Dozens of Brits 'duped into purchasing illegal Spanish properties' are evicted, assaulted and lose everything: The story you MUST read if you're thinking of buying a home abroad

By ELIANA SILVER, SENIOR FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 11:09, 18 July 2026 | Updated: 11:09, 18 July 2026 *Some names have been changed to protect the identities of the homeowners In 2003, 24 British families bought homes on a newly built development in the picturesque area of Gea y Truyols in Spain's Murcia region. Many of them had sold their homes in the UK, invested their life savings and dreamed of spending their retirement with their families beneath the Mediterranean sun. Instead, buying a villa in the La Montana neighbourhood marked the beginning of a two-decade nightmare, after the families unknowingly purchased homes on an illegal development, having been assured by the estate agent and builder that everything was above board.  Residents say they were driven from their homes, forced to spend thousands of pounds on legal battles and renovations, and, in some cases, left with no choice but to return to Britain and move back in with family after exhausting their savings. They also allege they were threatened by armed men, physically assaulted by builders demanding more money, and watched helplessly as strangers moved into the homes they believed they owned.  Throughout the decades-long horror, residents say they were repeatedly failed by the authorities, while several believe the stress of the ordeal contributed to the deaths of their loved ones.  'We wanted a quiet retirement to respect Spanish laws and enjoy the lovely weather. Instead, we lived in fear,' one homeowner said.  Now, 12 Britons who bought homes on the infamous La Montana development have shared their experiences with the Daily Mail. Among them is Anne, who moved to Spain from Ashington, Northumberland, with her husband David after recovering from breast cancer. The site at La Montana in 2004, showing one built house and another still being renovated Mark and Louise from Wakefield purchased their home on the development in 2003 Stephen and Rose's villa that they purchased in the La Montana development 'My husband and I took redundancy from our employment and sold our house in order to make a new life in Spain,' she said. Like many of her neighbours, Anne bought through selling agent Mark Spencer, who was marketing villas being developed by Jose Antonio Soner. 'We did stringent checks of the company, took copies of their passports, and all seemed above board.' Another La Montana homeowner, Mary, says she sought one final reassurance before paying her deposit. 'We asked the selling agent Mark Spencer before making a 3,000 euro deposit, "Is this build legal?" He assured us it was.' For months, the buyers believed construction was progressing normally. But when they returned to check on their future homes, many found the site deserted, with the houses looking like a 'hole in the ground', as one neighbour described it. Anne recalls arriving to find the development taped off by police. 'After we paid the first payment we went to see how it was progressing, only to find the whole site had been taped up and all the builders had disappeared.' The British residents say they gradually realised something was seriously wrong. Basic infrastructure, including electricity, running water and plot boundaries, had never been completed, despite many having already paid almost the full purchase price. John and Alice, who moved to the area from Essex in 2003, said they had paid 90 per cent of the agreed price before discovering the extent of the problems. 'It soon became apparent that the whole site was an illegal build, with water, electricity, plots and boundaries never finished,' they added. Former homeowner Eleanor alleges Soner had falsely claimed ownership of the land. 'He had forged papers to say he had bought the land and many other lies and produced a fake copy of an English Translation,' she said. Instead of completing the development, residents claim the builder repeatedly demanded more money. Eleanor alleges he refused to hand over the title deeds unless buyers paid thousands of euros extra for things ranging from a 'cupboard under the stairs' to work on the roof. Some homeowners felt they had little choice but to continue paying after investing so much already. Anne says she asked for her money back but was warned by the agency that she would lose everything she had already paid. 'We couldn't afford to lose the money, so we stupidly made the next two payments,' she added. Residents Raymond and Patricia from Reading said they had already paid €90,000 before discovering the developer did not own the land. 'When we discovered that the developer did not own the land, we took him to court for the return of our money. We lost the civil case and advised him we were going to make a criminal case,' they added. Raymond said Soner then offered another agreement: 'He said he wanted to do a deal if we paid the final €40,000. In 2006, he signed a contract with us that he would sign over the land when the site was legal and he completed the purchase from the farmer who owned it.' The years that followed were marked by financial ruin and constant uncertainty for the La Montana homeowners, who were quickly realising that their dream home was more trouble than it was worth. With the development at a standstill, many found themselves paying mortgages, rent and storage costs at the same time while waiting for homes that never seemed any closer to being finished. Mary said the site remained closed for around 15 months after construction stopped. She and her husband had already sold their home in Britain and were left paying more than €10,000 in rent, on top of VAT and storage costs, while waiting for a villa they had been told would be ready in March 2004. Anne and David found themselves in a similar position. They spent almost two years living in rented accommodation while paying to keep all of their belongings in a storage facility in England. As money ran out, they eventually shipped everything to Spain and stored it in a friend's garage before making the difficult decision to abandon their dream and return to Britain. Back home, the couple, then aged 49 and 51, moved into David's parents' spare bedroom while they rebuilt their lives. 'Our mental health was at an all-time low,' Anne said. The new builder Antonio Tovar built walls around the villas in an attempt to keep the owners out Debris left around the villas during renovations carried out by the builder Tovar and his men allegedly breaking into Mark and Louise's villa After finding new employment, Anne said they became determined to save their home in Spain. They began visiting La Montana regularly to oversee new attempts at construction. However, things quickly soured again after Anne said Soner 'kept asking us for more and more money', while the homeowners collectively spent tens of thousands of euros on lawyers in an unsuccessful effort to legalise the development. Stephen and Rose from Halifax, West Yorkshire, bought their villa a few years later from Spanish owners who had themselves purchased it on La Montana. They say nobody warned them that the development was illegal. 'At no time were we told that the house was illegal or that there were problems,' Stephen said. Instead, they were told only that the site had not yet been fully completed and that obtaining a mortgage might prove difficult. After paying €110,000 in cash, it was only when the couple arrived at their new home that their defeated British neighbours broke the news. Like many others, Stephen says he spent years paying additional costs simply to make the property usable. Residents had to arrange their own electricity supplies after the builder's temporary connection was switched off, while repeated attempts to legalise the development through solicitors led nowhere. John and Alice say their villa was little more than 'a hole in the ground' when construction stalled. The couple say they paid thousands of euros themselves for a water tank, septic system and electricity connection simply so they could spend holidays there. Mary says she was eventually advised by her solicitor to move into her unfinished villa and change the locks under the cover of darkness after security guards had left. She claims the guards responded by glueing the locks shut, while water and electricity were cut off within 24 hours. The unfinished home lacked basic fittings, including worktops, a sink and a hob, forcing the couple to buy them themselves. Without running water, they were reduced to carrying plastic containers from a village pump. As frustration grew, Soner terrorised the neighbourhood, demanding money and locking residents out of their homes. Eleanor says he repeatedly threatened homeowners, cut off essential utilities, and at one stage prevented residents from leaving the development by blocking the entrance. She alleges one confrontation became so serious that Soner arrived carrying a metal spike and attempted to retrieve a gun from his car before being stopped by a watchman. She says she phoned the police, screaming and shouting, but nobody came. Eleanor believes the stress of the ordeal ultimately cost her husband his life. 'My husband died in Spain in 2006 mainly as a result of the stress we both suffered,' she said. Mary says residents lived in constant fear of further confrontations with the terrifying builder. During one incident, she alleges Soner confronted homeowners while swinging a pointed stick, striking her husband and slicing open his arm. 'We slept most nights with a baseball bat next to the bed,' she said. Although the couple successfully sued over the assault, she says they never received any compensation. More than a decade after they first bought their homes, things took an even worse turn when residents discovered Soner had sold the development to another businessman, Antonio Tovar. According to the homeowners, the legal battle over the site was far from over. Yet they claim the new owner wasted little time asserting control over the development. 'Unbeknown to us [Soner] sold half his interest to a new owner in 2017,' Raymond said. Residents allege Tovar embarked on a campaign of intimidation designed to force them out of the homes they had spent years trying to save. John and Alice claim neighbours who had already returned to Britain because of ill health or financial hardship found their villas broken into while they were away. They said: 'Tovar broke into their villas, either burned their belongings or moved them to a warehouse without their knowledge. The group was told everything inside their homes, including beds, furniture, clothes and family possessions, had been removed to storage Pictures of a storage space where Tovar put residents' furniture and personal belongings taken from their homes Tovar also allegedly put up an electric metal gate at some of the properties in an attempt to keep the owners out A photograph sent to John and Alice of estate agents showing people around their villa 'One by one, Tovar took over the villas and sold them on to new people. He just waited until people were not around and broke in. He would not even let us go into our villas to remove our personal belongings.' According to Stephen, Tovar first completed work on the unfinished villas before turning his attention to occupied homes used by British owners for holidays. He alleges residents would return to discover they had been locked out while their possessions had disappeared. 'This gentleman broke into all the houses, including ours twice and rummaged through our belongings,' he said. Tovar also allegedly put up an electric metal gate at some of the properties and built walls around the villas in an attempt to keep the owners out. When Stephen and his family returned for what would become their final visit in 2024, they say they found a security guard stationed permanently at the entrance. 'We were not allowed into our house or to retrieve any of our belongings,' he said. Instead, they were told everything inside, including beds, furniture, clothes and family possessions, had been removed to storage. In January 2025, John and Alice were told their villa had been broken into and Estate Agents were showing people around. 'We went out to Spain on March 5 hoping we would be able to get some personal possessions but were refused. We went to the [Civil Guard] and they were not interested,' the pair said. For Anne and David, who had by then returned to England, the news came from neighbours still living on the development. They sent photographs showing that their villa had become one of the first to be taken over. Inside the house were family photographs, furniture and a treasured garden bench that had belonged to Anne's late father. 'They broke in and threw all our stuff out like rubbish,' she said. Mary says the thieves broke into her villa while they were visiting neighbours, ransacking the property and stealing jewellery that had been passed down through her family. Tovar went as far as to send men from Desokupa, a private company in Spain that specialises in the rapid eviction of illegal squatters, to scare residents into leaving. Residents said the police did nothing. Mark and Louise from Wakefield, who also purchased property in 2003, said authorities appeared to side with Tovar. 'When [Tovar] broke into my house, the police did not do their jobs. They came and were laughing and joking with him,' Mark said. 'They wouldn’t take a call from my solicitor and didn’t take any names of anyone involved in breaking in. My friend who was staying at the property at the time tried to speak to the Civil Guard but the local police would not let him. If that isn't corruption, what is?'  In 2025, Raymond and Patricia say the company changed the locks on their home, cleared out everything inside and agreed to sell the property to another British buyer for €130,000. Only after Raymond objected to the Land Registry, he says, was the sale halted and the buyer's deposit returned. More than two decades after buying what they believed would be their dream homes, many of the original owners say they have been left with nothing. Some have died, while others returned to Britain after exhausting their savings on legal fees and repairs. Several are now in their seventies and eighties, saying the retirement they spent decades working towards was taken from them. Anne, now 70, says she still struggles to accept that strangers are living in the villa she and her husband paid for. 'We are pensioners now with nothing to show for all the years we worked and paid our mortgages, to just have someone steal it all from us,' she said. John and Alice say they have spent years fighting through the Spanish courts, paying solicitor after solicitor in the hope of recovering their property to no avail. 'We are absolutely devastated,' they said. Raymond said his own legal battle continues despite more than 20 years having passed since he first bought his villa. He has taken the developer to court three times, appealed to the High Court in Murcia and been involved in two criminal cases. 'The case just goes round and round,' he said. 'We have spent €25,000 on legal fees and the legal system seems incapable of resolving this problem.' Former resident Eleanor says she has burned almost every reminder of her time in La Montana because the memories became too painful. Tovar went as far as to send men from Desokupa, a private company in Spain that specialises in the rapid eviction of illegal squatters, to scare residents into leaving  The Spanish region of Murcia is popular with British expats John and Alice added: 'We are both nearly 80 and we have lost our life savings, surely this cannot be right. We never have been squatters.' As Mary put it: 'We wanted a quiet retirement to respect Spanish laws and enjoy the lovely weather. Instead, we lived in fear.' The residents say they repeatedly appealed to police, lawyers and local authorities for help, but claim little action was ever taken. Today, only one of the original British families is believed to remain on the development. Residents say they have attempted to contact the original builder, Soler and the estate agent Mark Spencer to no avail as all trace of them has 'vanished' off the internet. The Daily Mail has seen contracts, payment records, court documents and other paperwork provided by the homeowners relating to their purchase of properties at La Montana. The company Antonio Tovar works with, Your Home in Spain, has been contacted for comment. The Daily Mail was unable to contact Spencer or Soler.