Pictures of Spain's burst housing bubble

[Perikles]

Here. None from the Canaries.

[Delderek]

No wonder the Spanish banks were crapping themselves.

[macdonald5]

Here. None from the Canaries.

Last holiday we visited Cabo Blanco it looked bit like these !! So sad

[Nova]

The one from Pego, Alicante, I think it may have appeared in an episode of Benidorm.  A scammer was trying to sell the apartments.  If it wasn't those it was an abandoned development that looked a lot like them.

[Anne 2009]

So many projects unfinished. What happens to them? Are they just left to fall to pieces? Are they sold off?

[Hepa]

There are unfinished buildings here, that have been in the same state since we first visited in 1995, and I am not sure why.

[Michael]

So many projects unfinished. What happens to them? Are they just left to fall to pieces? Are they sold off?

True or not I don't know but in conversation with someone I was told the following.

The 2 breeze block shells on the hill above Los Gigantes need to be demolished or eventually they will fall down.

This is the responsibility of the owner.

The owner is a bank.

The bank don't want to pay to knock it down.

Therefore they can't sell it because then demolition would become the responsibility of the buyer and no developer would be daft enough to buy the site on those conditions.

And so there it sits....................... 

[Perikles]

This is the responsibility of the owner.

The owner is a bank.

The bank don't want to pay to knock it down.

Therefore they can't sell it because then demolition would become the responsibility of the buyer and no developer would be daft enough to buy the site on those conditions.

The solution is easy - the council can issue a demolition order on the grounds of health and safety. The bank then has a choice of demolishing it themselves or letting the council do it then sending the bank the bill. Which would be 3 times the cost.

Easy Peasy, except I would be interested in seeing the vested interests between the bank and the Town Hall