As the sun goes down, Clifford Carter and his wife Maria like to repair to their balcony, sip a gin and tonic and gaze out at the Mediterranean, little more than a stone's throw away.The €600,000 (£471,000) three-bedroom chalet commands an almost uninterrupted view of the sea near Valencia. The Carters had planned to pass on the house, which stands just 100 metres from the shoreline, to their daughters. But a new government push to preserve the coastline means the sun will go down for ever on their Spanish idyll.Carter, 59, from Croydon, and his wife María José Ruiz Giner, 58, were told their home falls foul of the law and is now on public land. They were granted permission to stay on at their chalet at Devesa, seven miles south of Valencia, for 30 years, but cannot pass on the property to their daughters or put it on the market.Their case is typical of thousands of other Britons, other foreign owners and Spaniards who own properties next to the sea but who now face an uncertain future. In some cases homes could be bulldozed and there have been no offers of compensation so far.Spain's Socialist government, using the 1988 Ley de Costas (Coastal Law), announced a €4.47bn (£3.5bn) initiative to save the country's ravaged coastline from overdevelopment.
As the sun goes down, Clifford Carter and his wife Maria like to repair to their balcony, sip a gin and tonic and gaze out at the Mediterranean, little more than a stone's throw away.
The €600,000 (£471,000) three-bedroom chalet commands an almost uninterrupted view of the sea near Valencia. The Carters had planned to pass on the house, which stands just 100 metres from the shoreline, to their daughters. But a new government push to preserve the coastline means the sun will go down for ever on their Spanish idyll.
Carter, 59, from Croydon, and his wife María José Ruiz Giner, 58, were told their home falls foul of the law and is now on public land. They were granted permission to stay on at their chalet at Devesa, seven miles south of Valencia, for 30 years, but cannot pass on the property to their daughters or put it on the market.
Their case is typical of thousands of other Britons, other foreign owners and Spaniards who own properties next to the sea but who now face an uncertain future. In some cases homes could be bulldozed and there have been no offers of compensation so far.
Spain's Socialist government, using the 1988 Ley de Costas (Coastal Law), announced a €4.47bn (£3.5bn) initiative to save the country's ravaged coastline from overdevelopment.
