# land dispute



## m.george (Mar 28, 2013)

Hi

We have owned our house in Granada for 8 years. Recently a man from Valencia who owns a plot of land to the south of us has informed us that he is selling his plot of land and in fact some of our plot is actually his and has been in his family for many years. (He has never mentioned this before).

When I produced my escritura to show him we owned the land in question (if not more as the escritura reads 1300m sq and we are only using about 300m sq!) he turned nasty and said his deeds are older than ours and therefore ours meant nothing.

He showed me the map re. catastral ref and indeed on the map it looks like he owns all our land. He has told us we have to buy the land from him and we have no right to be on it until we pay him.

I have a copy of the escritura from the people we bought the house from and it is the same as ours, but again no map. (When purchasing the house, we used a highly recommended Spanish lawyer by the way so thought these things would have been checked?)

I am now unsure what to do...for peace of mind I would just buy it...but a) we can't afford to and b) It could be ours anyway! 

Is there anything we can do about this? Thank you so much in advance.


----------



## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

Sorry to read about this and I hope that you can find some advice and a way of sorting this out 

I can't really offer anything in the way of experience and advice that you probably already know like get back in touch with the lawyer who you hired and see what he has to say and even maybe go as far as finding a new lawyer who specialises in disputes.

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/spain-expat-forum-expats-living-spain/58210-catastro.html
http://www.expatforum.com/expats/spain-expat-forum-expats-living-spain/116346-land-dispute.html
View topic - Major Boundary Dispute - Living in Andalucia | Andalucia.com Forum - Andalucia users information about tourism, holiday destinations, accommodation, travel and culture in Andalucia, Spain.

Here is a couple of threads which may or may not be of any use.

Has he actually showed you his up to date deeds and not some ancient manuscript copy or only what is on the catastro?
The catastral maps are often very incorrect and haven't been updated to show recent changes so he could just be trying to be opportunistic. The catastro doesn't infer any legal rights at all aside from how much tax and who pays it.
Then again maybe he has a legitimate claim too, either way it is important to not agree to anything at all until the situation becomes clearer.

It would be good if you can return and keep us informed if for no other reason it may be of use to somebody in the future.


----------



## tsharon (Jun 27, 2014)

Sorry to hear about your problems. Stick to your guns and claim the land. We had a similar problem with our neighbour who was claiming that a strip of our land was his. (5m by 100m) The catastro had not been updated from when the previous owners of our house bought it and still hasnot (10 years ago). We were informed that the escritura and what is registered at the land registry is correct. If the land is in your escritura and registered in your name at the land registry there shouldn't be a problem. 
We were lucky though that in our sales contract we had a boundary map signed by the previous owners to show were the boundary was and also there was a topographical survey included too. And guess what, our neighbour ( he's Spanish), had signed the topographical survey to say he agreed with the boundary that he was now disputing. We showed him the map and he said the surveyor had drawn the map wrong but he had still signed it. We fenced our land and told him to make a denuncia against us if he wanted to claim the land. Three years later and we've not heard anything from him.

Stand your ground. Unfortunately the Spanish (most of them) seem to think we are stupid and because we are in a foreign country we will give in to their demands.


----------



## Solwriter (Jan 10, 2012)

Hi m.george.
Wish I could be of help with what must be a frustrating and worrying problem.
I've just had a look at the two threads posted by Pazcat and there's some good advice on both of them, despite the knowledge that, like many land problems in Spain, this can be a complicated issue.

I think the advice offered by Gus on this thread part of the threads is probably the most useful, so I hope it helps.

But really I was just posting to wish you luck and to make sure that your question stays in view on the forum. 

Good Luck!


----------



## TSN.IMM (May 13, 2013)

To avoid this situation, can we ask for 'no dispute' note signed by all neibours before we buy?


----------



## m.george (Mar 28, 2013)

Thanks so much to all of you who have replied. 

The man in question has just been to our house and left a copy of the catastral map (which we have seen anyway) along with an invoice of a few thousand euros that he assumes we need to pay him!! 

We are currently seeking legal advice and will provide an update when we have one! 
Thanks again for all your help.


----------



## Solwriter (Jan 10, 2012)

m.george said:


> Thanks so much to all of you who have replied.
> 
> The man in question has just been to our house and left a copy of the catastral map (which we have seen anyway) along with an invoice of a few thousand euros that he assumes we need to pay him!!
> 
> ...


The very best of luck and I hope you get some good legal advice.


----------

