The Urban Planning Department at the Motril Town Hall has its sights on buildings that are 50-years old or older as they consider them as a possible danger. This ‘danger,’ they deem is not only for the people who live in them, but also for passersby.

In Motril there are 1,767 dwellings that fit this category, according to the Catastro Register. These dwellings will have, or already have had, a surveyor round to examine the foundations etc. This inspection is known as the Inspección de Evaluación de Edificios (IEE).

In fact, 683 houses have already been inspected, of which 611 passed and 72 will have to undergo another inspection after carrying out corrective work.

This brings us to the 660 dwellings that are in the process of being fined for not having submitted a report, in which case, they could be looking at a fine of 3,000 euros. There are a further 343 that passed without submitting an architect report: 130 that  could prove, contrary to municipal records, that they were under 50-years old, 120 that had since carried out renovations, and 90  were in fact just empty plots (i.e., had already been demolished).

And it goes on but it just goes to show how out-of-date the municipal records are – perhaps the Urban Planning staff should get a 3,000 fine? Talking of deserving a fine, 40 of the premises that have failed to come up with their IEE are bank branches, and other official business premises.

But all this kerfuffle has come about because the amount of derelict houses there are in the municipality, many of which are on Calle San Roque, Calle Portugueses, Calle Huerto del Capitán or in the Calle Monjas area. In many cases it would be cheaper to demolish them rather than do them up, which is why demolition licences have been sort by their owners.

To make it clear, it is not the Town Hall that draws up the state-of-the-property report, but the property owner who has to do it through a aparejador (quantity surveyor).

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)