The last decade has seen a construction boom in Spain which has helped fuel the Fly to Let investment market. Not many of the proud new owners of these properties would have even considered that damp could become an issue in their home; surely not in a brand new construction in one of the warmest and driest climates in Europe?

But damp in Spain is becoming a very real and costly problem in many new-builds, as drain and damp experts, Pipetek (www.pipetek.net) have discovered.

Managing Director of Andalucia-based Pipetek, Jim Fraser, explains: “The massive building boom in Spain has seen some builders rush to complete developments. This has been a problem in some new-builds for years, but until recently it was poor finishing and attention to detail that would suffer, rather than anything more serious.

“But we saw a significant increase in call-outs for damp-related issues in new-build properties throughout 2008 and a pattern has begun to emerge of a worrying link between shoddy construction and ongoing damp problems”.

This increasing problem has been found along the Costas of Andalucia, according to the technical reports from Pipetek. These detailed reports are provided to each client following a call-out and any work undertaken for any issues relating to pipes or drainage. More and more of these reports are showing findings of damp in properties that would never normally be afflicted.

Fraser is certain that in most cases, the culprit is rushed and poor construction. He said: “We have been staggered by the amount of damp on the Costa del Sol and other coasts in Andalucia, most of which are in new-builds.” Pipetek issued 120 technical reports on damp issues in 2008 alone; 70 percent of which were on newly constructed buildings.

Fraser and other experts agree that the most likely cause is the speed at which the new developments along the coast were erected to cater for the huge demand.

• A ruling by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg could mean Britons who bought Fly to Let holiday homes in Northern Cyprus paying thousands of pounds worth of damages to the original Greek Cypriot owners of the land.

The Times newspaper reported that a judgment is expected later this year in a case that began in 2005. A Cypriot court ordered a British couple, Linda and David Orams, to demolish their villa to pay compensation to Greek Cypriot Meledis Apostolides who was recognised as being the legal owner of the land.

The Orams bought the land from Turkish Cypriots who illegally took over the land following the Turkish invasion of 1974. At the time an estimated 170,000 Greek Cypriots fled their homes.

The Orams opposed the original ruling and the case was referred to the EU court where the Advocate General backed the Greek Cypriots. The Times concluded that if this opinion is upheld, damages to the dispossessed population could be enforced against any assets owned elsewhere in the EU by non-Greek property owners.

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