Come across a precautionary article in Guardian today:

“Thousands of holiday homes in the glitzy southern Spanish resort of Marbella have been saved from the bulldozer by an amnesty on illegal buildings in a town whose name has become a byword for corruption on Spain’s costas.

The amnesty comes after 18,000 villas and holiday flats in the town were found to have been built illegally over almost two decades while generations of corrupt mayors took bribes or turned a blind eye.” Read more

Nice - not just a mayor, but generations. Once again this reminds and emphasizes the importance of homework one needs doing before diving into a dream holiday home deal. A reputable local lawyer is highly recommended. They can often tell straight away if a property is built illegally simply because they know local matters.

Take a look at this other example, now from Koh Samui, Thailand:

“Purchasers of raw and undeveloped land must be aware that because of corruption at the Koh Samui Land Office and mafia like activities fast areas of forests and hill side land on the island have been encroached and land ownership papers have been issued illegally. Forest land is classified as government property, as such, they are under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and cannot be owned by any private entity and no building permits are allowed. Issued land titles may be corrected or revoked and illegally obtained land will be seized and returned to the State.

In Samui encroached public land has been bought and sold several times before ending up with their current owners, however, it is the present and mostly foreign owners of the land who bear the risk of being charged either with illegal possession or encroachment into the reserved areas like public and forest land (see news in the homepage).
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It is and has been common practice for land speculators in Koh Samui to subdivide a larger plot(s) of land into less than 10 plots (less than 10 to circumvent the Land Allocation Act) and to offer the smaller saleable sized plots for sale to foreigners through nominee structured holding companies suggesting a licensed housing property development. Using this trick local and foreign land speculators have been able to subdivide land not suitable for development into more than 9 plots without having to apply for a land allocation permit or permission to develop the land and make huge profits suggesting a residential housing development in an area where this normally would not be allowed.” Read more

There is plenty of articles on the net on how to avoid common pitfalls and what to look for when buying a holiday home. This is one of them.