April Fool "spoofs"

[Tdm]

I don't read English newspapers so don't know what stories appeared in them today which were an April Fool joke.

However the English language local paper here "Canarian Weekly" that comes out on a Friday today had a "Headline" story that if Britain leaves the EU in the forthcoming referendum, all Britains will be expelled from Spain and their property seized, and they will be given just a year to get out as they would be regarded as Migrants the same way Migrants are currently treated by the EU.

Some people seem to have been taken in by the story (which covers a full inside page), but right at the end there is a reference to a website with more info which is "www.aprilfoolsday.com".

[72BLUE]

Sounds quite believable...........

http://www.expatfocus.com/spanish-landgrab-law-is-it-fair

Keith

[Tdm]

Fortunately the Islas Canarias have their own local Laws, even though they are a Province of Spain (2 Provinces actually), a bit like the Channel Islands are to Britain. There can be a lot of red tape, which leads to frustration, and the Courts system is very slow, but the good points outweigh the bad. For example when we bought our 1st Apartment here in 2001, it only took 4 days from agreeing to buy it to being handed the keys and told it's now yours, and if we have to visit the "Urgencias" (A&E) at the local Hospital we are usuallty seen to and are being treated within minutes of our arrival.

[Motorsport Micky]

There's a few April fools here from across the world.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/03/31/april-fools-day-2016-the-best-pranks-jokes-and-reaction/

Micky

[Staggard]

Sounds like you live in a different country to me terry

[Tdm]

Sounds like you live in a different country to me terry

A different part of South Tenerife yes, and obviously different experiences, which part of my post are you dissagreeing with Graham?.

My wife and I (and other family members too) have had first hand experience of excellent treatment at El Mojon hospital on several occasions, and it did only take us 4 days to complete the purchase of our 1st Apartment, and we are very happy living in Los Cristianos.

[Staggard]

Being as you asked, Mahon has been 20 years in the making and its still not finished, A&E has been open for around 12 months, a Spanish friend of mine 2weeks ago was taken there with a bowel hernia and was given paracetamol and told he needed an operation which they could not do there as the theatre's were not finished and was sent to Candelaria he is still waiting. The last time I used the Securidad Social was when I broke my tibia I went to A&E in Hospiten who said it needed to be operated on because it was a private Hospital and they would only deal with emergency surgery they sent me to Candelaria who said it was only sprained, I returned to Hospiten who operated on me and put a plate in my leg and charged the social security. After that experience I went private and remained so ever since. 20 years of taxpayers money ( including mine) been poured in to that project and we still don't have a fully operational hospital in the South disgusting. Moving on, Spanish law you don't own a property until the escritura is in your name and you are registered in in the land registry, this was brought to light when we bought the apartments along with many others in different locations in Tenerife. Back in the day when escrituras were drawn up in mainland Spain ( Madrid) I believe, and all the paperwork was sent over there for escritures to be drawn up which took months, even though you had paid your money and been issued with a bill of sale and had the keys and access you still did not own the property. Because of this developers were able to go to the bank and borrow money against your property, then they never paid the repayments, 5 years down the line my name appeared in the Bulletin official as a debtor luckily my friend who is a lawyer picked up on this in time, he was a friend of Martinez ( you may have heard of him) who was on the board of directors of the development company and luckily encouraged him to pay off the debt. Unfortunately many many people were not so lucky and lost their properties to the banks and went back to England loosing all their money some of my friends amongst them. Happily things have now changed and all escritures are drawn up here in Tenerife which generally takes 4-5 weeks. So you are right Terry our experiences are very different. Sorry for the rant but that touched a long sleeping nerve on both counts

[Tdm]

Obviously you have had bad experiences here, and my wife and family have only had good ones since moving to Tenerife.
Lets agree to differ and move on. Everything I said was true (including the property ownership part).
You have made the decision to leave the Island and I wish you well in your new home.
I am staying and looking forward to the future here, as are many other friends that we have met here.
Enough said.