I actually didn´t say that the SAN ANTONIO move was overpriced but you may wish to carefully check the prices of the other properties offered by IAP om other developments

You still howvever would have been able to buy a resale property at a very low price and paid less tax and IVA

You are correct about the COH and of course if the property isn´t finished you need a Bank Guarntee and these are all things that should be checked by an INDEPENDANT lawyer

I am sorry but there are very few rental organisations out there that will guarntee you bookings, they mainly want your money for keyholding and servicing the property, better to do your own research on the well known rental sites like Holiday rentals, look for similar properties, their rates plus their bookings availability on the system

In Costa Blanca South bookings are down by over 30% compared to last year with reducin rental yield and existing owners, as a result of the reducing mortgage costs, are able to and cutting their rates

If you meet with a rental comonay that claims to have links with larger rental sites get them to show you actual ads on that site, talk to the sites to verify their claims and ask to talk to existing customers,

Again I agree that if you are not being offered another property on an alternate SAN ANTONIO development then I would question the motive of your agent

Hi,

    I have just come across this forum & pleased to find it !

I too have a contract through IAPG with San Antonio & Fortuna & recently attended the IAPG meeting in Birmingham. I am not impressed with the overpriced " rental boxes" offered as flips at the meeting. I have also been contacted by Plus Advisors regarding starting a litigation process through Landwell Price Waterhouse Coopers for €5,000. I would be delighted to pay this if there was a good chance of recovering my deposit even after 2 years, but I am very worried that it is just throwing good money after bad. There was no bank guarantee issued ! Anyone have a crystal ball to know what to do for the best because I am struggling beyond feeling very angry and don't know who to trust anymore.

Fiona

Typically it will cost in the region of €6k to bring an action against the developer to recover money and can take a number of years

My only observation is that I would not be keen to use a lawyer that had previously let me down by not obtaining someting that I was entitled to by law, a Bank Guarntee, and feel that they may be cashing in by now offering to sue as, if I had a BG in the first place my paymements would be secured

Some would arrgue that they have acted unprofessionally by nkit advising you on, or getting you the BG and maybe they should get your money back at no charge to compensate you for this, perhaos peoiple should be suggesting this or even no win no fee

I am also aware of some Atlas clients that have a valid BG issued and therefore their claims should be more straightforward

I am afraid that the gamble is if SAN ANTONIO will survive as many builders have filed for administration, bankruptcy proptection which would then just leave you as another creditor

Hi All

We have just returned from Spain. We went to look at the San Antonio Los Balcones building site. There is a skeleton cement structure of two buildings at one edge of the site and that is it. Apart from that the whole site is deserted-no machinery-no building materials-no sign of any work at all just a large area of barren land with not even a sign of any planned roads. After speaking to people locally I am sorry but I have to agree with Roy from Inspectahome that the signs are that the builder may well be heading for administration. I also agree that the DIY direct to the builder who already holds your deposit route is the way to go with a good independent solicitor. If you can negotiate a good discount with an already built key ready property which I feel sure you will be able to do then you can move away from any more contact with IAP. The one good thing I can say about San Antonio and probably the only good thing I can say is that his properties are very well built. I know someone who has lived in one of his apartments for 4 years and has not heard anyone complain about the quality. On the other hand we have relatives one of whom bought off plan in Bigastro and another who did the same at Turre with different builders and they have both had to move out of their properties after completion because of cracking walls and structural faults so be careful. Good luck.

Best regards

Madmau

Hi all, We attanded the IAP Manchester Airport event and signed a list for interested parties to get together and consider options - and maybe share costs of litigation action. Has anyone been contacted yet? If so, can you send a PM with contact details please? Frankly we were unimpressed by the IAP "choices" on offer.

Zanevanonselen: we were unable to retrieve your PM, could you resend? has anyone else heard from Ole International about swithing opportunities with San Antion who are apparently not going into Admnistration?

I know that you cannot get p so please e-mail me at the address below and I will provide you with a full update

The OLE deal is similar to the one form IAP, switch to another development abd loose the deposit against another development for an apartment near Villamartin

San Antonio have not filed for administration yet but stopped building on more than 4  developments and a commercial centre

I Switched using Ole international and the whole of my deposit was used to purchase my Villa, in effect i paid 1/2 price for it (yes i had it valued as well) so my deposit was not lost as it would have been had we gone through IAP Global who are offering a different deal altogether i.e. you DO lose your deposit.

Good luck PJEG, looks like you have been one of the lucky ones to be able to progress. We have decided enough is enough and have engaged a Lawyer. Now we sit and wait i guess. We will know in a couple of weeks if this will be a short or a long haul. With our luck it will be the long one.

Cheers,

Chris

Hi,

Has anyone brought through Atlas International at Fortuna Hills?   We have been trying to negoiate through Atlas, to purchase a property on a completed development by the same developer.  However, Atlas do not appear to be very interested and have basically washed their hands of us!

Atlas promised us that a bank guarentee would be forthcoming once we had paid our deposit.  However, despite numerous correspondence in the past 2 years - we still do not have a bank guarentee.  Atlas did committ in writing on a number of ocassions that they would guarentee all our funds until we were in receipt of the bank guarentee.  However, this does not appear to be worth anything unless we now take costly legal action and Atlas are not prepared to honour this committment.

Would be interested to hear if anyone else has experienced a similar situation with Atlas and the outcome.

Hi All

I started Legal Action against the developer a good few weeks back.

However they are contesting that I paid the correct deposit of €3k & 30% on sigining of contract.

I paid the monies over to Plus Advisors, as instructed who in turn sent the monies over to OLE International, as instructed by the developer.  However the developer ( Promiciones Eurohouse 2010 which is a subsidiary of San Antonio) are stating that they only received part of my money.

OLE International are being totally unhelpful and in fact when my Solicitors asked them for a document showing proof that they transferred my monies to the developer, their answer immediately was to contact their own solicitors.

I've now started criminal action against OLE International to produce the document.

I'm so shocked at the lengths they will go to avoid telling the truth and not helping innocent people.

David

Hi All

I would like to start legal proceeding for my deposit.  I had bought through Instant Access.  Those who have already started, could you pleas introduce your solicitors.  In other forums there is mention of Maria de Castro.  Has anyone used her yet?

Hi,

Yes, we have instructed Maria to try and seek reimbursement of our deposit.  We did have an option to join a joint veture with other purchasers of Fortuna Hills (against the developer via Maria's company), which would have reduced the legal costs.  However, after giving this some thought we have decided to pursue a solo action against the developer.

The reason for this was that we also believe we have a case against Atlas Internaltional who we purchased through.  Therefore, we wanted to try every avenue possible to get our money back.

Atlas guarenteed all our funds (in writing via email, letter & in Spanish & English!) until we were in receipt of a bank guarentee from the developer.  However, despite pursuing the bank guarentee via Atlas & the original solictors that Atlas recommended, no bank guarentee was ever forthcoming.  After 3 years and no sight of our villa being built, we  went back to Atlas and asked them to make good their promise and refund all our monies, they basically told us to go away and refused to enter into correspondence with us! 

We would be interested to know if anyone else has had a similar experience with Atlas?

Maria has assisgned a lady called Patrica to work on our case and to date, we have been impressed with the company.  Patrica has provided regular updates and responds promptly when we seek clarification or have any questions concerning her correspondence.

There are no guarentee's with taking legal action and every case is different.  However, we felt that we could not just sit back and do nothing.

We wish you good luck with your legal action

Hi Johnny

Thanks for your response.  I am not able to send private messages as yet but do you mind if I ask what Maria's fees are like. 

Hi

Really sorry to hear about your predicament.  We also bought through Atlas and pushed really hard for a Bank Guarantee from both them and the builder San Antonio.  Atlas also gave us a letter stating that they would guarantee our money and stating that no client had ever lost money through purchasing with Atlas.  We were also told that as soon as we paid our 50% deposit we would get a Bank Guarentee from the builder.  We never received one.

I hope you are successful with your claim.

Dear All,

Not sure if anyone else has read the article below which appeared in this weeks Costa Blanca News.  We are hopeful that this is a positive sign for all of us who are trying to get our money back from developers who are in breach of contract.

Builder sentenced to pay back expat house buyers
 

By Nuria Pérez
TWO clients have won a court battle against Murcia building company Procobar, which is part of Grupo MASA.

Peter R. and Frances M. had bought two properties off plan at the Sierra Golf resort near Balsicas, Torre Pacheco.

However the properties were not completed on time.

According to the court sentence the builder had broken the contract as he had not respected the terms of the agreement by finishing on the agreed date.

As such the clients had the right to have their money returned.

The builder was ordered to return the 123,050 euros plus interest to the buyers last year.

Procobar appealed to the regional Supreme Court but a judge confirmed the sentence this week and rejected the appeal.

The builder has also been ordered to pay the court costs.

GROUNDBREAKING DECISION

The decision by the court could open the flood gates for hundreds if not thousands of people who purchased properties off plan prior to the recession.

With many construction companies simply closing down and leaving development projects unfinished most off plan purchasers thought they had lost their money due the inherent difficulties of prosecuting builders.

This Supreme Court ruling now means that builders who break their contracts with clients can be made to pay. Anybody who finds themselves in this position is advised to seek legal advice before taking any action and the Murcia Supreme Court decision could give them legal precedence should they decide to go to court.

hi, does anyone have any up to date information on what's happening with Fortuna hilss or with the builder San Antonia

thanks folks

Has anyone else noticed that Atlas International are once again actively advertising on the TV?

It does not seem right that they can continue to advertise their business services when so many people are still waiting for property to be built, fear that they have lost their deposits and are having to take costly legal action to try and get deposits refunded.

I have written to BBC Watchdog today in the hope that they may investigte this and/or at least warn people of the risk that they run when they buy off plan with Atlas.  I am also in the process of writing to the national newspapers as well. 

I would urge everyone who is in a similar situation to do the same.

Hi

Yes , i exchanged in June 2006 expecting completion in Spring 2008. Bought through Instant Access Properties. We have problems that look like no Bank Guarantees were given by San Antonio / Lawyers at the time.

Have had no updates for months but have noticed similar properties still being marketed recently at lower prices ( no surprise due to the economic down turn ) I know other people who bought through the same channel as me and are grouping up with each other to keep information available.

What do you think ? Do you have a Bank Guarantee ?

Hi, Has anyone progressed with legal proceedings against San Antonio / subsiduary on thier own or in a group and have an update of progress?

I am interested to know and monitor which route to take or to sit tight and cross my fingers that they come out the other end building the property within the next five years .

I look forward to ANY comments....?

Regards

Ian