a spanish problem

Whilst I appreciate there is much to learn about our adopted country, this seems a somewhat gloomy view of life in Italy, and it is not my experience of Italian friends and neighbours, who have always been helpful and supportive. I cannot really comment on France or Spain, but having read the article it is possible to see that the Spanish may resent the influx of ex-pats living in illegal homes, especially if no effort is made to learn the language or to become involved in the local community.????. But an interesting topic for debate.

it is not my experience of Italian friends and neighbours, who have always been helpful and supportive Friends and neighbours are not the problem. The Spanish issue is caused by local government seeking out any properties deemed to have been built illegally. And you will probably find that most foreign-owned property is for holiday use rather than people trying to fit in with the local community. I have many, often well educated friends with property in Spain and most of them can't form a simple sentence in Spanish (or even pronounce chorizo correctly!). Without knowing anything about the illegal property, it seems to me the authorities are probably in some part culpable, as surely some sort of permissions must have been granted at the time of building. My overall take on it remains the same as since 1996 (ish?) when the Valencia land grab started - as in, who on earth would risk anything to do with property in Spain after the way they dealt with that? Terry

We used to own a small village house in Andalucia. In many areas illegal development is a big problem, but it is unfair to blame the homeowners alone, as most of them bought their properties in good faith. The fault lies both with the local authorities who sold land to developers, or who turned a blind eye to breaches of planning regulations, and the developers themselves who unscrupulously marketed homes to (often foreign) buyers knowing full well they were constructed illegally. As for the local inhabitants and their attitude to their host communities, in Spain we found that many expats were there simply for the sunshine and cheap alcohol, as SirTK says, and made no attempt to learn Spanish or contribute to the community. In my experience the foreigners who go to Italy do so for the culture and lifestyle and not just the climate and the wine, so are more positive about Italy and their Italian neighbours. They tend to fall in love with Italy- or an Italian!

It is difficult to generalise. Some foreigners have purchased property in Spain without checking on the legality of the building. Others have made additions to existing properties without the necessary permits. Others have received verbal agreements from greedy politicians or public servants who only wanted some financial gain. For very many years there has not been proper control over properties in Spain; however, things are changing. I do not think that there is any resentment against foreigners in Spain; however, some of them make no effort to integrate or interact and those are the foreigners who are not liked at all. As it has been said, some people go to Spain, particularly to the Costas to have cheap drinks and sun.... They make no effort to learn even some basic Spanish, they go to foreign-owned bars, they do not even appreciate local customs, food and history. In general terms, I believe that people who come to Italy are better educated.... and, again, I am generalising.

they may just have been pronouncing Chourico in Portuguese

Maybe I am being dreadfully cynical, but the somewhat irrelevant 'article' in 'Global Edge' appears to have been written by an Estate Agent in l'Abruzzo, who I suspect is better known on this forum as 'adriatca'. (It's the typos which give it away...)