buying off-plan abroad - cancel contract

avicola

Got a letter from the developers saying we have got 20 days to respond to them.
Have taken it to the solicitor and he says that maybe they havent received their court order!

Lakey

What would that mean to you if that's the case. Would it be delayed. Surely the court order would have been registered post and you would have receipt of delivery.
I hope it doesn't make things worse for you.

avicola

I would certainly assume it would be sent by registered post. But it seems that it might not have even been sent by the judge’s office or whatever it is called.

I simply can’t imagine a set of circumstances that would cause it not to have been sent.
The solicitor says that maybe ‘they haven’t had time.’
It really is beyond belief.
What is the point of him sending me a copy of the court order dated 17th July with all the details and stamps showing that the prosecutor has received it, if they haven’t even sent it to the developers? It is worse then meaningless because it is mis-leading. And b ludicrous.
I really can’t understand it. It is more important that they get it then we do!!

And especially when the solicitor initially told us that once they received it, then they couldn’t sell any apartments until it was resolved. So, obviously they have continued selling and our leverage has not even come into play.

They have now received it though, or by tomorrow at least as the solicitor has done a copy for them and we posted it ourselves by first class recorded delivery.

So maybe now we will get some sort of re-action. Or not, who knows.

Added to which we have now received an arsey email from the estate agent having a pop at us for seemingly ‘expecting them to do everything’ and hoping that they are going to sell the apartments ‘for us.’

Great.

So I have written to them to put them in the full picture along with a copy of the court order.

I’ll be posting it on the internet yes!

Lakey

Good luck avicola, sounds like you are now a force to be reckoned with!!
Keep us posted on developments:beer:

Remember as my DOH says, good things happen to good people.

avicola

Having been somewhat dismayed (read ‘horrified’) by the fact that the developers do not appear to have received the demanda from the courts, I did some more thinking.
Having had an early night in order to get a good nights sleep, the inevitable happened.
I couldn’t sleep and so decided to examine some things that were laid in a confusing muddle in a corner of my head. To take them out, and mentally lay them out on the ground in front of me as if they were solid objects. So I could see exactly what was niggling at me and if there was any justification for it and if I should be doing something about it.
First out was the fact that the solicitor is a qualified solicitor.
Second out and laid on the ground next to it I put his 30 years experience
Third out, the fact that Spanish is his native language
Fourth out was his specific experience in property contract law
Fifth out was the fact that a prosecutor, even more experienced, has been appointed to fight the case for us.
I felt happier then to be able to see just what I had got in my head/on the floor/in reality and to realise that we do have the right man.
Whenever I woke up, I went through the list, often didn’t get through it all before I went back to sleep, as I tried to remember it again.
By the middle of the night, I seemed to have something of a mantra going on in my head as I listed them.
I got quite good at it actually (!!!) and I must have bored myself to sleep in the end.
So there is a tip for anyone with a worry – take it out and see what it is all about. You can’t get locked up for it can you?

clutton_2

hope you dont have to do that EVERY night to get to sleep ...... having a pretend fantasy "sesh" with the likes of George Clooney might be much more entertaining for you :rotfl:

avicola

clutton wrote: »

hope you dont have to do that EVERY night to get to sleep ...... having a pretend fantasy "sesh" with the likes of George Clooney might be much more entertaining for you :rotfl:

Ah, Clutton .. so perceptive ... so wise .. and so damn right!

avicola

I sent the EA an email to say that I hadn’t heard from them since sending them a complete update and copy of the demanda. Well, the lady who handles the contracts rang me to say that they had in fact sent a reply by return and didn’t know why I hadn’t got it. (It is funny, out of all the emails sent to me, it just seems to be the solicitor’s and theirs that don’t get through).
Anyway, having decided that I would rather they fight with me than against me at this stage, we had a civil and fruitful conversation.
She said that they were all very pleased that we had taken these steps. I put it to her that it seemed rather heavy handed, going through the courts almost immediately. But she said no, they thought it was exactly the right thing to do. That they had been trying and negotiating on our behalf to get them to come to some sort of deal such as putting all the deposits on one apartment, but the developers had refused to consider it. She said this would give them the push they needed to offer something.
I felt pretty happy about that, because I had found it hard to understand why the solicitor had waded straight in, instead of writing a nice little letter suggesting that they might like to consider giving us the money back since they had broken the contract.
Then it dawned on me that of course the EA would say what a good idea it was that we were taking the developers to court. That way we are off their backs, they don’t have to try and sell for us which would now be at a loss, and if we get at least some money back, then maybe we won’t try and retaliate against them. The EA’s must realize that they are intrinsically linked to us in this, in that they were the ones to sell us the contract. So the better the outcome, the better for them. (It is probably a good thing that I think more suspiciously now and I notice that the other side of the mirror is significantly darker. Best keep the bright side shining within then!)

I read on other property abroad sites such as Eyeonspain.com that loads of people are trying to pull out of their contracts with the current financial position and that developers are quite naturally taking a tough stance. They are in trouble too.
Our one ‘advantage’ is that these developers have gone 23.9 months past their licensed time in which they had to complete the build.
I heard that 24 months is the absolute limit they have for calling the delays an Act of God or outside of their control, and thus still don’t break the contract.
So I have been trying to find out if the cedula was appropriately granted i.e. is the pool finished, etc. But it seems it is.

clutton_2

surely there are always "snaggings" to be found ? - also when did you EVER see a roadway, pathway, landscaping ever finished on time ? UK developers often wait years and years before being forced to finish these "finishing touches" - i cannot imagine spanish developers/builders being any more diligent ......

Lakey

Would the building not be deemed to be complete until it had all the relevant certification, if such a thing exists in Spain? For example the pool, surely it must pass some sort of safety control re fencing etc..
Time to be pedantic and dig deep avicola into what is passable and what is actually time consumingly demandable. If you get my drift..:cool: