Andalucía Costa Del Sol Open Golf – November 25th-28th
Los Naranjos Golf Club is getting ready for the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open, part of the Solheim Cup 2023 schedule – the women’s equivalent of the Ryder Cup and will see the 64 top-ranked Ladies’ European Tour golfers pit their skills against each other and a further eight guest players, for a total prize pot of €600,000 – plus another quarter of a million split between those who make the podium in the final.
This time and to ensure ‘equality in conditions’ in the competition, the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open will not count for points towards the Race to Costa del Sol, meaning it will not affect playing categories for the 2022 season.
The province of Málaga has more golf courses per square kilometre than anywhere else on the continent of Europe, with 74 courses on the coast alone, including Los Naranjos and more than 500 holes, all irrigated with recycled water. Holidaymakers who head to the Málaga province to play golf plough about €1.4 billion into the local economy and support over 17,700 jobs.
A Bungling Bank Robber
A man has been caught after his false leg fell off in a struggle with customers. Staff and customers helped police apprehend the 45-year-old Italian man who had held up a bank branch at gunpoint with another man. The incident happened at the Sabadell branch in Alicante.
Police were informed that two men had burst into the bank, one of whom brandished a gun and demanded staff hand over cash from the tills, but after the alarm was raised, customers, staff and passers-by grabbed one of the men and grappled him to the ground. In the tussle, the man’s false leg fell off, leaving him unable to run away!
Young Adults in Spain Are Home Rental Market’s Biggest Customer Base
Despite high unemployment among the under-35s, property owners looking for tenants are more likely to find them among this community than in any other. The rental market has dramatically grown since the start of the pandemic and is now more buoyant than before COVID.
Although reasons for renting are many and varied, a key motive for becoming a tenant rather than buying a home is to ‘get settled’ and become used to independent living and making wages stretch before committing to the long haul.
Most Want To Buy, But Cannot Afford The Deposit
A significant minority of young adults aged 18 to 35 believe buying a home is the best option and one they aspire to. According to a recent survey, 37% of this age group considers renting to be ‘dead money’, whilst 40% think home ownership is security for the future and 48% believes it to be a sound long-term investment.
Banks still mostly want a 20% deposit for home-buying and the overwhelming majority will only lend up to 80% of the lesser sum between the market price and the value and fees on top for buying and for setting up a mortgage come in at around 12.5% on top of the sale price.
Mortgages continue to work out cheaper than renting with the average tenant spending 41% of their monthly salary on rent. It would take six years to save up 20% of the value of a home plus legal and admin fees, enabling them to borrow enough to buy a property of their own, meaning two in five of the under-35s still live with their parents.
Murcia has a scheme in place to help first-time buyers with the 20% deposit.
Rental and purchase prices tend to be much lower outside of bigger cities, meaning if their jobs allow them to live in smaller towns or even villages in the countryside, young adults have a stronger chance of being able to access a place of their own.
Reasons For Renting
The most likely reason for renting is that respondents are not in a financial situation to allow them to buy. They also believed renting gave them more freedom than buying. For those who sought to leave home for the first time and to rent a property, 12% in 2019 said this decision was because their employment situation had improved, rising to 16% in 2021. Renting also allows them to live in a type of property they would not be able to afford to buy.
Law Reform Redefines ‘Animal Status’
A Civil Code Reform will mean domestic animals’ welfare is considered where their owners divorce and judges have the power to decide custody and access régimes in the event of dispute.
An earlier legislation change finally recognised animals as ‘sentient beings’ rather than ‘assets’ or ‘objects’, meaning they cannot be embargoed in the event of an owner’s debts, but the latest amendment will go one step further. It means that pets are classed as ‘living beings with sensitivity and feelings’ and their owners’ emotional relationship to them becomes a legal matter.
Where a couple divorces or goes through a legal separation, if they cannot agree on who keeps their joint pets, a court will decide this based upon the animals’ best interests, including, where appropriate, access for the party who does not have custody, or impose ‘shared custody’ in the same way as would be the case with underage children.
Selling pets – dogs, cats, horses, rabbits or similar – in the event of a divorce or separation, will now become illegal, unless both parties give their consent. Judges may deny custody or access to one half of the couple if this person has been charged with animal cruelty, or even the threat of this.
The basis for the ruling is that animal abusers frequently go on to become violent towards humans. Threatened or actual violence towards pets is not uncommon in abusive relationships between couples. This is considered ‘vicarious domestic abuse’ – seeking to hurt the other adult by targeting the child/animal.
The new legal status of domestic animals also means the courts can decide who will be their full-time carer if the owner dies and has not stated his or her wishes in life.
Given that the emotional relationship between a human and his/her animals is now set to be a legal consideration, the law dictates that if anyone finds a pet and the owner can be traced, the animal must be returned to them, unless the finder has grounds to believe neglect or cruelty has been involved. Where this is the case, the person finding the pet is required to notify the relevant authorities.
If there is no neglect or cruelty involved and the animal has simply gone missing or been stolen from a loving home, the person who finds the pet can claim expenses from the rightful owner for the time he or she has been caring for the animal, such as vets’ fees and food.
Animals, including farm livestock, cannot be used as security for a mortgage or loan.
Other elements under consideration include a possible prohibition of animals being sold in pet shops.