makes a nonsense of your purchase. So…how do you avoid this?

There are cases when people have done their due diligence but have been given the wrong information or perhaps money has crossed palms or some such, but the point is you really do need to do your homework on this one.

Possibly I have mentioned this before, but someone phoned me before my last visit to Crete. He asked me if I could possibly find out whether his intended purchase seemed wise: as it happened I found myself outside the afore-mentioned property with an estate agent/developer. When I asked for his opinion, he replied that they were building a set of apartments between it and the sea, totally obscuring their sea view…’nuff said and disaster averted!

You need to retain a lawyer when buying property in Greece, one that is totally independent of the vendor. You can see why it is crucial here – it would not be in the best interests of the vendor if it was pointed out to you that you are about to lose the view that you are buying the property for!

Make sure that your lawyer (or you) looks at the planning regulations and finds out (and obtains in writing if possible) exactly what is permitted in terms of building on that empty plot between you and the sea. Even if there is an old, dilapidated building on it, you may want to make sure a developer can’t buy the property and replace the old building with a block of flats.

Speaking personally, if building started on a plot that would affect my view I would be inclined to tackle the builder immediately (via your lawyer preferably) to ensure that the building regulations were being adhered to. Far better to try and get your lawyer to intervene at this point than to leave it until it is a fait accompli would be my thinking…

I have had a very interesting email from Haydn which I will be addressing shortly. It deals with estate agent’s commission…

‘Til then, bye for now and have a happy week!

Carol
The Overseas Guides Company
http://www.Greecebuyingguide.com

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