Spain is the land of year-round sunshine, endless beaches and where life is all about living. It's a favourite destination for the British living abroad.

Over a million Britons now call Spain home, escaping the foul weather and the daily grind in the UK, for a life in the sun.

But Spain hasn’t turned out like the pictures in the glossy brochures for everyone.

In this new two-part series for ITV1 we see that, for some Britons, life in Spain is a dream come true, while for others the dream has become a nightmare.

In episode one the series shows how the property crash in Spain has been a financial and personal disaster for some, including Wally Tynan, who says: “I wish to God I'd never heard of Spain,” and the Segal family who have lost their dream family home. We also see that there are some Britons who still aspire to a life in the Spanish sun.

The British love affair with Spain helped to fuel a building boom that has dramatically transformed the Spanish coastline in the last ten years.

At its peak almost a million homes were built each year, and with cheap prices and limitless credit, it seemed everyone could make their dream of owning a slice of paradise come true.

But last year the Spanish property market crashed. Developers folded, house prices plummeted, interest rates soared and owners were left in negative equity, unable to pay their mortgages. For some Brits in Spain this has meant financial and personal catastrophe.

Just ten minutes from the sea on the Costa Blanca is the La Zenia Elite development. Wally Tynan and his wife fell in love with the plans they were shown.

Wally tells the programme: “We loved the show-house we saw, we absolutely loved it. We spoke to the neighbours, they said, ’This is wonderful, you will not go wrong buying one of these properties’.”

Two years ago, Nigel and Jackie Hinson sold up in the UK to buy their dream home on the Costa Blanca. They also chose a property on the same development.

Nigel says: “I've always, from a small child, wanted to live by the sea. At the beginning it was everything that we wanted.”

His wife Jackie tells the programme: “Each phase was supposed to have beautiful tropical gardens and lovely swimming pools.”

During the property boom buyers bought off plan and sometimes paid the developer in full before their house was built.

Wally and Nigel and their wives moved into La Zenia Elite when their apartments were barely complete.

When the Spanish property crash came the developers disappeared and the construction crews packed up their tools and left.

Although some buyers had moved in, parts of the development remain unfinished.
Phase one and its landscaping are complete, which is where Nigel and Jackie live. But from their home they also have a panoramic view of phase three’s abandoned remains.

Phase two, where Wally lives, has been left as a building site. Wally shows the programme the live wires than run across the development and high voltage cables that have been taped together.

Nigel Hinson reveals that when his son, who was serving with the Army in Basra, came to visit the first thing he said was: “Dad, I thought I'd left Basra.”

And if living in ‘Spanish Basra’ wasn’t bad enough above ground, what bubbles beneath poses an even great threat. When it rains the roads become rivers, the pumping station overflows and raw sewage pumps out.

Every time the sewers erupt Wally takes it upon himself to clear up the road in front of his house.

Wally describes how he deals with the sewage: “I get a big broom and a shovel and I dispose of it. I'm on my third broom now. Horrible job.”

For two years now, La Zenia Elite has been a living nightmare for owners like Wally and Nigel.

Instead of enjoying his retirement, Wally spends his days rendering, plastering and plumbing, in a desperate attempt to complete his home and protect his investment.

He says: “I wish to God I'd never heard of Spain. I wish to God I'd never come here,
and that’s my sincere thought, that I'd never ever seen the sky over Spain.
.
“I never cease to regret the purchase of this place, ever, and I just have to accept that we have lost every penny that we invested in this property.”

British estate agent and auctioneer, Inez Rix, has watched the property story unfold on the Costa Del Sol.

She tells the programme: “The glut of development that’s gone on here is incredible. The coastline used to be littered with cranes. We used to call them the national bird of Spain, because there were just so many cranes and wherever you went there was building going on.

“If you had a pulse and a passport you got a mortgage, it was as simple as that. You didn’t need anything else. I think the banks were very irresponsible. They just were lending and giving out the money because they wanted the business.”
.
Inez founded Direct Auctions, a last chance saloon for desperate owners facing repossession.

She tells the programme: “I have to be quite brutal with some vendors. I have to point out that there is an awful lot of property out there and, yes, theirs looks very pretty but so does the one next door and the one next door to that and the one down the road.”

One of the properties at auction today belongs to David Busby who bought an apartment as an investment during the property boom but now says it was the worst thing he’s ever done. David planned to pay the mortgage by renting his apartment to holidaymakers. But the Spanish building boom produced thousands of similar properties, flooding the market and making rentals less lucrative.

Now David’s only hope is to try and recoup some of his investment at auction. He tells the programme; “At this stage in our lives, very near to retirement, we will find the loss of that money very, very difficult for us. We run a pub restaurant which is quite hard work for people over a certain age and we were looking to retire from that business in our early sixties, but that doesn’t look like being the case now at all.”

The Spanish property crash has created bargains for buyers, but it's also left some people, who bought during the boom, close to ruin.

Phil and Nicki Segal, from Hampshire, moved to Spain seven years ago with their two young children and bought their ideal family home.

They tell the programme: “We were definitely going grow old here. The kids would have grown up here and been able to stay here in the future with their families. That’s why we wanted the five bedrooms, we wanted enough space for people to come and stay with us and enjoy being here”

“We were ecstatic when we first found the house. It was like a dream come true for us. It has a huge plot of land surrounded by trees and birds and it's very peaceful and tranquil - it was a dream come true. We saw our future here and we didn’t ever really see ourselves moving away.”

To buy their dream home, the Segals took out a huge mortgage. But when the recession hit, the banks suddenly doubled their interest rates and the Segals were faced with crippling repayments.

In order to pay the mortgage, they now run the house as a holiday rental and live in rented accommodation 10k away.

Nicki says: “When we took the decision to move out of here it felt like I was being kicked out kicking and screaming. I had to remove all my possessions and I felt very, very sad about it.”

While the crash has left many fighting to keep their Spanish dreams alive, it has opened the door for others to begin a new life in the sun.

Divorcee Mandy Vickerman has recently swapped Bradford for Marbella, and is hoping to capitalise on the falling property market.

She tells the programme: “It’s obviously the best time to buy. At the moment I'm going have a good look and get the best bargain I can for my money.”

“There are a lot of properties where people want to sell quickly, so sadly it's their misfortune but my gain. I'm hoping to find my ideal place, but it must be at a bargain price. Being a good Yorkshire lass, I like a good deal.”

However, even with the property crash Mandy can’t find the bargain she wants and decides to rent for the time being.

She tells the programme: “Well I decided to rent because I couldn’t find anything to buy and I think there's still plenty of time where the market’s going to change and even go down a bit more, so I'm absolutely in no hurry to buy at the moment.”

For some, the British love affair with Spain looks in no danger of fading.

From RapidTalent's Industry Buzz reporter Jason Nicholls on 08/06/2009.