The illegal apartments in Cala Llamp (Andratx) were due to have been demolished earlier this year. There are twelve of them, and they were bought after the town hall granted building permission in summer 2005. The mayor at the time was Eugenio Hidalgo, who was arrested in the autumn of 2006 for corruption related to illegal construction.
The demolition, planned for the end of January, didn't go ahead because - and unsurprisingly - some owners were not in agreement with valuations placed on their properties by the town hall. The matter is therefore with the courts, who will decide on compensation. The apartments had been bought in good faith at prices of up to 600,000 euros. The town hall has been setting aside money from its recent budgets to meet costs.
Meantime, some of the apartments, as has been the case for the past five summers or so, are being rented out to tourists. Four of them are currently being used as holiday rentals, something which couldn't have happened if the demolition had been undertaken as had been envisaged. The demolition was only possible after a court order of November last year to allow town hall personnel to inspect eight of the apartments. The owners had refused entrance to the town hall. The apartments had originally been destined for demolition five years ago, but owners had prevented it.