Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith Spanish Home Garden Seized

by Tina Kells | June 29, 2009 at 10:52 am

325 views | 22 Recommendations | 0 comments

Actors Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith are facing off against city hall officials in Spain, over a plan by the town to seize a large portion of their beachfront estate garden to convert to public land. 14,000 square feet of land at the couple's Spanish estate home, called La Gaviota, will soon be seized by the town of Marbella.

A source told local media: "The swimming pool itself will go untouched, but the area being seized goes right up to the edge of the pool, which will ruin their enjoyment of it."

Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith have owned the Spanish home for a decade and this is not the first time they have had to deal with threats from Marbella city hall. In 2008 the famous couple was ordered to demolish an illegal extension on their La Gaviota estate that had been added by the previous owner. At issue is the legality of the building permit which Marbella claims was fraudulently issued. Banderas and Griffith are appealing the order.

The high profile stars are not the only people at risk of losing large portions of their land to the city of Marbella. The city hall decision to reclaim 500 miles of Spanish coast land could impact anybody who owns beachfront property in the area, including many Britons and Americans.

Thousand of homeowners, including many Britons, risk losing their property in the region after finding themselves the victim of corrupt town hall officials who issued planning permission to builders after illegally reclassifying land.

The Hollywood couple bought their home from a previous owner and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by anyone who has lived in the house.

Spanish authorities have vowed to revoke building licences issued on green belt land in an attempt to rectify overbuilding across 500 miles of Spain's coastline