A family reports that they have been unable to use a plot of land in La Vegueta for more than a decade, for which they also consider that they are being charged "unfair" taxes. "We want this nightmare to end once and for all," says the daughter of the land owner.
According to what she told La Voz, her mother, who is 83 years old and lives in Arrecife, inherited this 2,489 square meter plot of land in the Maramoya area, which "has always been rustic." However, in the General Plan of the Tinajo City Council approved in 2004, it was classified as rustic land for facilities.
This, as she explains, prevents them from using the land since, due to this classification, said land must be used for a public use facility. "With that classification, you could only build a visitor center, municipal warehouses, kennels... Nothing that an ordinary citizen can do. We can't even plant anything there, we can't dispose of the land," says this woman.
In this regard, she states that "the City Council's idea has always been to keep that land" and that, at the time, the mayor of Tinajo, Jesús Machín, told her mother that "he intended to expropriate it because they were planning to put the clean point there." However, none of that has been done and 16 years later, it is still not defined what facilities are intended for that plot, while this family has to face taxes for the land that they did not have before. "Being rustic, contribution was never paid, but since they changed the classification and included it in the PGO, they are charging it," she explains.
A change they didn't know about "until 2017" as a result of an embargo
In addition, she states that they did not find out about said change of classification "until 2017", when her mother received an embargo "of 1,322 euros" for IBI for that land and the receipts for "some contributions that were owed with interest of 5,049 euros", which she had to ask to be split up "to be able to pay it."
And, she affirms that the change of classification has meant that her mother is being charged IBI receipts of 800 euros per year because although "the land is rustic according to the Land Registry, the cadastre considers it urban."
"We immediately went to ask the City Council, where Jesús Machín received us, and he told us that they could not do anything, that it was a matter for the Cabildo, but we went to the Cabildo and they told us that it was from the City Council. And so we were going back and forth," says the daughter of the land owner, who believes that behind the change in the land's classification there may be an "agreement for interests between the City Council and the Cabildo." And she affirms that one of the adjoining farms "belongs to the Cabildo."
"What abuse are they committing with an 83-year-old pensioner?"
After that, this family submitted several writings to the Consistory to ask them to clarify what use is going to be given to the land. However, in one of the responses, the City Council only indicates that the specification "will depend on the needs that may arise in the municipality in the future."
"In other words, first they change the classification, charge a tax of 800 euros for that plot, and then they will think about what they are going to do," criticizes the daughter of the owner.
In their struggle, this family also went to the Regional Management of the Cadastre in the Canary Islands to request "to correct the classification from urban to rustic" and thereby avoid the high IBI receipts. However, the response from the cadastre was that the valuation "is correct", because the land "is located in an urban area" with the "equipment classification", therefore rejecting to correct the "discrepancy" declared by the family.
"What abuse are they committing with this 83-year-old pensioner citizen who is now sick with cancer?" questions her daughter, who wants the City Council to expropriate the land "once and for all." "We don't even intend for it to be expropriated for the value it has, we only ask that they stop charging said contributions, that they return to my mother the amount she has paid, and that they then keep the land," she demands.
