European Property Rights and Wrongs - Diana Wallis MEP

Diana comments from experience
Against this background of the types of problems encountered by European citizens
in relation to property issues, it is helpful to assess the different options that
may be open to them in terms of those who contact MEPs.
There is a category who just need access to independent and understandable
legal advice in the country where they have purchased or attempted to purchase.
Sometimes as an MEP (and using my old knowledge as a former solicitor) I have
been able to put people into contact either with English lawyers who have a working
relationship with a lawyer on the ground in the relevant country, or to find a
lawyer in the country who speaks good English and can understand the preoccupations
of a client from a different legal culture. The more such reliable relationships
and partnerships develop between legal professionals across the EU, the better
they will be able to serve the needs of an increasingly mobile European population.
Clearly, this category relates to problems with the purchaser, normally matters
relating to private contract law. Often if an apartment block or a development
is involved there can be a number of purchasers (often from different European
countries) having the same argument with a vendor or developer; indeed my office
has on one occasion be able to facilitate access to a sympathetic lawyer in
Spain who put together a small and potentially successful joint action on behalf
of such a group. We can only surmise how much simpler such action might be if
there were a proper system of collective redress at European level, that has for so
long been talked about.
Then there are those whose complaint, rather than being with the vendor has
to do with the local or national administration. In such cases, it may sometimes
be possible for the Commission’s alternative dispute system known as SOLVIT to
be approached.
The most complex group are those systemic problems, in some Member States
of the European Union, which appear to raise questions as to whether local, regional
or national action or legislation by the relevant administration has breached
either EU law or human rights pursuant to the ECHR. It is in relation to these categories
of problem that a string of petitions have been brought to the Petitions
Committee of the European Parliament over the last years. Every European citizen
(indeed resident) has the right to petition the European Parliament, on possible
breaches of EU law, and this provides us with a very helpful sounding board as to
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European Property Wrongs