British family forced to sell their house in Liguria

So it's not just Spain  seems very unfair  

Holiday home seized by Italian authorities

Unbelievable.  

'All (81 houses) had been given planning permission by the council, which had now been revoked by the regional government'

Also the headline is misleading because they can't sell the house as it's about to be demolished.

From what I read in the local paper the problem was the houses were built using a building index only granted to farmers and the owners were not farmers.
I totally agree it should be the comune in trouble. I am surprised the current owners do not have a case against the previous owners who had the house built.

I've just received another link, The Riviera Times

http://www.rivieratimes.com/index.php/italian-riviera-article/items/property-scandal-in-dolcedo.html

Well, the last article clarifies some of the issues; however, I do not understand why this couple did not sue the people who sold them the house. They must have known something was going on. The owners should start a class action against all those involved. they are 81 individual cases. Strength is in numbers. 
Also,this raises an important point that foreign buyers should always keep in mind: to check on permits and  their validity. Saving a few dollars in fees may be an expensive decision. And the victims are always foreigners, although I should add that the ones leading them into trouble are, quite frequently, foreigners as well.

I thnk to be fair Gala, the houses had all the correct permissions frm the comune and that is the problem. I can't see any way the buyers could have known.

I thought the same from the first article; however, in the second link there is a mention that trouble started in 2004 because of the multiplication of buildings. These people bought in 2006 and the sellers should have known that problems were coming. Also, even if the permits were granted by council a good solicitor should have checked on the special conditions imposed because of the rural nature of the land. It is a very complicated case, but all the owners should get together  and start a class action. Fighting the case individually is very costly and they may not get the same results. I would also involve previous buyers who have sold their properties.

It is a scandal... simple as that, and to appear in a major (even if rubbish) UK paper will do nothing for the selling of land and homes to UK people who still have money to spend and were seeing Italy as a safer option than Spain... What a shame...

whilst i fully understand the grief of the people involved it has to be said that this is by no means an isolated case.i remember years ago a coperative in milano was offering what looked on paper as very nice houses at very interresting conditions.when i went into the matter i was taken to an area of cornields on the edge of the city.i said yes but this is agricultural land.the guy said yes but the president of the cooperative is a friend of x and they know a+b so it'll be a cake walk to get urbanization passed..this happens all over the country ruining landscapes green belt equivalents,creating urban eyesores often without any of the necessary infrastructure.there are definitely more sides to this issue than at first appear but it is absolutely the result of criminal intent and coruption NOT an accident or inefficiency some several people were getting big money out of this "abusivismo"

sebastiano wrote:whilst i fully understand the grief of the people involved it has to be said that this is by no means an isolated case........

That only makes it worse..