Lesley said “As an estate agent in the Costa de la Luz I am very aware of the problems which exist here. I meet on a daily basis people who have been affected by the planning irregularities and Cadizcasa are keen to support those who have been affected and do what we can to regularise our industry in this area. I felt that we needed to target those people at the highest levels both here and in the UK who can really make a difference to what is happening to sort out this problem.

I have therefore written to David Cameron, Prime Minister to ask him to put his voice as the political leader of the UK behind us and lobby the Spanish government to find a solution and implement it in a reasonable timespan. Many of those affected are British nationals who still pay tax in the UK and have a right to vote in the UK. As you will know from my previous press releases and blogs, Giles Paxman, The British Ambassador has been doing a lot of work to help us. These issues affect thousands of people and are preventing people selling their properties and living their lives the way they want to. It is time for the British government to pressure Spain to bring in measures to settle this matter and in particular help people who are without basic utilities. In this connection, I have also written to His Majesty King Juan Carlos of Spain on humanitarian grounds asking for his intervention on behalf of those who do not have mains water or electricity in their homes. Obviously His Majesty cannot become involved in political issues but as the sovereign I am hoping he can add his voice to our request.

In addition I have written to the European Commisioner for Health and Consumer Policy and the European Commission Vice-President for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship. I have also written to the Member of Cabinet at the European Commission who works on relations with the European Judicial Network, relations with the Fundamental Rights Agency and the EU Charter and European Convention for Human Rights. There is little doubt that there are both Consumer issues and Fundamental Rights violations so these people are well placed to help.

I also wrote to the UN Rapporteur. The Rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council with the mandate to monitor, advise and publically report on human rights situations in specific countries and on human rights violations worldwide.

Finally, I have written to the Spanish Justice Minister and the Special Prosecutors Office for Corruption and organised Crime here in Spain. As we need an investigation in to how these events took place which have caused to so much heartbreak to so many people.

I see the problems as being 4 fold

1) We need help to get mains water and electricity for homes which do not have these services
2) We need assurances that properties over 4 yeas of age will not be demolished and that some form of certification will be brought in by the Townhalls to “accept” these properties and give their owners some peace of mind
3) We need the authorities to instigate public investigations in to what went wrong in the system to allow the events which have taken place and to prosecute those who have been pivotal in these events
4) We need a faster justice system to get private legal actions through the courts in a reasonable length of time. I know of cases which have been in court now for years and that is not healthy for the people who have to live in a constant state of anxiety waiting for a verdict. It also serves to assure those who are still involved in the sale of illegal properties that they are not in any imminent danger

We need to solve these problems in order to regenerate the flagging Spanish property market and the people I have written to seem ideally placed to help us.

I have already had a reply from an aide to King Juan Carlos stating that my letter has been passed to the appropriate department and also from Mr Cameron´s office stating that my letter has been passed to the Foreign and Common Wealth Office for attention. As we get replies and have any news, we will be updating people through our blogs”.