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1st September 2007: No final building warrant at Corvera; no construction under way; no communication to customers from the DG of Calidona; Rosa and Pablo assuring everyone that  everything will  be fine in a few weeks; Spanish lawyers doing nothing to protect their clients interests; a forum full of unhappy buyers.

1st October 2007: No final building warrant at Corvera; no construction under way; no communication to customers from the DG of Calidona; Rosa and Pablo assuring everyone that  everything will  be fine in a few weeks; Spanish lawyers doing nothing to protect their clients interests; everyone on the forum happy as sand boys. What did I miss?

With regard to assurances from Corvera, I was told in February 2007 after portacabins went up, workmen appeared and ground works started, that Calidona were just waiting for the final approval which will allow them to start with the construction of the buildings. They expected to get all the permissions granted in the spring when the foundation ceremony would take place. You will see similar assurances to other members of the forum over the months since if you care to look back. I am not so sure everyone should be so excited about more of the same after the appearance of one small crane. I hope I am wrong!

hello all

i know many of you are trying to be positive by i for one am sick and tired with all the lies coming from rosa and pueblo, the same old dribble for the past two years, letters sent to D G not even got the courtesy to reply, another september been and gone, i feel that if we have not heard anything in writing before the end of this month we must join forces and make a stand against this company, maybe meet up in london at their office and demand some answers in writing.

i just feel that this situation could go on and on, does anyone else have any ideas on how to best get answers

dave

Hi Dave,

I totally agree with you, I too am trying to be positive but am ready to join forces in order to get the answers we are all waiting for. Calidona don't seem to be very customer focussed and I think this needs to be addressed, so I'm willing to go with whatever action the forum deems appropriate. However, eternally the optimist I will wait to see what news Frank11 comes back with, in his last post of Oct. 1st he said he is going over to Corvera next week, I'm happy to sit tight till then but I must admit it is getting quite frustrating. Not responding to our letters is totally bad form on the DGs part. 

Gina

I finally gave up waiting for a reply to my letter of 5 weeks ago to the Director General of Calidona and phoned him today. He is out of the office till Friday but his secretary, who was very competent and helpful, spoke to me. She told me that she had posted the DG's response on Monday which I will get later this week.  She also told me that that Corvera still does not have final building permissions and Calidona have no way of knowing when they will get them, though they hope this will be soon. She accepted my point that Calidona have been saying the same thing for a year.

I also contacted my solicitors in Spain to complain that they have not acted in my interest by allowing me to sign a contract which offers me no protection and no recourse even if this project is delayed by another 1,2 or even 10 years. The contract ensures only that the builder gets their monies by the due dates and that once they start construction they must finish within 18 months. Under the terms of the contract the builder can wait for ever and a day to start which I now realise leaves me badly exposed. I complained to my Spanish lawyer that I do not believe any UK solicitor would have failed to draw my attention to this possibility. Their response was that I can cancel and move to another solicitor if I like.

I am awaiting my letter from the Director General before taking my next step.

I have to say I completely agree with Jdy, especially on the point with the Spanish lawyers not pointing out problems with the contract from their clients point of view.  The fact that contractually the developer does not have to begin the project in any given time frame should have been brought to our attention, I was wondering if anyone had a solicitor that brought this to their notice as I would like to use a legal team in future, that actually considers their clients interests.

Just for interest I am just completing on MRI's first development in Bansko, Bulgaria called Aspen Golf. Here the contract apparently states that we have to pay the final installment before completion, and we're not even allowed to view the uncompleted apartments. Here again the wonderful legal team (MRI recommended) did not think this was worth bringing to our attention.

kev

Hi

I was just wondering for those who followed the 'golden rule' about not using the agents or developers solicitors, did your solicitors draw to your attention the fact that it appears that the builder does not have to begin the build, only that they have to complete the build within 18months once the construction has begun, surely an independent 'quality' solicitor would see this as a potential problem and draw your attention to it.

In general  I would think that if anyone comes across a solicitors, agent ,developer, management agency etc that is exceptionally good (or bad ) it would be worth while passing the info on to everyone else in the group (and possibly this will help get rid of some the worse elements).

Just a word of caution when criticising anyone, a forum for one of MRI's developments Aspen Heights in Bulgaria has been shut down ( although this may be temporary) as there were allegedly libellous comments about MRI.

Kev

Hi all,

I went with KSI costa consulting, and while I'm very happy with the service provided, they didn't bring that point to our attention either. All that we have is the bank guarantee. One of which runs until March, so I suppose if there is no movement we can call in the guarantees? 

I have been an enthusiastic follower or this forum for a while now.

As a first time investor on Phase 2 I had a few initial wobbles which were kindly smoothed over by fellow forum members.

At the moment a little panic is setting in and  I am really regretting my decision. I feel that my £50k is sat in their banks and is doing absolutely NOTHING. My money is totally tied up with no benefit whatsoever to me. As time has passed my dead money could have been better utilized elsewhere.

Does anybody know if there is any way of cancelling our agreement and getting our money back.

Like many on the forum we were guided to an 'independant' solicitor who is clearly connected to MRI!!!!

Alternatively does anybody want to buy an end 2 bed 1st floor TILO overlooking the water feature and mountains with 77m terrace (good plot with enormous suntrapping terraces which wrap around - according to the plans!!)

Looks like we have two groups forming here.

A) Investors who want a quick(ish) return on their monies and

B) Those of us who have bought with a view to retiring out there or at least living out in Spain in 5-10 years time etc.

Those of us in the A) group are naturally concerned about the speed of progress although the asset value will still be rising slightly and those of us in the B) group aren't too worried as we know that even if it takes 3 or more years to build, our investment is always going up in value and when completed it will be a fantastic place to live. If nothing happens in the next year or two however, I think that we may also start to get a little skittish.

Lets not cast judgement or argue with one another but understand the varied reasons behind everyones purchase.

Steve,

I think your right, everyone has thier own reasons for buying and own reasons for being worried / not worried.

It's impossible to understand why some people feel one way or another. So i think we all need to keep posting what we know / feel and make our own judgements based on the information in front of us.

That said, my own feelings are that i'm very dissapointed in the way Calidona have been silent, dissapointed that it has taken so long to get going and dissapointed that I won't be holidaying there some time soon. However, I still think it will go ahead 'fairly' soon and i think that it will be an excellent resort and investment.

Cazbaz, it's horrible to hear that you've had enough and are worried about losing your money. I hope others resolve will help you to keep the faith? It is a shining example of why Calidona should be keeping it's customers informed!

Don't sell. Hang in there, I think you'll be sorry if you don't..............but what do I know?

Evertom

Hi all,

I was aware that there was no commitment to a start date by Calidonia, my Solicitor pointed that out before we signed the Contract.  She went to great lengths to establish under what conditions our Bank Guarantee could come into effect.  We  almost lost our apartment due to being well over due date to sign the Contract because of her commitment to us, and were given a deadline to either sign the Contract or receive our deposit back.  However, although we knew there was no commitment to a starting date, we still signed the Contract. I imagine many of you would have done the same.  We had no reason to suspect that the situation would go on and on and .......  The fact that they gave us the option of receiving back our deposit, they didn't have to, also convinced us that we were making a sound investment with a reputable company. 

I am still as convinced now as I was then that this will be a fantastic development.  I know that time seems to be passing and nothing seems to be happening but, to a certain extent, we expected that.  All the time we are waiting for the development to commence, we are reducing outgoings for when it is finished having secured, I feel, a good price.  I do not believe that this situation will continue much longer.  I don't believe panicking and selling up is the answer.  I don't even think you can sell on your contract until building work has been underway for three months (that is if it is even written into your Contract that you can sell - Phase I only I think).  Correct me if I'm wrong.  I think that out of the blue, soon, something will happen.

 I know there will be members out there ready to criticise my thoughts and opinions and shout me down - but please don't.  That does not achieve anything.   I do, however, agree that Calidonia's treatment of its purchasers has been downright disgraceful and that somehow they should be made aware of that.  Just my thoughts.

Anita

I feel what you have said Anita is sound and the development in all likelyhood will be the success we all wish it to be, although somewhat later than expected, and Calidona certainly want to work on their customer communications.

Bank guarantees have been mentioned several times and rightly so as they are our safety net, but I would imagine everyone who purchased on phase 1 and 2 guarantees  will run out before construction is completed. Does anyone know will these be 'updated' automatically by the banks or developers or do we have to start chasing our solicitors and when would we expect them to be extended  - 3 months before they are due to run out perhaps? Mine does not run out until September but I read that ginab for example runs out in March. I wouldn't want it to be put on the back burner and forgotten about. I wonder if  the guarantees cover excessive delays?

kev

I'm in agreement with Anita.  Our solicitor (independent - with London based firm of Spanish lawyers) also pointed out the lack of commitment to a start date and in fact tried to get a clause inserted in the contract establishing a 6 month deadline for obtaining the necessary licence or have the contract recinded.  Unfortunately Calidona would not agree to this.  I now understand why!  Nevertheless we decided to go ahead on the basis of the protection of clause 17 on "Non compliance on the part of the Vendor" and the evidence of the good standard of the sister development at Roda. 

Also, like Anita, we're still convinced that it will eventually be a great development - however as we are in Steve's group (B) and now all ready to move as soon as possible - we are finding the delays extremely frustrating.  I agree that the way we are being treated by Calidona is cavalier to say the least - and, yes, maybe we should consider some kind of joint approach.

Steve and everybody else thankyou for your well balanced reply.

Steve I liked the fact that you fairly considered both investors and lifestyle buyers. As a 1st time buyer we never believed the ridiculous statistics which MRI sales quoted as potential profit - however we did believe that we could  choose to 'flip' quickly or wait until the site matured. We had very open minds but this forum did make me feel positive about keeping our apartment; however  what was going to be a short to medium term investement is getting longer by the minute.

On the plus side I think we should all be delighted with the PGA committment - without their commitment I would be very worried indeed - that has got to be an incentive to Calidona to crack on ASAP once this illusive building licence appears

I do really believe this is going to be a fantastic place, and for all you lifestyle buyers - lucky you- but for those of us in Steve's Group A need we need couple of good purchases before we can join you and have that luxury; some come on Calidona get building!!!  

Hi all

 I was just checking the two bank guarantees I have on the two properties I purchased at Corvera and I notriced the sum guaranteed on each property to cover the deposits is about 26,000 euros short on each property. So in case you have not double checked the amount it might be worth doing so, again another oversight by my conscientious solicitors, and from now on I will be assuming they will be doing everything wrong and will be double checking everything.

kev