San Jose into liquidation.

http://www.costablanca-news.com/news/frontnorth.htm

DETAILS OF MEETING TO BE HELD THIS WEEK

please find below details of the meeting to be held in Birmingham this weekend;
 
Date:  Sunday 25 May
Time:  4pm
Location:  Trident Room, Holiday Inn Hotel,   

COVENTRY ROAD
BIRMINGHAM, B26 3QW ENGLAND
Hotel Front Desk: 0870-400 9007

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hotel/bhxap/transportation
 
Please note that this email has been circulated to all those on our distribution list and we acknowledge receipt of all those who have responded so far.  There is no need to respond again.
 
An email will be sent to the whole group early next week informing you of the meeting outcome.

maybe this needs to be another thread but buyers at Trampolin Hills development should check with their agents as after selling the majority of the project have been refused licence and are being investigated for fraud and bribery..........
This estate agency lark is turning into the Indiana Jones Trilogy at the moment,i am considering a position in the bomb disposals unit,it is less stressful that dodging the dodgy builders at the moment..........

As promised, here is the interview I did with Maria de Castro yesterday discussing this San Jose situation.

It's not been adited so it's in it's raw state.  You can even hear the office dog barking away in the background.

Anyway, I hope you find it useful.

You can listen to hit here by clicking here and then clicking the play button.

If you prefer you can download the mp3 version to your pc by right-clicking here.

Justin


This message was last edited by EOS Team on 5/21/2008.

The interview was very interesting, for which we thank EOS. 

However, what do you do when ALL MONIES have been paid, two years ago, but you have STILL not had your deeds?

A big thank you to Justin and Maria for a really informative interview.

I would recommend to anyone involved in this debacle it is well worth 30 mins of your time.

Jim

Maria & Justin

Thank you for such an informative and straight forward interview.  

Chrissie

Hi I am new here although i have been lurking for a while i also know this is not on topic  (answering to Georgia post) I have sold properties here for 7 years and on Trampolin Hills, in good faith when lawyers have been advised and told clients all is well,  i find your post incredably arrogant are you telling me that no other developer is or has been in this situation now or before, most of them were lucky early on  and got away with it either by corrupt mayors or other wise.  A minority of agents are genuine and honest and act in good faith after all we are not lawyers.  oh and i also have been on TV  4 years ago (not pushing into everyone face) what difference is that going to make in this climate. i have only this to say to you ´people in glass house should not throw stones´ I truly hope that all your sales past , present and in the future are trouble free as you know the old saying ´what goes around comes around¨´ 

Hi Bluebottle, it,s always good to see new posters and particularly ones with experience in property dealings. I hope you can advise and support us potential buyers.
On this occasion  I think you are being a little over sensitive. As you must have realised during your " lurking " days, Georgia has been very helpful to a lot of people and often gone " beyond the call of duty". Hopefully you are of similar character.
I look forward to your future posts

Hi thanks for your welcome and maybe i was a little, however it angers me when all agents are tarred with the same brush, we started selling properties seven years ago and were one of best value agents here.  We are i have to say still selling properties because i truly believe that only the strongest focused agents who care about there clients will survive.  My beef with Georgia was not personal and if i had known then what i know now well.......i just do not like being held resposible for what was out of my control if lawyers were not involved then fair enough but lawyers were advising not me, i also do not steer my clients to any lawyer, bank, or foreign exchange company  they chose there own.  Thankfully i can sleep at night.

Hi Bluebottle & a warm welcome to EOS. 

I echo Acapulco's feelings regarding Georgia. Georgia is not just an estate agent with a MASSIVE heart, he is now a personal friend of mine after we met up after becoming mates on the forum over a  year or so ago & he generally speaks about the BIG AGENTS when he comments. There are great agents out there, many have spoken about theirs. Mostly though, we all feel, there are those who want their commission regardless of whether they've done their homework. I think most of us understand certain things that happen are out of agents hands & they too have problems. 

You sound like you are an agent who cares too & it's good to hear from you. Just kindly don't slag our Georgia off or you'll have More to deal with.  

 

 Hi there,

First of all, I would like to introduce ourselves. We are a law firm based in Orihuela area-Torrevieja. Actually, we are working together with another law firm in Alicante (Price-Waterhouse) in several lawsuits against San Jose, having clients in all the phases: with private purchase contracts but without Title Deeds, waiting for completion; others in the phase of asking for the refund of their moneys for breach of contract and up until 142 clients with law suits before the Orihuela Courts (as you would probably know, where San Jose is based).

Due to we are so closed to the area where San Jose is has their head quarters, we are aware of some “news” which do not usually appear in newspapers and that we consider all the affected ones by the current situation, should know about.

Some months ago, the main Administrator of the company made proceedings in order to pass all his personal assets in the name of his wife apart from taking other measures to safeguard himself for the possible actions of Court. However, this is nothing to worry anybody because Judicial Administrators named by the Court can null all the actions done by a company up until 2 years since Court has accepted the case.

It is important for you to know as well that about the complex of the Shareholders of San Jose. The 40% of the company is in hands of a few, the rest are little shareholders from Orihuela and little towns around it, who have invested their savings in small amounts (from 20.000 € to 200.000 €). Within the current situation, the last ones are the most damaged ones, due to they are not creditors, and because of that, they have began to take actions that could make more difficult the viability of the company now in hands of Judicial Administrators.

We are aware as well that in the last 2 months, there have been many agreements with creditors where debts were paid with properties and dwellings.

It is true that all those affected by this situation should make it known to the Judicial Administrators, although please note as well that it does not mean at all that you would be refunded back all the amounts paid for the purchase of your properties. Actually, the first task of the administrators will be to try to complete the residentitals and urbanizations in order to complete the transactions, not to pay back any money. Nevertheless, take into account that the location of the properties will have a lot of importance and each one has a different situation. Just for your information and as far as we know:

1) Jumilla has the Partial Planning approved, so the urbanization is considered as “legal”, however, San Jose cannot be issued licences or are not able to go ahead with the building until the infrastructures problems are not completed, that is, they must pay the expropriation of the land plots located in the main entrance of the residential and the execution of the works for the accesses to the urbanization and the connection with the motorway. This is a problem of 5 million € that San Jose does not have nowadays.

2) Playa Golf. Almost all the properties are finished and they have granted as well inhabitation licences. Those faints that San Jose had to pay for beginning the works without licences (so illegally) have been paid already. So, with this urbanization, there would not be administrative problems.

3) El Pinet. This is a more complex issue. We would not have any inconvenience to explain to those interested in this matter or having a property there about their queries without any obligation, but being so long, it is easier to do it though mail.

We are sure, you will be asking at this stage how is it possible that a company so big and with so many sales has gone to this situation? This question has a very easy reply: the bad management of the company towards the land. They bought land plots where they were not able to build in, something that delayed all the projects, so almost in all the developments they were not able to finish them on time. The money of your deposits was gone a long time ago to buy other land plots. We have the example of “Dolores Park”, where San Jose invested a massive amount of money but where they do not have licences to build and moreover, they will probably not have it ever!

To sum up, we are really affected because this situation is trespassing the whole economy of the area where 500 direct workers and 3.000 indirect workers could be fired.

We believe that due to the assets owned by the company, if Judicial Administrators manage properly their work and if creditors and buyers show some comprehension, all could have a happy ending. However, all of us will need to have patience and to act on time and measure. It is very important to be aware of the stages done by the Judicial Administrators and the ones stipulated by Law and to wait the possible negotiation.

I hope this post clarifies some of your queries, but please contact us in case of having any further without any kind of obligation 

 

Plusadvisors.......fantastic insight, an unbelievablely useful post for those concerned. very brave, well done.

Hi Bluebottle,
I dont want to detract from this thread so i will keep this brief.
I wasn't having a go at anyone other than the developers who build without licence and maybe some of the large agents that are aware of the fact.
I am sorry that you took this the wrong way,i was purely highlighting that you have to be very very careful who you use now when selling new build property.
And to add to your point of what goes around comes around,i am sorting of banking on that one................

More and Acalpulco,thanks for the comments guys.

Hi EOS Moderator
Very interesting Audio and helpful.
Can we ask the following question:
We have a property on Playa Golf 3.  There are 25 unsold properties.  Who is liable to pay the Builders share of the Community Charge.  The current total for SJ on our Community is 7000E.  Are the owners legally bound to pay or does his share come out of the administration?

BobShe

Hi Justin & Maria

The interview was brilliant and very informative. 

We must all keep fighting 

Gill & Keith

Hi

Recently learned about the San Jose issue and currently racing against time to complete the purchase on our property on R2 Playa Golf III. Atlas are adament that the sale is good to go but I have just had a call from a neighbour on the site with a very concerning tale. I'm not sure whether Playa Golf III, which has all construction complete is in the same 'at risk category' as San Jose's other developments. I'm new to the site and as there have been no further posts since Friday, has activity moved to a different area on EOS?

Many thanks.

Neil

Hi Neil

Welcome to EOS forum.

I haven't heard any more on EOS. 

You could join in with your owners forum for Playa Golf III too HERE, just click blue link.

Back here to the fight after a couple of days off.

Thanks for all your appreciation words and EOS´ work.

Thanks to Plusadvisors for its balanced input, wise, full of commun sense and legal art.

Our very best advise right now is.... to calmly start looking for proper, committed and  independent legal advisor to be in charge of the protection of your deposits. You just also need to become conscious that you are in a new phase of your investment adventure in Spain, that you need to gather your experience and learn out of it and start fighting with new energiesto regain the much confidence and rights you can.

There are legal tools, they just need to be craftily played.

Best wishes,

Maria

I have posted on the El Pinet forum but would like to have some information re El Pinet as mentioned in the Plus Advisor post.

UPDATE:

As I mentioned before, and due to the geographical closeness to San Jose headquarters, we have been informed about some issues not very nice. Last Friday, a journalist of the radio station “Onda 0” informed us that the main administrator of San Jose suffered a brutal aggression that drove him to hospital, it seems that the aggressor could be a supplier, although we are trying this to confirmed by the police.

This matter although it is of no importance for us or for our clients, shows the tension atmosphere that currently exists here…

We were able to know as well that one of the two Judicial Administrators named by Court has declined to do it because of justifiable reasons, so in the next hours, the final Judicial Administrators will be named and they will begin to work with the piles of paperwork and files they have to study.

Nevertheless, the most important news of all, although it is not confirmed yet (we are working on it) is the one saying that it is very possible that all clients who were purchasing a property with San Jose, those ones who actually paid a deposit for their properties, will be included as creditors directly. Of course, this is something that if true would make easier the situation. We hope to have the final confirmation for Wednesday, something we will post here for your information.

Best wishes,

 

PLAYA GOLF 1, 2 & 3

 

For those of you who might be wondering about accepting alternative properties on Playa Golf, we have bought an Azucena (White Lily) on Playa Golf III R3. It was completed in Sept 2005 and now we have all the documents as owners. Our community was set up last year and we now are totally up and running.

The infrastructure is growing week by week, so we now have an Aldi supermarket, bank, bars, restaurants and other small shops including a florist, hairdresser and news agent. We are also on a bus route that passes by Playa Golf. So you don’t have to take the car to the main bars on the N332.

The road surfaces have been finished off by the local authority; we have street names and a postal address, so I guess that the Town Hall regards us as a legal urbanisation!

Our committee was in talks with San Jose to try and get some more green areas put in around the urbanisation, but I recon that’s on hold for now.

The people on the urbanisation are very friendly and there is a great community spirit about the development. We are not all English; there are several nationalities, Spanish, Norwegian, and Irish to mention but a few. So as you can see, if you decide to move onto Playa Golf you will be made welcome by everyone.

The only downside to this development is the occasional bad smell, but it is only occasional and after a few beers at Alfie’s Bar or one of the other bars on the Urbanisation you will forget all about it.

If you would like to find out more information about Playa Golf, we do have a Blog, pm me for a link, also take a look at Playa Golf posts on the off plan developments section of EOS.

Hope things go well for you and you get sorted out so that you can enjoy the Costa Blanca and all it has to offer.

Sping.

Hi Sping,
I am not one of those involved in the San Jose scandal, but I just had to reply to your post.
How refreshing to hear someone who is happy with their property and urb!
Your comments will go a long way to encouraging those unfortunate enough to be caught up with San Jose's plight.
There could be a happy ending for them, let's just hope so.
Well done.............

Hi

I don't know about you but we attended the meeting yesterday in Birmingham and feel more confused now than before

I think majority of us there, are at Santa Ana, with PSI and Ambasun and dont have Bank Guarantees. I think Ambasun as the agent could have at least shown up as they are based in Birmingham, also we have been very misled with regards to PSI, we put our trust in these people and now we have got to put our trust in another company. Is it once bitten, twice shy.


We have just spent the last 2 hours reading the forums and looking into lawyers and really havent got a clue what to do!!

How do you all feel?  We would love to see the property built, but deep down I think its very doubtful.

Hi Andy & Lynne,

It is understandable that you are confused. I think that there is no-one who actually knows what is going to happen. Maybe even San Jose are confused (who knows).
The truth is that there is nothing you can do at the moment apart from at least ensure that you have independent legal representation who can advise you and represent you in Spain every step of the way.
The process for applying for the type of voluntary administration that San Jose have applied for takes about 3 weeks usually for the courts to even approve! So... even if you wanted to make a decision now, you would have nothing upon which to base that decision as it could be that everything is different in 3 weeks.
We happen to know, because we are based here and are following the matter closely, that San Jose is trying everything they can to find the funding that they need to carry on their current projects. We also know that this is the primary motivation of the courts in these sorts of circumstances (i.e. to avoid bankrupcy). Therefore, if the funding gets found, or they manage to dump some assets for some decent cash within the next few weeks, we are talking about a whole new ball game. Equally, if everything goes to pot (in the worst case scenario) and the project isn't going to go ahead at all, not even through another developer, you won't know that for the time being anyway. Equally, this is not something that you or anyone else are able to influence right now
It is really hard when you are in the UK and the laws are different as it is frustrating not to know within which boundaries the situation can revolve but there are some good lawyers in the area who speak English and who will be able to ensure that everything will be done in order for you to lose out as little as possible under any circumstances that may occur.
The problem is though, that only time will tell what will happen and that cannot be changed!
Keep logging on though and us, as well as any of the solicitors in the area, who find out anything will ensure that tany information is passed on as quickly as possible.
Try to worry as little as you can possibly manage (under the circumstances) :)

Take care.

Again...

1.- If you have a Bank Guarantee that you can execute ( because the completion deadline of the contract) has arrived and building is not finished, go to execution of Bank Guarantee.

2.- If you do not have a Bank Guarantee :  our advise is to just look for a legal advisor that you can trust and ask him/her to register your credit as privileged and special.

That simple.

That is sound and simple advice for people that don't want to go ahead with their purchase in light of the circumstances but of course, some people have bought in Jumilla because they actually want to have a property there so it may be that should the project go ahead in the end (which is a possibility), they would want their property and not necessarily their money back!
Your interview was really good Maria by the way!

Oh, yes... you are fully right. Thanks for pointing that out.

We have been so involved in contract cancellation rights lately that  I just  left that other option out.

In that case, even when it is possible that the development will go ahead  just forthe decission of administrators/company itself, it would also be advantageous if you buyers, make a direct statement/petition to administrators in that sense together with the registration of your credit.

Best,

Maria

This message was last edited by mariadecastro on 5/26/2008.

Hi Maria,
I listened to your interview and it was the most helpfull advice that i have heard from an Abagado. We have allready started the process of coming together as a group to contact the Administrators is support of SADM under the headings of SARC and I want my House. The crucial thing is that we need to contact our Spanish co purchasers to ensure that they have the opportunity to be part of that loud voice and included in the process.
Do you have any ideas as to how we can contact them?
All the best to you
I want my House
Tony  R17  18

have you already tried trough EOS development´s  forums?

Thanks for your kind words. We just humbly try to put all our knowledge and experience at the service of our clients. We love the adventure too!!

Maria