Take from this week's COASTRIDER
An elderly lady and her son are facing eviction from their home near San Isidro for a second time, following an auction in which their bank is said to have bid for, and bought, their property.
Barry McIntyre and his 85 year old mother, June, now have until the 2 April to find somewhere else to go, after their family home was taken from them in a bizarre set of circumstances. They say CAM Bank, with whom Barry had a mortgage, has left them destitute and they don’t know which way to turn.
Barry and June came to Spain in 2001 having purchased a house situated on 32,000 square metres of land near San Isidro, although in the Crevillente municipality. At the time of purchase, Barry was running a successful building firm in the UK, on which basis he secured a mortgage with CAM Bank. He had more than €100,000 in the bank, which he would use to modernise the property and add features such as a swimming pool, new walls, extra bedrooms and bathrooms and a patio area. Two and a half years ago, Barry’s business started to falter, and income became a problem.
He made steps to provide himself with an income in Spain through an application to Crevillente Town Hall to use his large plot of land for rental of mobile homes. The town hall refused his request, despite Barry telling me that the law stated he could have up to six mobile homes on his plot without planning permission. In fact, a nearby neighbour has done just this, albeit with problems. Barry said: “I think the decision of the town hall to refuse permission is based on the fact that they have a vested interest in plans to establish a huge mobile home and camping site in the municipality, not far from here. They clearly don’t want any local competition.”
In 2005, Barry tried to refinance the property, getting a valuation from CAM bank of €406,000. He also went to a different bank later in the year.
Caixa valued his home at the increased value of €514,000 in October 2005. At the time, Barry was told by Caixa Bank that they would grant him a mortgage, but NOT for the property that he currently owned. He thought nothing of this decision, as he wanted to remain in his home, but this decision by Caixa Bank not to want to mortgage the existing property now appears to be strange in light of other things that have happened.
November 2006 was when Barry started to struggle with his mortgage payments to CAM Bank, and mum June’s life savings had now all been spent keeping the mortgage payments going. He even put the house on the market for a short period, at a reduced price of €450,000, with no success. Despite being refused permission by Crevillente Town Hall, he allowed three mobile homes to rent space on his land just to earn some money. The income was not enough for the full repayments, although Barry paid sums into the account to demonstrate he was still making efforts. Barry told me: “I was always in dialogue with CAM Bank and in January 2007 I even paid €5,000 into my account.”
In light of his constant attempts to work out a solution with CAM Bank, Barry was then surprised to receive papers from them in February 2007, in which they demanded €30,000 for mortgage payments, administration and legal expenses. Barry could not stump up the cash, and tried to discuss other options.
He said: “They were not interested in dialogue and told my lawyer that papers had gone to court. They said in order to reclaim my house, I would need to raise the total sum of €325,000.”
A date in April 2007 was set for the auction of Barry’s house, which came and went and nothing happened. Barry was then to learn a further date of 19 June 2007 was to be the day when his house would be sold by CAM Bank to the highest bidder. Barry’s lawyer confirmed that the sale had gone ahead. There were two bidders at the auction, and the winning bidder was in fact CAM Bank. Barry said: “How can the bank which owns my house and holds the escritura then go ahead and buy my house at auction? It doesn’t make sense. They must have bought it for someone else.”
Barry’s lawyer was shocked at the speed at which CAM Bank issued the repossession order, and has not yet been able to clarify with CAM Bank lawyers exactly how much the house had been bought for. Barry owed some €248,000 on his mortgage, and was also ordered to pay a further €42,000 in interest, legal costs and expenses. All the lawyer was able to confirm was that Barry’s name is no longer on a credit ‘black list’, which could mean the mortgage and expenses have now been cleared. But if CAM Bank stuck to their sum of €325,000, the amount which they gave to Barry as the minimum they would require from him to buy his own house, which he assumes would have been the auction guide price, Barry would in fact now be owed money by CAM Bank to the tune of €35,000.
Barry suspects there is something not quite right about the deal the bank has done. It is evident that a lot of work and investment has gone into the property which has increased its value, and taken it from a three bedroom to a five bedroom house. Barry has no way of knowing whether the auction was conducted fairly and independently, or that the bank even attempted to get the guide price. He said: “There is a buzz going around at the moment that the land in this area is up for reclassification, from rural to urban. There is also likely to be some land-grab going on, because the road at the bottom of my land needs to be pulled further away from the high speed rail track, and this will affect anyone else whose land is in the same position. I thought Spanish banks repossessed as a last resort, but this all happened so quickly, and with the bank completely refusing to have dialogue with me. I just can’t help wondering whether a deal has been done with a developer, pending land reclassification.”
Barry and 85-year-old June were told to vacate their family home in February, but won a reprieve through a judge who extended the eviction date to 2 April 2008.
June is beside herself with worry and as such her health has taken a turn for the worse. She told me: “I don’t want to leave here, all my life savings went into this house. CAM Bank have left us destitute.”
Barry has been offered work around Europe, but has been unable to take up the offer due to his mother’s ill health. He said: “CAM Bank have left us in an impossible position. They have not told us how much the house was sold for. Based on previous valuations, and even their own reduced price of €325,000, the bank now in theory should owe us money. At least with that we can make a start somewhere else if we have to. At the moment, we don’t even have enough to pay a rent.”
While they wait for the Guardia Civil to arrive in April to remove them from the property, Barry is determined to find out exactly what has happened to his home. He wants to know who now owns it, and exactly how much was paid for it. He will be asking questions as to the true value of his home, in light of the fact that a nearby, similar property, has recently been valued at €750,000. Only then will Barry know for sure whether he and June have been the victims of a secretive deal to obtain land in the area for as little money as possible.
Rebecca Griffin