Speeding Fine

We purchased an Isabella  villa in April 06 and have been tracking progress through my parents who live near Totana we were obviously concerned to hear from our Estate Agent that all development had been stopped on the site pending investigation into all new and existing building developments in the area. I know this happens alot in Spain but it is obviously worrying when you have invested alot of money.

Mum & Dad went out to the site yesterday (28th September) to check it out and it is indeed all closed up.  There is no building work happening in the entire valley all the sites are closed.  The Grupo Location offices in Zurgena are also closed up.

Our estate agents are very helpful so I asked them several questions today and got the following response.

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Today my parents visited the  Los Llanos Del Peral  site and that of Lemon Tree Island up the road as you told me all work has been suspended.  

 

 The Grupo Location office in Zurgena  was closed up and appears to be unoccupied. At least two articles appear in the local Paper “The Almeria Messenger” week 15^th Sept to 22^nd Sept. 2006 concerning illegal building and corruption in local councils in the Albox area including the resignation of the Councillor Jose Wandosell responsible for Town Planning.

 

In view of this I would ask the following questions:

 

1. Does Grupo Location have a Bank Guarantee as required by Spanish Law to cover my Deposits? If so could you please fax or e-mail me a copy.
2. Does this development have legal status to proceed?
3. If the future of this development is in doubt and it is ruled illegal will my deposit be returned in full?

4.   Is Grupo Location still trading and if so from what location?

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Hi Michelle, I've fowarded your email onto Grupo and spoke to them this morning regarding your concerns, I've also reminded them about the reciept that we requested.

I know you will have concern's, and I am not trying to bull you, however in Spain small town politics are crazy, Polaris world suffered the same problem in Alhama and after a few months they are selling again after removing all their flags, office staff etc, Massa at Camposol suffered the same fate and none of us had bank guarantees from them, so it can be common.

When I recieve there reply I will foward the info onto you, if I don't have it by next Tuesday I will hound them again, their main office in Roquettes is functioning as normal.

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If I hear anything else then I will of course post it on the site  and if anyone knows or finds out anymore then please let me know.

Thanks

Michelle

 

 

Hi

We also paid up to second stage payments on a property at Llanos del Peral in April 06 and when we went out to view the Show House last Friday ( this was not completed when we reserved in April)  we found that the whole site was closed down. Nothing had changed since April!  We Telephoned the Developers from the site and was told that the licence had been withdrawn and no further work would take place for the forseable future, in fact they reported that it was unlikely to get back its licence before may or June of next year and they did not expect work to be completed until 2008 although until the local elections in March 2007 they were not sure of anything?

We later found out that our monies paid were still being held by Atlas who said they did not know of the problems until we informed them.

We have lost confidence in the Albox region and have now bought in the Hondon Valley

Good Luck to all who have purchased in Los Llanos del peral

Regards

Jean & Howard Woodcock

Two weeks ago we went to Mojacar and spoke to our Solicitor regarding our Isabela A villa in Los Llanos Del Paral. The developer has had a year now to provide us with a Bankers Guarantee - but he says that the Bank cannot provide this until building work resumes. Our Solicitor says that work SHOULD begin again within another 2 months (but nobody really knows). ALL building work has stopped in Vera, Garrucha, Zurgena and surrounding areas. This is a directive from the Junta de Andulucia - it appears that there are two reasons why this has happened a) the Council has been taking backhanders from builders and providing them with "illegal building licences"  b) it is a political issue -ie similar to Tory Councils up against Labour Government. Our Solicitor and Estate Agent are adament that our developer has a LEGAL licence and the land was Urbanised PRIOR to the start of the development (there are already houses close to the site).They say that there will be no problem with our site.  Any problems that may arise will be where the show villa is in Limon Grove - this area was not already urbanised.. The proposed 9 hole golf course will not now be built. Instead the land opposite Limon Grove will be a lake and common land/park area. The show villa was 50% finished and what was done was very nice and well built.

The developer initially installed all kitchen equipment etc in the show villa, but these were stolen so now "white goods" and other installations will not be reinstalled until building work is fully completed. Stage 1 may be the only stage that gets completed. Stage 2 which includes the Club,shop and other facilities (if they go ahead) will not be finished for another 3 years.

According to our Solicitor and Estate Agent - the developer is quote "a very honourable and reputable man who comes from a very rich family". "He is too proud to do anything illegal or unacceptable". Lets hope they are accurate about this man and we all get exactly what we expect and have paid for!!

Julian de Rus Martinez is the site contact.(Speak quite good English). He will take you round the show villa and walk you around our villas which are semi-finished on the outside. Unfortunately our villa which will be opposite the tennis Courts is not more than a plot of land with a  mechanical digger living on it. But certainly the site was getting on very well before the Junta stepped in. The villas are rather closer to each other than I anticipated but there will be a high wall and fencing. Julian said that only about 10 of the 50 villas remain unsold.. He confirmed that they can't sell anymore at present but they are continuing to take reservation fees but not deposits.

You may wish to e-mail julian@grupolocation.com to find out more. I would suggest that ALL buyers "hound" their Solicitor for a Bankers Guarantee. A bankers guarantee is invalid from anybody but the Bank itself and it is Spanish Law that a Bankers Guarantee must be provided as soon as the deposit is paid.

I have some photos of the show villa once I get them processed.

Regards

JohnPP

Hi there,

There appears to be little change regarding work on Phase 1 at Los Llanos Del Peral. Has any "potential" buyer any up to date news??

We have asked our Solicitor to write to the developer demanding either a Bankers Guarantee or the return of our deposit until work continues on our Villa. This means that the developer retains only our initial reservation fee. This is all he is asking from buyers of the remaining 9 unsold Villas.

(His bank refuses to give out guarantees until work resumes, however, he has had over a year to provide this documentation to our Solicitor). Our Solicitor maintains  - it is not her fault that he hasn't done so, even though it is against Spanish Law not to provide one!!!. 

The developer's Solicitor has advised our Solicitor that the developer and the local Council are in the process of taking the Junta de Andalucia to Court. Apparently the developer has all the necessary legal paperwork for Phase 1 but the Junta is still refusing for work to continue.

This Court action could take up to 2 years - so the developer will also be in breach of our contract as well as breaking Spanish Law regarding being legally bound to provide guarantees when deposits are exchanged.

Still - Watch this space!

Hi all

Just had update from my agents :

Junta de Andalucia is currently reviewing all approved documentation for residential development in towns within their region………………. assure you that we have every confidence in your builder…………has all necessary documentation…..…licences……...Llanos del Peral & Lemon Tree Island…………in contact with the builders and will advise you once construction restarts.

Nothing new, but still alive & kicking !!!!

Regards
Doug

We have been told by two independant Spanish Lawyers to get out of our contrat NOW. You will notice that Julian the Gruplocation Rep has discontinued his e-mail address.  Why would he do this if everything was fine?? He told us last October when we met him that he was still taking reservation fees for the remaining unsold Villas on Phase 1 and also on Phase 11?? My Agent has gone into hiding . We have now changed our Spanish Lawyer. We do not have a Bankers Guarantee due to our first Spanish Lawyer not doing her job properly, so we will refuse to pay her due to neglect.

We are now in the process of taking the developer to Court for our full deposit back plus Court fees.

The investment potential at Los Llanos Del Peral would have been very nice, but not worth risking £55,000.

However, to the potential buyers who are happy to sit back and see what happens, I say  Good Luck.

 

Maureen

 

 

Hi Michelle and Steve.

Today we received an e-mail from you but your e-mail address was not

included so although we have replied it went straight to eye on Spain which

probably means you will not receive it.

Please send me your private e-mail address and I will resend our reply.

Regards

John & Maureen

Hello:

Just to let you know we have been informed by our our agent that the builder has the required permissions to resume construction, which will start in October 2007.  And anticipated complition early 2008, we are on phase 1, we have not asked any questions about phase 2 so people on phase 2 and phase 1 may want to ask about completion dates,( and report back ).Our agent has been very helpful and honest throu-out in answering our question and helping us throu this turmoil.

Lets hope we all come back with the same answer, and we will all see each other in 2008.

P&G

hi

our wonderful solicitor has now decided that is is not illegal for new medina villa to not issue the bank guarantee.
she also recommends against taking any legal action action against nmv.
the agent even had the nerve to include "we have every confidence in the builder and that of the reputable grupo location" in one of the few replies to many emails.

time to swap lawyers.

regards

jason

Just an update for you.

We visited the site in March and confirm that it is still deserted.   We did look at alternative properties at Los Llanos with another agent  and she informed us that the Location site at Los Llanos was legal, but that the Lemon Tree Island site (where the show house is) is not .  She also stated the builder did not have any money to finish the Phase I property.  (We had not told her we were trying to buy a property on Phase 1 - her father is also a local builder).

Our own lawyer at the time contracts were exchanged insisted on a bank guarantee, as it was illegal NOT to provide one and he was willing to report the Developer to the Government, however he did manage to obtain one from the agents.

The latest news we have, via our lawyer, is that the Developer is caught up in a disupte between the Andalusion Junta and the Zurgena Town Hall.  The Developer has already started court proceedings, but it is not known how long this will take.

We understand that the Developer is therefore offering to cancel the contract and return any money paid -  however he has no money at the moment - or to offer an extension to the completion date in order to give him time to sort.

I wouldbe grateful to know more about Grupo location. I have visited the site at :Peral and Lemon Tree Island last year. I have met Julian and last year reserved a plot at their development in Enix nr. roquetas. Little has happened for months and as time winds onanxiety grows.....

Hi,

All seems to be quiet has anyone any firm news about start/finish dates or if this really has been resolved and the builds at los llanos and lemon tree island are legal???

Hi

Still no news from either the agent or the 'lawyer'.

I found the following web site and the petition seems to be going well.
Hopefully this and the other petitions/action groups might make a small difference.

www.spanishpropertyscandalpetition.co.uk

Regards

Jason

Hi

An update,of sorts, from a Lawyer i have been in contact with regarding taking legal action to recover our deposit.

She has said that the legal case between the Town Hall, Grupo Location/NMV and the Andalucian Government is not due to be heard in Court for around another 18 months.
Any decision regarding the legality of the development is highly unlikely to be made prior to this.

In March our current 'lawyer' advised us (via the agent) that they had been in discussion with the developers Lawyers and that an agreement had been reached.
We were given the option of a Cancellation Contract which we accepted.

Despite several requests, the 'lawyer' has again decided to ignore all correspondence.

We hope to appoint a new Lawyer very shortly.

Regards

Jason