The Harveys moved from Hunmanby to the Alpujarra mountains, near the coast of south east Spain, five years ago.John and Jenny Harvey are terrified to leave the house in case the bulldozers move in while they are away.And to make matters worse, a crippling fine of 80,000 euros (£61,000) has been imposed on the couple.
“This has ruined our lives,” said 64-year-old Mr Harvey, a former coalminer and builder. “We have worked so hard for this – if they take away our home they may as well put us six feet under.”They invested their life savings of 200,000 euros (£153,000) to transform some derelict land into a beautiful farm surrounded by olive, almond and orange trees.But the regional government of Andalusia now insists their home is illegal, despite having been given planning permission for their project from the local town hall in Lanjarón, which is about 30 miles from the city of Granada.Mrs Harvey, 58, says she is at a loss to understand what went wrong.
She said: “I worked for 30 years as a legal executive so I didn’t cut any corners with the house. We paid an architect to do everything for us.”The Harveys’ fears were heightened by the demolition of another house owned by British pensioners Len and Helen Prior in January. They were given two hours to remove their furniture and belongings from their home in Vera, Almeria.Spain is cracking down on what officials consider to be illegal builds and corruption after a mass of unregulated house building over the past 10 years – and unwary Brits are paying the price.
A Government spokesman insisted that Spain will continue to demolish illegal constructions.Mr Harvey suffers from a heart condition and both he and his wife have become ill through stress since they heard the demolition was set for February 1.
A one-month delay obtained by their lawyer has now expired.The couple are unable to remortgage or sell the condemned home and they have yet to secure a bond for the £61,000 fine.Now, the distraught couple have appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on the advice of Euro MP Michael Cashman.He described similar cases as an “abuse of innocent citizens”.