# Fleeing the Costa catastrophe



## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

I thought this article, reported in The Daily Mail,  might be of interest to those who reside on the Costas and to those who are considering moving to Spain.

Fleeing the Costa catastrophe: Thousands hand back their villa keys as Spain's economy teeters | Mail Online

I think I can guess the responses


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## Abyss-Rover (Mar 17, 2012)

Not sure what they're fleeing to.

A third has been wiped off the real value of the average UK home since the peak of the market in 2007, once inflation is taken into account, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Inflation-adjusting puts the UK property market’s five-year decline as deeper than traditional rivals Spain, where real prices are down 27 per cent since the peak and France, where prices are down just 7.6 per cent


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Abyss-Rover said:


> Not sure what they're fleeing to.
> 
> A third has been wiped off the real value of the average UK home since the peak of the market in 2007, once inflation is taken into account, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Inflation-adjusting puts the UK property market’s five-year decline as deeper than traditional rivals Spain, where real prices are down 27 per cent since the peak and France, where prices are down just 7.6 per cent


can we have a link please - & can you use the


> quotes


, as per forum rules


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## Guest (May 23, 2012)

What a terrible piece of journalism and very typically Daily Mail.

What I find bizarre from the article and something this talked about within my group a lot, is the number of people who simply give their keys to the bank and think that is that. Offski, back to blighty thinking it`s all behind them. Bish bosh. Well, not quite.

We know a family that did a moonlight flit back to blighty and they are being pursued, quite vigorously, through the UK courts for the remainder of their debts and rightly so. The same applies to pretty much all European countries and a few further afield. Again, rightly so. You don`t borrow 100 grand from a bank, find you can`t pay it sometime further down the line and then flee, leaving said debt. You won`t get away with it in the UK, so why would you here?

Some of these people over extended themselves, bought property that, ultimately, they couldn´t afford and returned to UK with the "horror" stories of it all. Bless.

I`m certainly not suggesting that this is the case with everyone, but in typical Daily Mail style, in an article is so one-sided, we are all meant to feel sorry for someone who bought a 250 grand house, that they probably couldn`t afford and have sympathy because it`s worth a 100 grand less and now they`re in the sh1t.

Who`s fault is that then?


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## Guest (May 23, 2012)

It's the banks faults!!
The same banks that allowed everyone to get 100% mortgages and encouraged folk to get credit cards... Then they cause this world wide financial crises then come and try cash in on the debra they left behind!!!!
It's not the people to blame... It's the rotten fraudulent banks... Yes? X


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Poor Daily Mail, nobody loves them

I have just been reading some of the comments, at the foot of the article, there are some really nasty, bitter, people, commenting, awful !!


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## Abyss-Rover (Mar 17, 2012)

xabiachica said:


> can we have a link please - & can you use the , as per forum rules


To be honest, I didn't notice that this offense was in the forum rules.


Link here


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## Abyss-Rover (Mar 17, 2012)

Yossa said:


> Some of these people over extended themselves, bought property that, ultimately, they couldn´t afford and returned to UK with the "horror" stories of it all. Bless.
> 
> I`m certainly not suggesting that this is the case with everyone, but in typical Daily Mail style, in an article is so one-sided, we are all meant to feel sorry for someone who bought a 250 grand house, that they probably couldn`t afford and have sympathy because it`s worth a 100 grand less and now they`re in the sh1t.
> 
> Who`s fault is that then?


:clap2:


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## nigele2 (Dec 25, 2009)

Presumably it is not only the house prices being less than the mortgages that is the problem. It is in addition not being able to earn a living.

Hopefully back in blightie these poor folk  will be able to earn something and maybe pay off some of the debt.

The local village landlord here in Hampshire went to live in his chalet CDS but hit mortgage problems. But he thinks three to four years running a pub in Devizes should see him mortgage paid and back in the sun 

In addition if they can hold on until Spain is out the Euro maybe if their debts are in a new currency there may be a miracle for a few. It's an ill wind


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Banks are guilty of many things.
But they did not put guns to the heads of people who couldn't afford it to get them to sign mortgages.

Afaik there is no human right or entitlement enshrined in law that states one has the right to live in Spain.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> Banks are guilty of many things.
> But they did not put guns to the heads of people who couldn't afford it to get them to sign mortgages.
> 
> Afaik there is no human right or entitlement enshrined in law that states one has the right to live in Spain.


I would like to know why these people can no longer afford their mortgages. Interest rates haven't gone up have they? Why would anybody think that it is the banks' fault?


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## Soy guiri (Dec 4, 2010)

I agree that the fault lies with the people who have been living above thier means, you can't blame the banks for running a business, it is time that people started taking responsibility for thier actions, its amazing how everything is someone elses fault but their own


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## Solwriter (Jan 10, 2012)

Hepa said:


> Poor Daily Mail, nobody loves them
> 
> I have just been reading some of the comments, at the foot of the article, there are some really nasty, bitter, people, commenting, awful !!


You made me go to have a look, just to read the comments.
And yes, they are typical of a few DM readers on this type of article. 

But I don't think it is the intention of the writer of this article to hope that DM readers will feel sorry for these expats (or second home owners in many cases). I think it was just a very poorly constructed, confused article, trying to bring a 'shock horror' element to readers, by using every example the writer could think of.

All I got out of it was the promotion of a sense of smugness, that this was happening to other people, rather than to loyal DM readers.
But I could be wrong.


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## bob_bob (Jan 5, 2011)

I don't know what they will come back to. There have been changes to the benefit system. A friend of my son packed up his job and moved to Cardiff only to find the job was no longer available and as he made himself homless and jobless he's getting exactly £0 in benefits. They won't pay him anything for something like three months, then the best he'll get toward rent is about £75 max a week and as he's single he can only rent one bedroomed accommodation...not much in Cardiff for £75 a week. These brits coming back had better have some good family and friends because the days of walking off the plane and being given the keys to a flat have gone. If they've been out of the UK loop for a few years the NHS may no longer be a free option. Before I retired we had an English chap who'd been in Tenerife for twenty years, had terminal cancer and needed palliative care which is not available there so he came home only to find he was expected to pay in full for his care. As it turned out a very nice consultant admitted him and the chap died in our lovely little unit while the funding issue was still being argued.

As is said here so often, Spain is a great place if you have money.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

OK it's one sided and perhaps it's not as well written/ constructed as it could have been, but I can't a big problem with the article. It tells the story as it is for a large number of people. They bought houses thinking they had made a sound investment when the market was booming and everything was on the up. They expected to find work on the building sites - why wouldn't you have expected that in Spain at that time with construction going on all over the place? They also thought they'd be able to rent out easily to holiday makers (again, why not at that time?) and re sell the property if they wanted. So, they made a mistake. Things didn't turn out that way, but they were encouraged to buy and invest from all around. I'm NOT saying it was the banks fault. Nobody _*made*_ these people buy a house in Spain, but it has to be admitted that all the "experts" that people could have gone to for advice in those days would have said buy, buy, *BUY*!!

What I find more difficult to understand is the people who come to a forum such as this to ask about living in working in Spain now. Many of them are unskilled or with skills in the building trade, with no Spanish, with little or no savings, and basically no idea of Spain. These are the people who are not acting responsibly.


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