Santa Cruz Council Initiates International Notification Process to Demolish Abandoned Añaza Building

The Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council has launched a vital administrative process to finally resolve the future of the unfinished building in Añaza, which has been plagued by years of legal disputes and safety concerns. To move forward, the Urban Planning department is implementing an international notification system to reach property owners living in Switzerland and Germany, as standard Spanish legal notices are not effective in those countries.

Led by Councilor Zaida González, this strategy assigns a unique identifier to each of the more than 400 owners. This allows the Council to track individual responses and postal issues, creating a clear record of every attempt to make contact. This documentation is essential to prove to the Land Registry that the city has exhausted all communication channels, a legal requirement for the Council to take full ownership of the property and proceed with demolition.

This process will be supported by notices in the Official State Gazette (BOE) to finalize the legal requirements for expropriation. Addressing the site is a matter of public safety, as the abandoned structure has been the site of fatal accidents in the past. To prevent further incidents, the Council has already secured the perimeter, removed access points on the sixth floor, destroyed interior staircases, and installed welded wire mesh to block entry.

The demolition cannot begin until this complex notification process is complete. The local administration notes that it must formally register the property in its name before it can put the demolition work out to tender. The project remains in this administrative transition phase following successful consultations with the relevant consulates.