New legislation introduced in Valencia has ignored pressure from the EU to abolish its controversial land grab laws, according to www.spanishpropertyinsight.com.

Valencias Regions planning laws (Ley Reguladora de la Actividad Urbanistica) which permit promoters to expropriate private property for development purposes without the property owners consent, was heavily criticised last autumn by the European Parliament in Strasbourg, following over 15,000 complaints from affected owners.

Mark Stucklin, head of www.spanishpropertyinsight.com, told PIN: "The new law is a great disappointment as it fails to tackle the opportunities for corruption that are a big part of the problem in the Valencian region. But on the plus side the new law is more demanding than the previous one, making it harder to present development proposals and easier to contest them."