Hot news for any of you that have been considering illegal letting appeals. Janet Anscombe has reported on her blog that the first of the illegal letting appeals have been heard in court.
Before the court hearing the judge wanted to speak with Jose Escobedo who is currently leading a team of solicitors that are fighting the judgements and appealing in court on cases of illegal lettings. Janet reported that the judge wanted to tell him that the Canarian Law about illegal lettings is in fact a valid law and as such is applicable to the fines and judgements that have been imposed. Secondly, he wanted to inform him that any case that had been deemed “prior authorization” would have no relevance.
The main reason that the judge wanted the meeting was to let Jose know that he felt that the €30.000 fines that had been imposed were, in his opinion, unfair. He explained that there are plans to allow each owner to sign an agreement that would say that the owners agree that they have been at fault and that they agree to pay a fine and that by signing this agreement and paying the fine this is in full and final settlement of the case.
The signing of this form and payment of the fine would indicate that this particular case was now closed, but it would also open up the fact that should the owner be caught letting illegally once again, then the second level of fines would be imposed automatically, which could be the €30.000, and as the owner had already agreed that they had acted illegally in the first case, then there would be absolutely no room for appealing at court.
He also said that there were plans to reduce the fines from €30.000 and in his opinion, it could well be that fines could be set at €5.000.
For more information on this subject, click through to the Janet Anscombe blog.
