buying off-plan abroad - cancel contract

avicola

does he speak spanish???????

on post 56, you state that you are seeing a solicitor that the estate agents recommended you,,, is this the same bloke????

you also mentioned in that post the possibility of getting a mortgage or something on some of the properties so that you could buy them,,, please dont do that....[/quote]


The solicitor is a native Spanish, so there are no worries in that department, though it is probably the only one!

We did not use the solicitor the estate agents recommended to us in the end as we realise that may take any opportunity to double-deal us and we need to keep everything separate from them.

I don’t think we will be going down the mortgage route. We have had our fingers well and truly burned, possibly up to the armpits. We would we grateful for even some money back, so we could just put it under the bed.

tishme

I have a client in a very similar situation. Bought 6 apartments off-plan, paid deposits with the hope of selling on but because of market conditions is not possible meaning now they will need to pay a large amount of money to pay off the apartments. I am now trying to resale for them after they bought from a well-known sales agency who have a bad reputation now.

I wish you all the luck, the Spanish market is really bad at the moment so I am sure the developer won't be very keen to 'buy-back' the apartments. In Dubai my friend pulled out but because the developer knew it would be easy for them to resale so they agreed and 2 weeks later resold for good profit!

Not all agents are liars.

avicola

Many thanks one and all for your comments.

Some are slightly tougher to take than others I admit, but I can’t say that they are undeserved. Whilst some appear to be a general beating up, they do at least keep me focused and help not to miss the obvious as I am so close to this thing. The ones with a warm or supportive word make me more positive and determined and that there is hope out there.

And ones with ideas are invaluable.

Interesting though that other people do apparently bizarre things as multi-purchases without a surety. Anyway, let’s not go into that again ….

The situation is now that the case is going to court in Tenerife with a barrister from there who is conversant in property law. We do not have a date for this, but we should hopefully hear this week. When I know, you know.

Until the case is settled though, they cannot sell any apartments on the complex.

Meanwhile I have found a relevant forum/site which contains many horror stories re buying in Spain/abroad which is quite useful along with the advice on it.

So if anyone else is out there with a similar problem, it is eyeonspain.com

Thanks again for all your concerns – and otherwise!

TTMCMschine

avicola wrote: »

Went to the solicitor again yesterday. Didn't read your post though Markelock, till we got back.

We do have confidence in him as far as we can in anyone right now. He has been a solicitor for 30 years, (his father was also one) and has experience of very similar cases. His office is buzzing with various staff who dash off to deal with his instructions. He has got the names, phone numbers and relevant information he needs at hand to deal with our case. There are people waiting to see him, the phone is ringing, so a general air of activity. He appears to be dynamic, still with a great thirst for business.

When pressed for the likely degree of success, he said he wouldn’t have taken it on if he didn’t think he was going to win it. (Though we know that he wins either way.) He knows that basically all our hopes are with him and, let’s fact it, he stands to gain an awful lot if he wins for us.

Time wise, we may know at any stage after 3 days. And if it was him, he would give us the deposit money straight back just so that they could get on selling them.

But there might be a need to negotiate what percentage we would get back is what he says. And we realise that nothing is a foregone conclusion that we would get anything back.

And of course the developers might have gone bust and then we probably wouldn’t get anything anyway. That might explain why they have only given us 3 weeks to complete.

But we still have to do try anyway.

You know, in the old days of the long con in the US, they had whole stock market trading floors set up, a hustle & bustle of activity with people shouting & running, & bustling all day long....


.....of course, they were all paid actors, all playing a part in convincing the gullible to hand over their money, then more money, then more & more money until they had no money left.

How did you find out about this lawyer, who put you in touch with him, why not stop some of the hustly bustly staff & ask them a pertinant question, or hang around outside to see what goes on after you've left.

I'm not trying to say you're being scammed, but you are, from your posts, just about the most perfect mark that a scam artist could ever wish to meet.

Please tread carefully.

avicola

TTMCMschine wrote: »

You know, in the old days of the long con in the US, they had whole stock market trading floors set up, a hustle & bustle of activity with people shouting & running, & bustling all day long....


.....of course, they were all paid actors, all playing a part in convincing the gullible to hand over their money, then more money, then more & more money until they had no money left.

How did you find out about this lawyer, who put you in touch with him, why not stop some of the hustly bustly staff & ask them a pertinant question, or hang around outside to see what goes on after you've left.

I'm not trying to say you're being scammed, but you are, from your posts, just about the most perfect mark that a scam artist could ever wish to meet.

Please tread carefully.

Sounds like you think there is a possibility the EA and the solicitor are in this together, and it does happen.

The solicitor does not work on Tenerife though, his practice is on a different Canary Island completely. So any links with the estate agency would be unlikely.

And nor was he picked out of a ‘Place in the Sun’ type magazine or advert. I guess that would certainly be a lucrative business for quite a few solicitors though.
.

inmypocketnottheirs

avicola wrote: »

Sounds like you think there is a possibility the EA and the solicitor are in this together, and it does happen.

The solicitor does not work on Tenerife though, his practice is on a different Canary Island completely. So any links with the estate agency would be unlikely.

.

Personally, I would not put it beyond the realms of possibility.

avicola

Just to say that we will be speaking to the solicitor Monday to get an update.

Also we are looking at the possibility of an action against the estate agent for negligence and obtaining a sale by dishonesty. If that looks as if it is not realistic, then we shall just have to settle for a letter to their affiliates once this case is settled, and see if we can't at least rattle a few of those awards of theirs.
Since all this started, we have asked them to drop the price - which they won't, to provide a strategy of what they are doing to sell - which they won't and so the list goes on.
There really should be something you can do about this sort of thing and as the property crisis deepens everyone has to be more aware of dirty tricks.

Stay safe everyone.

clutton_2

lets hope you get good news on monday - have a great w/e and try to do something totally fun and insane !!

avicola

clutton wrote: »

lets hope you get good news on monday - have a great w/e and try to do something totally fun and insane !!

I already did the insane bit!

Thanks though.

Sometimes we feel wound almost off the clock by it and that your insides are actually shaking. Other times we feel that whatever happens, we will just get on with it. When you read of other people personal tragedies, this doesn’t even count.

But we ain’t going down without a fight!

Thanks for your support, and I can tell you, a kind word counts.

I have learnt a lot from this.

Lakey

Hi Avicola, glad to see you are not only bearing up through all this, but maybe come to terms with thinking that even if you loose your deposit, you still had a lucky escape. Keep this thread alive and keep us posted, I can't wait to hear of a happy ending.

Please, please try to keep an inner calm, as stress will do you no good.
:beer: