The surprisingly small number of claimants against a law that has potentially affected thousands, is mostly due to the requirement of aggrieved land owners having to try to effect compensation through the Spanish courts before being eligible to bring their action under the ECHR, (European Human Rights Convention)

The fact that no action against the law, has been successful, (to our knowledge, to date), combined with the need for any action for remedy in a property dispute to have been brought before the Spanish courts within six-months of the loss to the land owner, calls into question whether the vast majority of people who have suffered financial loss due to the LRAU will ever see compensation.

The case is expected to receive a hearing date sometime in the next two years.

History of the LRAU, (Ley Reguladora de la Urbanistica)

The LRAU was introduced by the Valencian Comunidad authorities in 1994 to facilitate the development of rural areas of the region into urban communities.

Its impact was soon felt by property owners in rural areas of the Costa Blanca, Costa Calida and Costa Azahar who found themselves in the position of having their land 'confiscated' in the 'public interest' and many also being billed for large amounts of money to pay for the cost of developing new infrastructure.

It soon became clear that the expropriation of land from existing owners and the charging of infrastructure expenses to the same owners was being openly abused by private developers who were openly seen as acting as agents to the public authorities.

The problems within the law lay in several areas, but not least in the lack of definition of 'public interest'. It is this justification for the expropriation of private land that has been used to circumvent any successful remedy in the Spanish Courts and allowed developers to benefit for 'private interest'.

Other areas of concern were finally highlighted by the European Parliament in December 2005. These included the bases on which the 'Ubanistor' or developer was selected; the lack of adequate procedures for the awarding of the public contract and the need for adequate procedures for the notification of land owners so that they were notified individually, effectively and in good time of any development proposals that may affect them, thus giving them adequate time to consider appropriate action.

In February 2006 the Valencian authorities replaced the LRAU with a new law governing the development of rural land. The LUV, (Ley Ubanistica Valencia). The new law whilst addressing some of the issues still fails to deal with many of the concerns highlighted by the European Parliament the previous December.

The case has now been taken up by the UK firm of solicitors Irwin Mitchell and three Monckton Chambers barristers, Piers Gardner, Ian Rogers and Ben Rayment.

The case, to be taken to The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg will be based on Article 1 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, (ECHR), which guarantees the right to property.

The case which would normally be too expensive for private individuals to bring to the court has been made possible by provision by the solicitors of a Conditional Fee Agreement, (CFA), which limits the cost liability to the individual claimants allowing aggrieved parties to partake in the action without fear of enormous costs.

Potential claimants can contact Irwin Mitchell on 00 44 0870 1500 100