Birds build nests and humans, since they learned to bend a few twigs and cover them in cow waste, have built houses.  A house is the single most important item to any human being, whether it be a thatched shack on stilts in the Indian Ocean or a stone built mansion, we all need one and we all aspire to a better one than we have.  We feel safe as a child when we are at home,  when we meet the right mate our first thought is to find a home, when the children arrive we are content when they are in bed and safe in our home and as we get older we feel content and settled in our home.

Our home does not just provide shelter it provides a deep sense of belonging and a sense of something we know and trust,  something that we can come back to and be at peace in.  No matter what befalls you during the day when you get home and shut the door you feel  a certain sense of security, that nobody and nothing can get to you and that you are in your own space.

Helping someone buy property that does all these things I consider to be an honour and a responsibility.  Your home is the largest single investment you will probably make in your life so it is vital that you get the right one.  The one that suits you and that you feel at peace in.

So, I opened Cadizcasa Estate Agents because I believed that the job could be done better.  Having bought and sold properties of my own in the past I was always a bit let down by the service on offer.  It seemed that the people were more interested in getting sales than in providing the right product for their customer´s needs.  This seemed a bit odd to me as you would not sell someone a suit that didn´t fit them because one look in the mirror would give away the baggy shoulders,  but with a house it can take a long time before the wrong choice comes to light. The service on the other side didn´t seem right either. You put your house up for sale with an agent and then they brought you loads of clients who wanted something different to what you were selling.  The excuse was always “we thought when they saw it they might like it”.  All this tropospheric scatter approach did was wear out your nerves and your carpets.

I wanted to give people the kind of service when buying property that I expected, patience, straight forward advice and no sales tricks.  Selling houses is not rocket science, your job is not to push people in to buying what you want them to buy or what brings you the most profit, your job is to chaperon them and let them find what they are looking for.  We all know instinctively when we are in the right place and all an Estate Agent should do is read the client, take them to what they think is the right place and then let the clients do the rest.  By all means give some advice when required but never try to manipulate or push.

Perhaps I could have been a millionaire by now like so many others I have known over the years by pushing or manipulating but I did not have to grab a British Airways or Lufthansa flight back to my own country and shut my Facebook account to stop people finding me.  I still live on the Costa de la Luz the area of Spain I consider to be my home. Many of my clients are now friends and I love to meet them and see their families growing.  I don´t have to run for cover when I see them walking up the street in Chiclana de la Frontera and if I did then I would know that I had failed in doing my job.

I came to the Costa de la Luz to start a new life, to have an adventure with my husband,  which we could both share and which would last a lifetime.  Within days  of arriving I felt at home in Spain.  I liked the people.   To the Spanish a shovel is a shovel, nothing more and nothing less, you are judged on your personal qualities not your wealth and you make time for human beings.  Life in Britain was rushing by so fast I found that I did not have time to spend with people, not even time to say hello, how are you, how are the kids and the sad fact is that now I do take those few precious minutes which mean so much to the other person and I still achieve as much and I don´t carry the guilt burden of having had to rush by someone that I knew I should have spent a little time with.

Every day for me in the Costa de la Luz is an adventure, I love shopping at the indoor market in Chiclana and listening to the day’s news as related by the locals.  I love sitting by the sea with a glass of wine and watching the sun go down, I love walking in the streets and smelling the onions and garlic as women prepare the midday meal for the family and most of all I love the feeling of belonging and being at peace with where I now live and being an estate agent has made that possible for me.

At this moment in time I cannot ever imagine being anywhere else than right here in Chiclana doing what I love – being an Estate Agent.

I parked the car in the underground and when I emerged from that dark exhaust filled cavern what I saw was akin to a scene from Dante´s Inferno.  There were men with moustaches dressed as babies with full size nappies and large dummies, there were men dressed as women complete with high heels and stockings,

there were women dressed as various animals, a cat, a couple of pantomime cows with udders and to top the lot three elderly and I mean kicking 70 year old  ladies wearing full nuns outfits with a ciggy in one hand, a bottle of Mahou in the other and a set of rubber replica male genitalia firmly strapped to their foreheads over their veils.

Maybe  I looked a bit shocked or maybe they just could not be bothered to venture further for a victim but one of the nuns said “where do you come from love”. “Chiclana” I replied and at that she leapt into her role as  conductor.  The other two old nags straightened up and put down their Mahou´s and with a wave of the self appointed conductor´s hands all three burst into song.  Having just got over the outfits the song managed to send me back into shock.  It was a bawdy little number about a girl from Chiclana and what she did on the weekends.  Nothing to do with working in a shoe shop more about her nocturnal activities.  I have to say it was probably an accurate listing of all the things your average teenage female would like to do on the weekend but due to sturdy window locks and  alert parents they only tend to lie in their room and think about it.  I certainly never managed to escape the homely nest and get up to what this girl did until I was over 18.  Don´t ask me why but when they finished I felt obliged to point out that I was originally from Edimburgo (Edinburgh) and only lived in Chiclana.  The hands got waved again and off they went into another three choruses of the same song but this time replacing Chiclana with Edimburgo.  At the end, all three in one perfectly synchronised move raised their hands and wiggled their strap on genitalia at me while winking.  I remembered the old saying that sometimes a swift retreat is the better part of valour so I thanked them (which didn’t really seem appropriate) and left.

I sat myself in a small bar, rang hubby on the mobile and told him I would stay put until he came and rescued me as some James Bond baddie had obviously put something in the water supply in Cadiz that was affecting the natives in a pretty odd way.

The TV was on in the bar as they always are in Spain and they were screening Carnival from all over Spain, Cordoba, Murcia, Granada on and on it went.  There were more men in babies nappies singing ditties, I hasten to add they had been toned down considerably for general screening to the nation and there were some women dressed as nuns but minus the rubber extras.  I watched  for a while but my attention kept on wandering to the merriment outside.  It seemed that Carnival  was all of a bit samey but Cadiz appeared to be doing it much better than the rather tame efforts on the TV.  The odd groups who came in the door of the bar every few minutes, gave a quick rendition and exited to cheers and laughs all round were a cut above those on the box. The barman told me “they´ll be at it till 4 or 5 tomorrow morning you know”.  As it was late February and cold I can only imagine that the alcohol and the party atmosphere served to keep them warm.

Hubby duly appeared and rescued me.  We set off in the direction of the car park again.  Just as we got to the  three singing nuns one raised her Mahou to salute me and promptly fell over backwards into the municipal gardens landing in a large patch of Poinsettias.  The other two nuns, a couple of men dressed as women with large inflatable boobs and a priest wearing stocks climbed in after her and hauled her to her feet.  I have to take my hat off to her – when they got her upright again and got her habit back down round her ankles instead of over her head  where it had come to rest, she still had a ciggy in her mouth and a full bottle of Mahou in her right hand with not a drop spilled.  I couldn´t help it,  I told her she could be an honorary Scot with drinking etiquette like that.
If you are in Cadiz in February take your life in your hands and see some of the Carnival  – I guarantee you will never see anything like it in your life again.

I was recently very fortunate to meet and have a conversation with the British Ambassador to Spain Giles Paxman.  I was able to discuss the plight of the many British citizens who find themselves in a position where properties they bought in good faith are now found to have varying degrees of legal issues.

It is fair to say that he was unaware of the true scale of the problems we face here in Chiclana and indicated that he would take further steps to assess the situation.  I am pleased to tell you that true to his word he has appointed a Special Envoy whose is currently amassing information to identify what went wrong in the various areas and what can be done to rectify the problems.

I truly believe that any interest in this matter by the UK Government is a very positive step forward. They have  unhindered access to senior decision makers and a clear remit to protect UK citizens abroad.

As part of this process I have submitted a report detailing the paperwork issues to the Ambassador´s Special Envoy along with several case studies covering a variety of legal problems. In a further email received this week the Special Envoy has asked to be kept updated on any “significant cases” which come to light.

Your Government clearly wants to know about the problems you have encountered and I would ask that you contact me with an account of your current situation. You can be totally assured that everything you say will be treated in the strictest confidence and neither your name or address will be used.

Please send brief details to me at info@cadizcasa.com or call me on 679 553 159.  Please be aware that we are acting solely as a trusted intermediary and we receive no financial gain whatsoever.  We are keen to establish the extend and exact nature of the problems you are encountering in Chiclana.  This is part of our investment in the future of the British community in Chiclana and would very much welcome your support.

Kind Regards

Lesley McEwan
Director