I need good quality legal advice.
I have been unfortunate in my choice of lawyers as I have twice ended up with lawyers who only seem to want to do the basic conveyance work and do not want to fight for their client’s rights. I bought my property from a notorious builder who was convicted of swindling thousands of prospective clients out of nearly 60m euros. My house was built but none of the necessary paperwork prepared. We have been told that we would need to employ an architect to prepare this paperwork. The company is now in administration and I need some good quality legal advice about dealing with the Administrator appointed by the court.
I have a few basic questions and would be grateful for helpful answers.
1. I don’t quite understand the powers of the court appointed Administrator. I have written to her asking for a meeting and she did not reply or even acknowledge my communication. She seems to be adopting a high handed and arrogant approach. I had always assumed that Administrators would always negotiate but this one takes a hard line approach. Is this typical of court appointed Administrators?
2. The value of the house has fallen by about 30%. Should this be taken into consideration? In addition, the tax on the purchase price when we signed the contract was 7% but has now increased to 10%. The vacant properties on the site have now been sold off at less than 50% of the original selling price.
3. The builder had taken out fraudulent mortgages on our properties and we, together with other owners, took a class action to get these mortgage embargos removed. This cost us individually 6,000 euros. Surely this should be recognised by the Administrator and taken into account when determining the amount we owe.
4. The house was bought off plan and the cost was paid off instalments. A contract was issued. However the builder built the house facing the wrong direction. I said we did not want it but the builder said he would drop the price by 10,000 euros if we proceeded. We agreed and a new contract was issued for the lower amount. The outstanding amount on the house purchase therefore was therefore reduced from 102,000 euros to 92,000 euros. The Administrator refuses to recognise the second (amended) contract and is demanding the full amount.
5. The Administrator also now says that we need to take responsibility for the whole process of preparing the paperwork for the notary process. I find this amazing. Our purchase was on the basis that we would pay the final amount when the property was completed and legalised. We are both senior citizens and this legalisation process would be a mammoth stressful task for us.
If we have to complete the legalisation process ourselves I would have expected a reduced price or some sort of reduced price bearing in mind that this is a house without all the necessary paperwork.
6. The bank will not give us a mortgage without all the paperwork.
Has anyone any experience of working with a court appointed Administrator and can help shed some light on our problems. Does anyone know of a good lawyer who will fight for their clients without giving up at the first hurdle? I would be grateful for any constructive comments.