Oh, we've been around that particular block already....

He originally asked me if I wanted it at a time when he thought I knew nothing about the PLU. I offered him 60K - I dont want to build, I just want to not have neighbours, so 60K was a good-enough price to me to preserve the value of teh land whilst not having a building on it.

I dug around, found out about the PLU, and put it down to an unfortunate case of the owner wanting to take the english for what they can - sad, but it happens......

He subsequently put it up at a local estate agent for €90K. When he found out, the Mayor just put his head in his hands - and quelle surprise the seller had no takers.

The seller came back to me some months later and said he'd take me up on my offer of €60K - at which point I told him about the PLU, and told him that not even an englishman would be stupid enough to pay €60K for land which would be unsellable at €10K after the PLU was implemented. He got arsey, told me he would put in PP for a 200m2 house, at which point I knew he was bluffing - there's just no way he would get that past the Mayor, and besides which, he hasn't got the resources to build something that size.

'We live in interesting times'.....