Property Rights

Millions of Britons own dream homes in the sun. But for some it can be a nightmare, so Edward McMillan-Scott is once again working  to clean up the property business.

In January 2007 Edward McMillan-Scott persuaded his colleagues on the European Parliament's Petitions (Ombudsman) Committee to examine ways to stabilise the cross-frontier property market, as millions of Europeans buy holiday villas and apartments in new markets like the Balkans, Turkey and North Africa, which people expect



Here, Edward McMillan-Scott and his assistant Jennifer Forrest welcome the sponsors of the property petition to Brussels


The European Parliament’s Petitions Committee is examining petition 665/2006 by Stratos Paradias (Greek) on behalf of the International Union of Property Owners on the need to protect property rights in the EU and its “Neighbourhood. This initiative was sponsored by Edward McMillan-Scott MEP following requests from numerous complainants, and his previous work for the committee.

McMillan-Scott says: “Property rights are the cornerstone to a stable and prosperous society. The EU has an economic and consumer obligation to ensure such rights. There is still much to be done. Where Spain and Portugal responded in the 1980s, the EU’s new partners must respond today”.

In November 2007 Edward met EU Commissioner Olli Rehn, who is responsible for negotiations between Brussels and countries wishing to join the EU, like Croatia or Serbia or beyond.  The EU has stipulated certain conditions about the property laws in such countries and Edward is encouraging Rehn to apply those conditions.


BACKGROUND

The European Parliament is currently reviewing the Timeshare Directive which resulted from Edward's Golden Fleece campaign. Edward has given evidence during the review process.

In 1988 McMillan-Scott was appointed as a special investigator (rapporteur) by the European Parliament's Petitions Committee to examine wide-scale fraud and malpractice in the Costa villa and timeshare market. His ‘Golden Fleece’ campaign led to national consumer laws in Spain and Portugal and to the EU’s Timeshare Directive, which imposed a mandatory cooling-off period. It is currently being reviewed to take account of loopholes, such as the use of ‘holiday clubs’. 		 

Other News

Homes in the sun:  the 'Golden Fleece'

Wealthy Britons have always enjoyed the privilege of a home in the sun.  Edward's postbag began to swell when he looked into the way folk from his constituency - some using redundancy money -were being ripped-off. This led to his "Golden Fleece" campaign in the 1980s.

The usual real estate scam was to provide a shoddily built home with no formal planning permission - and often with a hidden double mortgage.

Timeshare is a good idea in principle, but awful when taken up by crooks. They set up company A to hard-sell their property weeks, then bankrupted Company A, keeping the money in an offshore Company B.

See BACKGROUND for the results

Edward visits a civil war cemetery in former Yugoslavia during a recess fact-finding tour. The Balkans present the worst property rights situation today, not just because of ethnic cleansing bt also because of the corrupt governments in this ex-communist zone