ANTONIO BANDERAS - BANDERAS AND GRIFFITHS LOSE SPANISH PROPERTY FIGHT

BANDERAS AND GRIFFITHS LOSE SPANISH PROPERTY FIGHT

Hollywood couple ANTONIO BANDERAS and MELANIE GRIFFITHS have been ordered to surrender part of the land they own in Spain after losing a battle with local planning officials.
The actors own a $7.5 million (£5 million) beachfront property in La Gaviota, near Marbella, but they have been locked in a bitter fight with councillors who are cracking down on what they claim are illegal coastal properties.
The Mask of Zorro star and Griffiths bought the villa in 1997 and have been using it as their summer home ever since.
But in 2003, the Latino was told his house was constructed illegally, because a building licence granted in 2001 should never have been approved as it encroached on greenland which planning bosses argue should be public property.
The stars have now been forced to hand over 14,000 square feet of land back to the government, wrecking the landscape of their garden and cutting close to their outdoor swimming pool.
A source says, "The swimming pool itself will go untouched, but the area being seized goes right up to the edge of the pool, which will ruin their enjoyment of it."
It's the latest in the couple's property fight with government officials - they are still battling an appeal against a 2008 court ruling ordering them to knock down one wing of their six-bedroom mansion.