ITV show on the Costa Del Sol

In fact this time it looks like Almeria and Costa Blanca are going to get the treatment as well.

It's a two part mini series called "Spain paradise lost" and will be aired from tomorrow night 17th June at 9pm BST. (10pm Spain)

Links to the official ITV Press release for Ep1 and Ep2.

Should be a interesting... as they always, but always miss out on the success stories.

You never know, this one might be different?

Oh look! A squadron of porkers just flew past the EOS office window!

TechNoApe

I know where you are coming from, but if the series stops just one family going through the hell many of us have in the last few years, then I think it will have been worthwhile. While the success stories should also get a mention, I feel that until the corruption/poor regulation/justice system that has let so many down is addressed and changes made then the ugly truths should be aired for all to see. It would be great to  see a programme in future reporting on how changes had been made and telling people what a good place Spain is to buy due to the recent change, but untill then I don't think there is much of a case for celebration of the positive aspects of Spain for all those swindled, or going through court cases stretching out years.

I do understand the frustration of more negative publicity for those of you for whom things have turned out well. It will indeed hold back the whole property industry, but I feel the anger should be aimed at those who could change the system, (as some on this forum are trying to do) not those reporting on it, or the victims of it trying to highlight the problems to force change.

I will try to watch the show tonight although I am not sure since this means I will miss "Los hombres de Paco" on Antena 3 at the same time, good for your Spanish. It is a hard decision, what should i watch?

Ana

Ana

record one?

I don´t have a recorder. thank you for the suggestion Goodstich

Oh no we missed this. 

Susan

It's not on in England until tonight.

Susan

........or Spain according to Techno'

Oh yeah, duh

Susan

1. I will never moan about our garage flooding in the rain again. (of course, I will)

2. What has people taking on mortgages they clearly cannot afford, got to do with Spain?

3. Who was that estate agent in the convertable Merc? He needs to re-register his UK plated car pronto. Driving illegally ain't a very good advert for his (lack of) professionalism.

4. I know some on here think I'm a heartless smug b*****d, but I could have cried when I saw that nice Irishman (he sounded exactly like Richie Kavanagh!) trying to finish the building work on his house himself. My heart went out to him, poor sod.

5. Inez, you were terrific!

looked depressing!

Craig

Yes my heart went out to the irish man poor guy having to sweep up that mess the rain left behind, fair play too him for cleaning it up& for working trying to finish some of the work that the builders left not done.

Yes and he was on is tu*d broom!

Poor chap didn't have any choice, he had to sweep whilst the water supply was there.

I wonder if the builders were TU, the big firm who went bust causing a lot of heartache for many home owners.

Unfortunately the programme didn't go into why so many people have got themselves into this mess.  When we were looking at buying a property there were so many property shows around and companies trying to get us to buy through them.

We went to one company which had a shop somewhere near Southend, when they found out how much we had to spend they tried to get us to use the money to buy two properties off-plan and sell the second nearer the completion date.  

I wonder if the blonde from Bradford found what she was looking for in Marbella. 

Inez - I thought the house she looked at was lovely, did the owners manage to sell it and how long ago was the programme made?

morning all

heartbreaking stuff indeed for the Irish guy. If decent regulation had been enforced in the form of a bank guarantee from the developer , then would he have been in that mess?

As for the couple who took out a huge mortgage, well I think you just have to say 'tough luck' on that one. They took the gamble and lost. I did feel very sorry for another couple trying to sell their place through the auction, and looked like losing their pension. Again it's mainly market forces that have gone against them, but having said that, if regulation had prevented massive overbuilds, massive loans, and massive corruption, then the whole position in Spain could have turned out far better and many who bought in good faith would probably still be Ok, because of the supply/demand situation. 

I felt the programme missed the main point of why Spains costas are in this mess?  Was there any mention of lack of regulation that's led to massive overbuilds?, any mention of brown envelopes, back handers, corruption from top to bottom, dodgy lawyers, dodgy judges, plain lies from many agents over issues like bank guarantees and transference of funds, LFO's etc.?   They touched on it, when talking about easy money from banks and poor build quality, but that's about all.

It would have been nice to hear from a Spanish official on what they intend to do to try and put things right, or even offer any help or advice to those who have fallen foul of hopeless regulation and justice, but nothing!    We all know many people are in a mess through no fault of their own, so what I wanted to see was positive solutions, or even just some Spanish official having the balls to admit massive failure and coming forward with ideas that would not only help those wronged, but start to restore faith in potential buyers, so benifitting all.  Perhaps that's all down to programme makers though?

what about Rixxy? she looked so cool and professional on the show. Well done Rixxy!

Ana

Must agree Inez you came across brilliant, well done, goes to show even when you have money to get a bargain not everyone is going to drop their prices to suit, the blond woman looking for a bargain ended up renting, I wonder why.

Who built La Zenia Elite? Well Tecnologia Urbanistica of course! Who said they have gone broke? As far as I know they are still trading. They are still being taken to court for outstanding deeds and unfinished urbanisations. Did you know that La Zenia Elite is only a few hundred metres from ATLAS HQ one way and Orihuela Costa Townhall the other way? Neither seem willing to help.

Who built La Zenia Elite? Well Tecnologia Urbanistica of course! Who said they have gone broke? As far as I know they are still trading. They are still being taken to court for outstanding deeds and unfinished urbanisations. Did you know that La Zenia Elite is only a few hundred metres from ATLAS HQ one way and Orihuela Costa Townhall the other way? Neither seem willing to help.

 Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed it, part 2 next week! I didnt know what was going out as they filmed 2 auctions, the villa owners and Dennis with the apartment and the owner of the pub restaurant were/are my clients and they also filmed 2 buyers.

It was filmed during march and april this year

Mandy looking at proeprty was lovely and her offer was good, owner didnt want to accept and the property got 2 buyes, neither of which completed. Ive just put it on a buy to let with price tag agreed now of 170,000 euros! If the owner had listened to me earlier, it would have been sold and for more, not just to Mandy either.

Off to work now, catch you all later.

Hi Rixxy,

Whereabouts was that house that the blond woman put the 185K bid in for? It looked really nice.  Prices are starting to look very cheap now, so might be time for us to think about buying.  Maybe we´ll pop along to one of your auctions....

Thanks

David

On another forum someone has contacted the local papers to suggest that people volunteer to help Wally on his urbanisation.  The Coastrider told him that the sewage problem has been fixed.

It seems that Atlas was also selling this urbanisation 3 years ago, pity that wasn't mentioned on the programme.  Would have like to seen the response from the happy estate agent.  Both they and the builder have pocketed the money and no one seems willing to finish the project.

Also how can the Town Halls allow buildings to be constructed on land that is used for water drainage.  What's the point of submitting plans.

Wasn't there another urbanisation featured in another programme where the same thing had happened.  From memory it only effected houses in one part of the urbanisation and they all had to be underpinned.

Years ago someone had built a conservatory on their bungalow which was on the side of the mountain. and after a while it started sinking.  On talking to elder inhabitants in the village they had also built on the course of the flood drainage.  Moral I suppose is talk to those that know what happens in the area rather than the numpties that work in the town hall.

There are some awful situations in Spain and I'm sorry for people in any difficulty and hope their situations are resolved. But a few things came to mind when watching the programme:

• The La Zenia site looked like it may still be on builders electricity, if this is the case people may have completed before the Licence of First Occupation has been granted by the Town Hall.

• If you take out a mortgage, you have to pay the money back and you don't own the property until you do.

• Would you purchase a property in the UK without visiting the site and on the word of a salesman?

Rixxi ........ Go Girl!

Anybody down that way who knows Wally (Irish fella) tell him he's a true hero. Never give up and doesn't just sit around waiting for the fairies to finish his little bit of 'heaven'.

Better still if your place is complete and you live loacally, forget the day on the beach, pick up a trowel or a spade and go pay him a visit and give him a hand.

Steve

 Hi David, sanchez1, the house is in Nueva andaluca near aloha golf about 4 mins from banus. Love to see you at the july auction

Hi Rixxy

good to see you on the show last night.  The auction looked good for buyers, if desperate for sellers who have lost so much. Mandy did indeed seem to have her head screwed on right, and looks sure to get a bargain by waiting for the right deal and being on the spot.

Looking forward to part 2.

I watched the show last night and my question is:

Why are none of the agents talking about all the properties for under €150.000 2 bed 2 bath and over 75m² being sold on the coast. 

What bank is still valuing 2 bed apartments in any area at €450.000??

Felt really sorry for the Irish man and i hope that everything resolves for him, could not bare living in that mess all the time.

Joan

I wonder how many people watched the programe last night and thought, there but for the grace of god go I.

When we originally bought in Spain we were introduced to a small local estate agent who bent over backwards to help us, they warned us of all the pitfalls, got us a good lawyer and helped us set up bank accounts. When after a few years we decided to move we made a point of going through the same people again even though it was a new build and we could have saved some pennies by not doing so. Once again these people proved themselves to be invaluable. We can only think that the people shown last night were unfortunate and did not have the benefit of reliable people to help them with their purchase. We to got the impression that some of them had moved in before the first occupation licence had been granted, something we were warned to avoid.

We count ourselves very forunate things could have easily been different for us had we not met the right people.

Bob

Exactly Jet48, there are not only bad experiences. thank you for sharing your good experience with us and prove that there´s still nice people living in Spanin.

Ana

Jet48 i completely agree with you.  Unfortunately there are agents out there who do not care, they are there to make their money, i myself nearly got caught buying in a development which 7 years later still has no first occupancy licence, luckily I had a very good lawyer and they advised me well and we bought elsewhere with no problems.

There are so many agents its impossible to choose from and many of them just want the sale, there are very good agencies on the coast and also incredible lawyers but you need to find them.

Buyers really need to research before putting a deposit down and not let themselves be pushed specially with lines like:

"This is the last unit at this price"

"You will not find anything better"

There are thousands of properties on the market and there always has been, the only difference now is that they are cheaper due to the economic crisis. Take your time and make sure that this is the correct choice!