Property olive press
www.theolivepress.es
May 25th - June 7th
By Iona Napier
WHERE’S GILLIAN MCKEITH BUYING AND WHAT ABOUT BREXIT? - PROPERTY P17
Caption
In come the bIg bucks! A HUGE US property fund is splashing 45 million euros on three new Costa del Sol developments. The American bosses Real Capital Solutions behind snapped up sizeable plots have tepona, Mijas and Marbellain Escontinue to look at further and tunities along the coast. opporThe company, based in Marbella since 2013, already has five other developments, including The Retreat, in Elviria.
“We have spent around lion here so far and have100 mila fund of 300 million to spend,” plained Managing Partner exWells, based in Colorado. Peter “We are the largest developer on the Costa del Sol and our emphasis is on distressed properties.” He added: “On top of that things transparently and we do try and deliver on price andalways quality.” The company - which made hundreds of millions buying ing distressed propertiesand sellUS - has 16 staff working in the its office at Centro Plaza. out of Local boss Taylor Cox, added: “The coast is really starting come alive and it’s a pleasure to to live in such a beautiful part of the world.”
estAte agents in spain selves up for the busiest are lining themIt comes as a reasonableJuly on record. number of british buyers put purchases on hold due to the forthcoming eu referendum most agents the olive Presson June 23. firmed they had various spoke to consales currently ‘paused’ awaiting the result, while adding that the british market remained strong per se. the majority believe that the expected result - to stay rope - would lead to the in eupound strengthening considerably against the euro and that mer would be red hot for the sumsales. ben bateman, at holmes sotogrande described the lead up as a ‘pause referendum for thought for british buyers’ due to concerns over the weak pound. “After a remain vote however, we expect to see a strong finish to the den wave of bids from year - and a suders will be likely,” he toldsterling-based buymarbella agent kent the olive Press. schanke, at Fastighetsbyran added: “some are on hold but in the long british buyers run I don’t think it will affect the market or prices,” he said. “even if there is a brexit, it may cause issues at first, but I think will recover very quickly.”the British market
Spanish property sales
olive press Voted top expat newspaper in Spain
the
FREE
Vol. 10 Issue 240
www.theolivepress.es
Roll on Remain benahavis agent scott marshall of Propertiespain said: “I believe it’s very psychological - it’s a combination of the uncertainty of the vote and also the exchange rate right now.” Adam neale of terra meridiana, in estepona, confirmed ‘if the pound falls While many agents have so do the buyers’. rently on hold, some havea couple of sales cur“We have up to ten sales seen more. til after the referendum,” currently on hold unsaid Victor Witkowski, boss of castles estate Agency “buyers are not necessarilyin manilva. they are biding their time pulling out, but to see what happens.” Fellow manilva agent, firmed a slowdown, butshani hamilton, condicting a huge influx of added: “We are prebusiness as soon as a decision is made.”
Deals
by nationality and quarter
www.spanishpropertyinsight.com
source: Registradores
Q1 2013 Q2 2013 Q3 2013 Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014 Q1 2015 Q2 2015 Q3 2015 Q4 2015 Q1 2016
RANKED No.1 for
Currency Exchange
& Money Transfers
RANKED No.1 for
Currency Exchange
& Money Transfers
2016
Booming July predicted following referendum lead up uncertainty
Either way, official statistics out this month confirm the British market remains strong and tens of thousands continue to look for their dream home. Respected analyst mark stucklin insists that foreign demand for spanish property was up 16% in the first quarter of this year with Brits the biggest group of foreign buyers at 22% of the market share. “the british still dominate property and there is no the foreign market for able decline in demand evidence of a noticeas yet,” he said. And certainly not everyone one agent, graham govier is suffering. of Inland Andalucia has seen ‘no negative impact’ at all during the referendum lead-up. “In fact it is the opposite. cheap right now and we Prices are extremely are selling two times as many properties as we were he added: “my salesman last year,” he said. a local celebrity - has justPaul - already a bit of enth consecutive sale and completed his sevpeople are buying because they can see that won’t wait around for themthe incredible deals forever,” he added.
Who is buying in Spain?
Page 14
Whose the man with a big plan?
Page 15
Do you know these secret destinations?
Page 18
Is this your dream home?
For more information please call us on +34 951 401 921 or email spain@smartcurrencye xchange.com OUR PARTNERS
May 25th - June 7th 2016
FUND for Fatima
‘We cannot eat and are still in shock’, says husband of tragic hit and run victim Fatima Dorado as Olive Press launches urgent family appeal For Fatima - Page 6
Biting back!
A DODGY dentist has finally coughed up after losing a sixyear legal wrangle with the Olive Press. Notorious Rajkumar ‘Raj’ Rao has been forced to repay €11,800 in costs and legal expenses after losing a libel battle against us. Despite being ordered to pay
Struck-off British dentist forced to pay up after six-year court battle EXCLUSIVE By Rob Horgan
the sum in 2011, the disgraced dentist has only just handed over the cash - including over
What have Sean Connery and this pair of shoes got to do with Marbella? Turn to Page 7 to find out
€3,000 in interest. While claiming he had no money, Rao continued to operate from his luxury Alhaurin practice promising a ‘world-class smile’ and ‘drop dead gorgeous dentures’ via adverts in local magazines. In reality, many of his patients were given unnecessary procedures and some were left permanently disfigured. One victim, expat David Buchanan took legal action after he was left partially blinded when Rao injected anaesthetic into his eye socket during a ‘routine procedure’. Another 72-yearold patient was given 22 crowns
Free varifocal lenses with glasses from 89€ 59€ See our ad inside for details.
instead of the necessary seven. It emerged he had been twicestruck-off in the UK and had it not been for an administrative error, he would not have been allowed to practise in Spain, where he is still active. However, when we exposed his malpractice and reported on the facts, he sued us for defamation, insisting our stories were entirely false. It led to a costly defence, including flying two victims from the UK.
For all your insurance needs!
Estepona 952 887 125
estepona@ibexinsure.com
Fuengirola
952 465 588
fuengirola@ibexinsure.com
OLIVE PRESS – 70mm x 40mm FRONT COVER 11th & 25th May
Follow us: Holland & Barrett Andalucía
A THIRD of Spain’s most polluted places are in Andalucia, a shocking new study shows. Puerto Real is the most polluted place in the country, while La Linea comes third, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) report. Gibraltar meanwhile, has been exposed as the UK’s most polluted town, faring even worse than La Linea for pollution. The effect of pollution from the Campo de Gibraltar is said to spread as far as Estepona. In total, 12 towns and cities in the region, including Sevilla, Motril and Cuevas de Almanzora, breach WHO safety levels for PM10 and PM2 particles, which penetrate deep into the lungs.
Worrying
Raquel Neco, from green group Verdemar-Ecologistas en Acción, described the report, undertaken over five years, as being ‘very worrying’. “Citizens in the Campo de Gibraltar, in particular, are being exposed to large quantities of particles and the Junta shows no interest in reducing these levels,” she said. “We are all breathing a molotov cocktail of contaminants and people need to know about it.”
Victory
However on the day of the trial in 2010 he failed to turn up. Nor, mysteriously, did the judge leading to a labyrinthine battle to get a judgement in order to get our costs of over €5,000 paid. Indeed, it took a year for the court to even accept our claim and - incredibly - another FOUR years before we could finally collect our dues. Victory only came after the court finally ruled, last year,
Now in Andalucía!
Andaluz air - a Molotov cocktail
THE FATIMA
IN MEMORY: Site of accident and (right) Fatima with baby Katherine
the good life
Page 19
Save money when buying or selling your property in Spain
LOSER: Rao and our stories that we could repossess items of furniture from Rao’s surgery. Only then did he start to cooperate. “We have been pushing the court for years,” said Marbellabased lawyer Adolfo Martos Gross. “It is a great victory for justice but it should never have taken this long. “This case proves that if you keep fighting and never give up then justice can be had, but it is very unfair.” Last night, Olive Press editor Jon Clarke, described it as a ‘sweet victory for justice’, but said it should never have taken so long. “We got sued for doing our jobs. This is the kind of case that puts newspapers off doing investigative journalism, but we won’t be deterred and we will continue to expose all crooks.”
With over two decades in business, Cambridge provides secure and affordable ways to make overseas payments from your UK bank, giving you the peace of mind you need to effectively manage the purchase of your new property. For information connect with our Costa Del Sol office today ! Costadelsol@cambridgefx.co.uk I +34 952 830176
Choker - Page 9