J
joesher
New Member
In 2008 after much searching, we found an ideal holiday home in a small town called Mula in the province of Murcia. It was a simple town, but pretty and dominated by a fine medieval castle. The town was an hour's drive from the beach, half an hour from the city of Murcia and surrounded by lovely countryside.
The house itself was up a steep footpath and could not be reached by car, but in other ways was ideal. It had wonderful views over the town to the mountains beyond and looking up from the two terraces had stunning views of the castle.
The original house had consisted of 2 caves built into the hillside, but to those had been added a large living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom in conventional brick. We bought if as a shell for €40,000, and over the next couple of years together with a local builder we hauled up the hill a huge amount of building material, fittings and furniture to restore it to a habitable condition at a cost of about €20,000. If you want to see how it looked then see www wix com/joesher/mula
Then the problems started. First the electric supply cable was stolen (for its scrap value presumably) just before we were about to visit and had to be restored by the local electricity company for €600.
The next time we visited we could see as soon as we arrived that a window had been forced and that the fridge and a few other items had been taken. However we realised that the window had only been protected by a metal mesh and we had new bars put on and replaced the missing items.
A few months later we got a call from our builder who was keeping an eye on the place and he told us that the bars on another window had been sawn through, and a lot of stuff had been taken including the washing machine, water heater, built in oven and hob as well as lots of other stuff.
At this point we decided to give up. There was nothing else worth stealing so we had the window bars put back and put the place on the market for €35000. Then followed further events
A hole was broken in the flat roof and bathroom fittings taken including the loo. The hole was repaired.
A few months later the locked steel front door and most of the window bars were ripped off and taken for their scrap value. We reduced the price to €10,000 and found a lady who was interested and without prompting from me this lady had new bars put on the windows and doors. Needless to say these were soon removed and she understandably lost interest.
By now, everything including all furniture and fittings had been removed. I decided to have all the doors and windows bricked up with reinforced blocks and leave the whole thing until the market improved! Clearly I had underestimated these people as the last I heard they had smashed a hole in the wall and the house seems to be being used as a combination of a toilet and a hideout for druggies.
The local police must be on another planet. The neighbours clearly don't care as all the stolen goods would have to have been carried down the hill past their houses, and the noise of smashing down walls and a steel door must have been tremendous. I suspect they were probably related to the thieves.
To top it all the Spanish government claim that to avoid taxes I must not have paid the full price when I bought it in 2008, and emptied my bank account. I still supposedly owe them about €2000.
Anyone got any ideas? Anyone want a house?
The house itself was up a steep footpath and could not be reached by car, but in other ways was ideal. It had wonderful views over the town to the mountains beyond and looking up from the two terraces had stunning views of the castle.
The original house had consisted of 2 caves built into the hillside, but to those had been added a large living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom in conventional brick. We bought if as a shell for €40,000, and over the next couple of years together with a local builder we hauled up the hill a huge amount of building material, fittings and furniture to restore it to a habitable condition at a cost of about €20,000. If you want to see how it looked then see www wix com/joesher/mula
Then the problems started. First the electric supply cable was stolen (for its scrap value presumably) just before we were about to visit and had to be restored by the local electricity company for €600.
The next time we visited we could see as soon as we arrived that a window had been forced and that the fridge and a few other items had been taken. However we realised that the window had only been protected by a metal mesh and we had new bars put on and replaced the missing items.
A few months later we got a call from our builder who was keeping an eye on the place and he told us that the bars on another window had been sawn through, and a lot of stuff had been taken including the washing machine, water heater, built in oven and hob as well as lots of other stuff.
At this point we decided to give up. There was nothing else worth stealing so we had the window bars put back and put the place on the market for €35000. Then followed further events
A hole was broken in the flat roof and bathroom fittings taken including the loo. The hole was repaired.
A few months later the locked steel front door and most of the window bars were ripped off and taken for their scrap value. We reduced the price to €10,000 and found a lady who was interested and without prompting from me this lady had new bars put on the windows and doors. Needless to say these were soon removed and she understandably lost interest.
By now, everything including all furniture and fittings had been removed. I decided to have all the doors and windows bricked up with reinforced blocks and leave the whole thing until the market improved! Clearly I had underestimated these people as the last I heard they had smashed a hole in the wall and the house seems to be being used as a combination of a toilet and a hideout for druggies.
The local police must be on another planet. The neighbours clearly don't care as all the stolen goods would have to have been carried down the hill past their houses, and the noise of smashing down walls and a steel door must have been tremendous. I suspect they were probably related to the thieves.
To top it all the Spanish government claim that to avoid taxes I must not have paid the full price when I bought it in 2008, and emptied my bank account. I still supposedly owe them about €2000.
Anyone got any ideas? Anyone want a house?
