Hi,
We are kind of in a similar situation to many on here. We signed purchase contract back in July 2007 for Los Naranjos Block 10 ground floor. We were advised at the time that completion should be mid to late 2009. Based on the timings and the exchange rate at the time, this seemed highly possible to budget for.
After making the 25% stage payment, we never received a bank guarantee and our Spanish solicitor advised Polaris that we would not be making 15% stage payment until bank guarantee received for 25%.
To cut a long story short, we were then contacted Sept 08 and advised that completion would take place Oct 08. This obviously came as a bit of a shock and at the time we didn’t know what to do for the best so we thought we could make all necessary arrangements to travel to Murcia, complete snagging, visit mortgage lender etc.
At this point, we still had only paid the 25% and therefore this meant that Polaris have now added the 15% to our final stage payment. As the completion date came early, we had no option but to request a mortgage for a higher amount as this was the easiest and quickest way to raise the funds in order to complete. At this point, everything is fine and the mortgage offer is in place and now valid for 3 months.
We have our completion date as 14th October and on 11th October, we are contacted by Polaris and advised that the completion has been delayed due to the habitation license not coming through on time.
We were given the option of either cancelling all our travel arrangements and Polaris would refund any costs incurred or as an alternative, we could still travel, complete the snagging process and arrange power of attorney documentation for our Spanish solicitor to complete on our behalf at a later date. We decided to go ahead with our travel plans as time off from work etc. was all booked.
Since then, whilst back in the UK, we have put all the documentation in place and legalised etc. for our Spanish solicitor to sign on our behalf. This process has cost us £350 which we were advised by Polaris they would reimburse. I sent them all the receipts in November and they have not even confirmed that they have received it let alone indicating whether they will pay up.
Since then, the completion date was set and changed not once but twice and the most recent delay has meant that our mortgage offer has now expired and so we have lost a lot of money on valuation costs, banking costs etc. and it makes me wonder how many other times we will have to go through this and continue wasting money until Polaris make up their mind when completion is actually taking place.
We no longer have any faith in going ahead with the purchase and with the current economy crisis, it looks like we can’t afford it anyway. In theory this will mean walking away from the 25% but to be honest we’re a bit worried that they will then come after us for the 15%. Anybody know if this is something they can do?
All in all, extremely disappointed that this was to our dream holiday home based on the site plans which now appear to have completely changed and the fact that the golf course looks miles away from completion
Now realising that the dream was too far away to reach!!
J & A