Please Help -Developer failed to refund the Premium paid to off-plan home

eddddy

It sounds like you bought-into some kind of unregulated scheme.

Did the advertising and documents use terms like 'Investment'?

And did you use your own solicitor, or a solicitor recommended by (or provided by) the developer or the agent?


I've seen horrendous examples of property related 'unregulated investment' contracts, sometimes over 100 pages long.

If an 'investor' had actually read and understood the contract (or taken independent advice), I can't imagine they would have signed it.

ibuythings

eddddy wrote: »

It sounds like you bought-into some kind of unregulated scheme.

Did the advertising and documents use terms like 'Investment'?

And did you use your own solicitor, or a solicitor recommended by (or provided by) the developer or the agent?

The off-plan is a redevelopment of an existing property. I entered to a Lease at the beginning when the Agreement was signed, so I guess the purchase completed. Is that right?

But construction going on with long stop date already expired.

I don't see the term investment used in the documents. The solicitor is developer recommended.

ibuythings

davidmcn wrote: »

Then go and see a different solicitor. We can't advise on e.g. whether your notices to terminate were valid, without seeing the contract.

Thanks for your advice, the situation is unexpected, I hope to gather more information before making the decision

ibuythings

andyf1980 wrote: »

Have you decided that you definitely don't want to proceed with the purchase?

Not sure if you have legal cover on your home insurance? If you do it would be worth trying to get some independent advice. If you genuinely want to pull out of the purchase I'd probably take independent legal advice anyway even if I had to pay for it.

thanks for your advice, I don't have home insurance covered. I also need the premium back for other use. Do you know any good legal firm experience in similar case?

eddddy

Sadly, this sounds similar to some other 'cowboy' schemes I've seen.

They worked like this:

• A 'cowboy' builder/developer forms a company with no assets

• The company gets an option to purchase a disused building for conversion into, say, 20 flats

• The 'cowboy' builder uses a 'cowboy' agent to find 20 'investors' to each buy a lease for a part of the disused building

• The 'cowboy' builder uses the money from the leases to buy the freehold

• The 'cowboy' builder takes more money from the 20 'investors' to do the conversion.

Even if you have a good case, and you win in court, you might find that the company has no assets to pay you.

You might find that a big chunk of the money you've already paid has gone in commission, fees, salaries and bonuses to people involved in the scheme.

And, for what it's worth, if you and/or a couple of other 'investors' back out, the scheme may become nonviable, and the company goes bankrupt.

ibuythings

A developer representative contacted me directly yesterday and asked if I would grant an extension of six week period to allow a resale of the unit as they don’t want to involve further litigation fees. And they will return my funds.

Is this a usual practice for developer to avoid court? or it is a scam? please advise.

davidmcn

ibuythings wrote: »

A developer representative contacted me directly yesterday and asked if I would grant an extension of six week period to allow a resale of the unit as they don’t want to involve further litigation fees. And they will return my funds.

Is this a usual practice for developer to avoid court? or it is a scam? please advise.

Like I said before, we really don't know enough about what you've got yourself into to advise. The whole thing sounds like a quasi-scam.

ibuythings

davidmcn wrote: »

Like I said before, we really don't know enough about what you've got yourself into to advise. The whole thing sounds like a quasi-scam.

Thanks for your time. I will talk to my solicitor for legal advice then.

AlexO85

ibuythings said:

davidmcn wrote: »

Like I said before, we really don't know enough about what you've got yourself into to advise. The whole thing sounds like a quasi-scam.

Thanks for your time. I will talk to my solicitor for legal advice then.

I came across this post and am facing a similar situation. How did you resolve your issue in the end please? I would greatly appreciate if you share. Thanks.