Retain our deposits for how long and not 'deliver the goods'?

Thought I would copy my reply to you in 'Shauneen' thread and start a new thread.

Hi Kev,

Although we are disappointed at the delay we would not wish to swap our property which we chose because of its position and which we were led to believe we would be occupying by mid 2007!

What I cannot understand is the length of time they  retain our deposits (feb 07 & sept 07) and not 'deliver the goods on time'.

We paid on the understanding, from the sales people on site at Corvera, that completion would be mid 2007 if we had known then that there would be such a long delay we would not have put any money down.

Now early in 2007 they still do not have the building permission for Phase 3 and we are expected to just wait, it all seems very one sided.

I am new to the forum and have only just sent off my details to Lisa. Wish I had found it earlier so I could have attended the meeting. Hoping there will be another.

Shudi
 

Sorry everyone put wrong dates in, corrected in bold.

Thought I would copy my reply to you in 'Shauneen' thread and start a new thread.

Hi Kev,

Although we are disappointed at the delay we would not wish to swap our property which we chose because of its position and which we were led to believe we would be occupying by mid 2009!

What I cannot understand is the length of time they  retain our deposits (feb 07 & sept 07) and not 'deliver the goods on time'.

We paid on the understanding, from the sales people on site at Corvera, that completion would be mid 2009 if we had known then that there would be such a long delay we would not have put any money down.

Now early in 2009 they still do not have the building permission for Phase 3 and we are expected to just wait, it all seems very one sided.

I am new to the forum and have only just sent off my details to Lisa. Wish I had found it earlier so I could have attended the meeting. Hoping there will be another.

Shudi
 

Hi Shudi - many of the buyers and members of this forum on phases 1 and 2 would have put their initial deposits down in 2005 / early 2006 with an expected completion in 2008.  Unfortunately what we didn't know was that had not yet got the building licenses (naively I assumed that if they were selling something to me then they must have already got permission to sell the actual product).  As they had problems with obtaining these licenses, there were delays. 

With your experience it seems that either they were not telling the whole truth to us or they have not learned from the experience and have not been prpeared to make sure that licenses are applied for in plenty of time.  Alternatively they are treating their customers with contempt and making you sign an open ended contract without a completion date is indicative of this in my opinion.  The phase 4 owners on the Roda forum seem to be having similiar issues although they placed their deposits 1 or 2 years ahead of you in more financially stable times so please be aware of this and take a look.

Welcome to the forum and I hope that you are able to join any group that may help you.

Surely your solicitor should have checked out the licenses before allowing you to sign up

On a commission of 1% of the purchase price, why would a small detail like that get in the way?

i purchased on phase 3 in 2006 and was told to expect a completion date of may 2009. I am seeking a lawyers advice regarding cancelling my contract and he wrote to me saying;-

Your contract establishes that the property will be delivered 18 months after having obtained the planning permission, therefore there is no completion date until this permission is granted.

If the developer does not have the licences for phase three, in which your property is, and bearing in mind that you signed the contract over two years ago, my understanding is that we have possibilities to cancel the contract and claim the refund of your money.

It would be very helpful for me if you had some kind of documentation stating a completion date, even if it is an approximate date. Should we have no written documents it would be interesting to localize other buyers that could act together with you in order to prove that they promised you to hand the property over to you in the year 2009.

According to our judges, there is reason to cancel a contract by breach of the completion date as long as the delay is over a year. If they have promised you the property for 2009 and they have not even started yet, you can be sure that the breach will be huge, especially if they plan to finish the properties in 18 months.

If they finish the property in 2011 that means a two years delay and that is more than enough to cancel the contract.

With the information that you have given me I tell you we can cancel the contract and claim the refund of what you have paid as well as damages.

If you are in contact with other buyers we could file a joint lawsuit which would be more effective and cheaper for everyone.

I await your response.

IS ANYBODY IN SAME POSITION WANTING TO CANCEL CONTRACT AND DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANYTHING IN WRITING STATING THAT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DELIVERED MAY 2009? PLEASE PM ME

THANKS PHIL

 Hi Phil,

I was just posing  query  in general and we are not wishing to withdraw from the purchase. Although as I said earlier if we had been aware that there would have been this delay we would probably not have put the money down at that time .

I think that if you do try to cancel your contract at this point,by the time you get to any legal stage Calidona will probably be issued their building license and you would then be breaching the contract as they will have 18 months to finish. Thereby obligating their side of the contract.

It is unfortunate that within the contracts there is not a date up to which deposits can be held,it is rather open ended on the vendors side.

I believe that when Calidona was releasing phase 3 there was a table for each property type showing due dates for deposits and at the bottom the estimated completion was given. But here again they are covered by the word used estimate! 

People must be very careful in sending copies of paperwork and information as in many cases a person cannot copy, reproduce or use it, without permission, in any form except for themself and in most instances this will be shown in the small print of the document, letter email etc.

S.

Hi Phil,

Have sent you a PM.

has any one asked their ligigation, not conveyencing! lawyer if is against consumer law in spain to have no date in the contract - from what i am reading, you could give 30% each to a company who then NEVER builds, " in theory"! why would you do that? Maybe it is illegal?

just an opinion?