The neighbors of Valterra have decided to hire legal advice after a year and a half of waiting for the lack of response from the Cabildo of Lanzarote in the transfer of the 70 homes that are still pending transfer to their occupants in this neighborhood of Arrecife.
Last March 2023, the previous Government group of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, presided by Dolores Corujo (PSOE), acquired the 70 homes of Valterra to then "continue with the administrative procedure" and transfer them to their legitimate owners. In May, weeks before the elections, the socialist informed the residents that the transfer was pending to collect the deed in Madrid, and that then the Cabildo should begin the registration procedures in the Registry and in the Cadastre.
After the arrival to power of the new Government group, presided by Oswaldo Betancort (CC), the neighbors denounce that they have been waiting for eighteen months for the first insular institution to conclude the bureaucratic procedures so that the properties are handed over to them. Given the lack of response, they have chosen to mediate through a lawyer.
"It's going to cost us a lot of money because they haven't wanted the collaboration of the Association that we have offered them and they are denying the majority. Now we are going to see where they are going to act", says Antonio Betancort, president of the association of neighbors affected by this situation.
The objective was not for the homes to be integrated into the island's heritage, but that they would be finally transferred to "those who accredit their status as legitimate owners", with the aim of settling a historical claim for the neighborhood. However, these citizens have not found answers in the first insular institution so far.
This same Tuesday and already in the company of the legal assistance of the neighbors, Antonio Betancort has held a first meeting at the headquarters of the Cabildo of Lanzarote. "Today we had a small contact and what they have told the lawyer is more or less the same as at the beginning, that they are going to go to Madrid, that they have had contact with the director of the Institute and the legal services and that they are going to start maneuvering, I suppose from January", he indicated.
In this line, Antonio Betancort has assured that from the Cabildo they tell him that "there is a clause that they have to review or manage, because something is wrong in the deed and we are going to wait to see if we can correct that error".
However, the representative of the affected neighbors has pointed out that those responsible "have the deeds, the donation, since the new Government entered. They took possession and two days later they receive the donation of the house".
Thus, he has pointed out that "no matter how much we have been meeting, asking for information, the answer is always the same: 'we are on it, we want to do it, we are not doing politics'", but he has criticized them for having made a rally in Valterra accusing the association of not wanting to deliver the documentation.
"I cannot give the documentation that I have from the neighbors, with names, surnames and identity documents because it is [subject to the law of] data protection. If you want it, tell me how many homes you are going to deliver today and I will bring the neighbors the documentation", he continued. To date, of the 70 affected neighbors, only 14 are missing to collect their documentation.
Social housing
The Social Institute of the Navy built around two hundred homes in 1955, with the participation of the canneries, so that they could be used by their employees as official protection homes. The State delivered 130 of them to the tenants, while on the other 70 a lawsuit was initiated. The three canning companies then claimed the properties and, until now, the neighbors have lived with the fear of being evicted and without being able to intervene in them as their legal rights are not recognized.