It was back in 1988 that the publicly owned residential facilities, just down from Chinasol in Almuñécar were leased to Turismo Tropical. The idea was for the privately owned company to offer holiday accommodation for the aged and the handicapped.

Old timers in Almuñécar will remember when these building were the municipal home for the mentally and physically challenged. Dear old Alejandro (deceased) with his “Mi abuelo se ha caido de la amoto,” used to live there. There’s a splendid painting of him somewhere, in the Pub El Convento, I think.

Anyway, I digress… The agreement was a three-way one between the Town Hall, the company that ran it, and the Provincial Council, who would be selecting and sending the tourists. During the summer, however, the company was allowed to used it privately for normal tourists.

Years went by, five in five, which was when the lease was automatically extended, until this year when the conservative-controlled Provincial Council decided to only extend it 18 months.

Now, the socialist party in Almuñécar considers that the council is gunning for the company, or better said, the businessman behind it – evidently a socialist-leaning person.

So the company took the Council to court to overturn the 18 month limitation and the judge has just decided in favour of Turismo Tropical, in the first instance – in other words, the Council can enter an appeal.

Now the company had been forced to abandon the facilities just days before the sentence came through, so they busily moving their stuff back in, because the judge said that the lease shall be for five years, starting from the 28th of April, 2013.

However, if the Council does appeal, then out they come again until the case is permanently settled.