Handing over/ Signing up

Hi everyone, advise desperately needed.   We have just returned from a visit to SG and  received a recorded delivery letter from  Masa  which appears to say  sign up or  else ( but not sure as it is in spanish)  All I could understand was that we have 7 days to do something. We are having the letter translated but has any one else received this letter?

What I would also like to know is,  How long does it take from when we do the snagging to actually sign up? Do you sign before any snagging problems are recitified?  Generally what are the procedures.

I need to book some time off work to do all this and I  probably  can only get a few days, a week at the very most  as I have only just gone back to work after my hols.

Any advice gratefully received.

Peter & Pat  Hall  13.46

PS Rob ( Bobby 50) hope you are better. We will get to meet up very soon.

Hi Peter & Pat.  I was speaking to you when you came to see your house we are 4 door up from you. Some people sign before they do ther snaging or you can sign then do snaging. We done our snaging the day before someone at the back of us has signed and still to do their snaging. The problems get done as and when you report them.

Kind Regards Jackie & Steve albatroscleaning@live .com

Hi Peter and Pat,

We are on 15/48 and our agent did the sign off in late November and we did the snagging list when we came out at Christmas. They started doing bits the same day that we arrived and although there are a  couple of minor things left (touching up some paintwork and replacing the double headboard) they are sorting them out at Easter when we are out next.

The main thing we found was that we had no water for 6 days because the plumber had not connected our house to the mains and of course we had no electricity for the two weeks,

Apart from that we found the build quality was good,

Davina

Hi P&P

Do you have the Hab Cert, because if you don't as I understand it they cannot make you sign.

Ian

Hi Ian. We have been told by Masa that the Hab Cert has been obtained and will be given to us when we sign. I hope they are not telling porkies again but it seems that  some  properties have actually got theirs.

We are dealing through Sierra Golf Property Services and they have said not  to worry about  the Hab Certs as this is only a formatlity and they will let us have a copy of the application when we sign.  I am not too sure about this though. Who do I believe? Should I book our flights out? I  am not happy to sign without the cert especially  with the exchange rate as it is.

Please could everybody who has completed let us know who has and who hasn`t got their Habitation Certificates.

Many Thanks to everybody.

Peter & Pat    13.46

hiya,

my understanding of habitation certificates or FLO (first licence of occupation) as they are also known as, are as follows:

you should not sign/complete on a property unless the habitation certificate has been issued.

even if it has been applied for there is no guarantee that it will be issued  -although 9 times out of 10 they are.

there has been alot of press lately regarding people signing for their property without a hab cert, and the spanish government has issued stricter guidelines to the town halls as people must have the hab cert before signing.

you can not sell, lease your property etc with out this and you are suppose to have it for elec and water etc.

as for snagging, as far as i am aware, snagging should be done before you sign,

hope this helps.

dee

We snagged our property in October and there were major issues

I wouldnt sign for two reasons

snagging not complete and Habitation certificate not Provided

We are having a battle with MASA to sort out our problems. We were over last week and they would not allow us to inspect the snags unless we signed!!!!!!

No chance of that after nearly four years of waiting for them

As of today our solicitor Adriana Perez, who I believe is acting for a number of SG purchases, informs us the the Habitation Certificates are yet issued

By law you can take handover but you are legally entitled to withold 15% of the property value until the Habitation certificate is issued

On current form there is no chance of MASA agreeing to that

I hope that I can heñlp to clarify the process for everybody

MASA are not stopping anybody from inspecting their property prior to completion but, as with the majority of Spanish buillders, they have limited resources and they will focus on people that have a confirmed completion date with the Notary which is why they will not give you a snagging appointment, until you have confirmed a completion date

Of course if after you have inspected something happens that means that you have to unfortunatley alter change this date that is up to you

You only have  legal grounds in Spain to refuse to complete on the property, based on the inspection, if thee property does not meet the contractual specuification or if there is a serious structural defect

Steveand rosa in your case MASA are acting within the law by refusing to allow you to check the snagging as strictky speaking they don´t even have to allow you to inspect the property before completion 

I understand that the Certifiicate of Habitation is now available, I have seen one iin M13,  but again you cannot be forced to complete on a property without one and there is no law that says you can retain 15% of the value, this has to be a seperate agreement with the buider which MASA will not agree to, agin yiy cannot force completion withou an LFO

The only way that MASA can force completion or payment is by taking you to Court and the Spanish system is on strike and cases are backed up so this would take a few years so I am certain that if you explain that you cannot get to Spain until a certain date, and you explian that you will not complete until, you have excercised your fair aand reasonable right, to inspect the property, that the Courts would view this is fair

I have wriiten and assisted people with this many times but the law regarding getting defects repaired does not kick in yntil you have completed and they then have 30 working days in which to repair the defects, you have 15 days after completion to add to the list for the 30 days fix, and 1 year to find any other problems

If any body would like a document that explains the process and how to complin if wors are not done please mail me

Inspectahome

Thanks for your reply

We would be grateful for any assistance regarding the legal issues around snagging

steve&rosa

Hi Inspectahome,

Could you please clarify the point that you make regarding your understanding that the Certificate of Habitation is now available, and that you have seen one in M13. We have just returned from SG after a 10 day break, and as far as we and other people on the site are concerned, the C of H's are not yet available, but will be issued en bloc sometime in the future. All we have is the copy of the HC application, as everyone else, who have taken over their properties, have. If you have seen one, and with your considerable knowledge, you should know it to be the real deal, please advise on this site, as we may then take further action to obtain them.

It would be nice if you are correct, an editorial in the Costa Blanca news, last week, reported someone who had just received his after a 3 1/2 year wait.

Regardes,

John B.

The document which I have seen is the actual Certificate with a stamp verfying the issue of the document from The Town Hall. the original , not an application form

It was not the application plus I know that a number of people, on this phase , have received notifications form their lawyers, that The actual Certificates have been issues

The owner, who completed 4 weeks ago had meters installed and was connected to the actual permanent supply

I say again that COF are not issued on block for the whole development and you do not normally wait till the development is finished before getting them as the Town Hall will normally inspect and issue them for an individual phase at a time and staff onsite rarely fully understand the process

In my own case for a property I have waited 4 years hence the reason why I created my compnay to help and advise people on these issues

Once the COF is available you cannt legally refuse to complete on your property

hi all S G residents and anyone waiting like us

are any of you buying through agents (atlas in particular)

are you using their solicitors

what are you doing about snagging

we would be grateful for any comments as hopefully we are getting closer to completion

yours

mal/pam

Hi Mal/Pam

We are buying through agents, Luz del Sol, and have a completion date of 28th March.  Masa have agreed a snagging date of 18th March when my husband is meeting Inspectahome on site to do the snagging.  Masa will not agree a snagging date until you have agreed a completion date and an appointment has been made at the Notary.

We are using a Spanish firm of solicitors based in Torrevieja who are independent of both Masa and the agents, speak fluent English and have been very helpful.  They have a very low opinion of Masa's communication skills like the rest of us.

Hope this helps.

Rosemary

HI MAL/PAM

THE SOLICITOR THAT  ROSEMARY HAS MENTIONED IS ON MY WEB-SITE SO YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET THE ADDRESS FROM THERE  IF YOU NEED A ONE  HOPE THIS HELPS....http://www.freewebs.com/ourlifeinspain/ 

REGARDS ROB/SUE

hi  all s g residents/buyers

has anyone had a letter from masa offering incentives if you recomend someone who wants to buy in spain to try sierra golf

it offers 3000 euros for you plus 1000 for the person you recomend

regards

malpam

Hi  Malpam,

I think that all with an interest in SG will have received these incentives, both completed and yet to complete parties, we have. It seems a strange move by GM, bypassing the Agents and offering us all a possible slice of commission on a sale. Make you wonder what the Agents get in commission, for completing a sale - 4000 euros, maybe? They are obviously struggling to sell in the current market, its all around, but I do feel that SG is a good investment having seen other developments and prices, and will prove to be so once this credit slump is over.   

John B.

Hi all

I have my letter from MASA in front of me and the 3000 euros is a direct discount off the price of any further property, ready for immediate occupation, bought by you or your friends or relatives.

The 1000, 2000, 3000 euros etc, is payable by way of a gift card to use in El Corte Ingles if your relatives buy 1, 2 or 3 properties respectively.

I also think MASA are feeling the pinch but this is the financial climate worldwide, not just Spain.

In my opinon John B is absolutely correct and we will reap the benefits of our investment in the future!

For now lets get there and enjoy the sunshine, clean air and the community spirit that we lucky few are priviledged to be a part of.

Regards to all

Nigel & Stella

Hi everybody,

I too, as I am sure many others would have done, received in the post a circular from masa asking me to introduce a friend and if they buy I would get 1000 euro's, two friends 2000 euro's and so on. These seem to me to be quite desperate measures to sell property (on the other hand 10 out of 10 for initiative) but I can't help thinking that there is a problem, not with masa (although they are a problem in their own right) but with this so called credit crunch.

The euro is very strong against the pound at the moment and this is going to slow down the spanish market, it could even force alot of builders to stop building it does'nt take rocket science to realise as to what would happen to SG if masa stop, we would be left with an uncomplete building site so this circular makes alot of sense. My advice is use it and put the euro's in your pocket instead of the agents! and keep SG moving forward "you know it makes sense" like John B say's SG will turn out to be a good investment one day, that was my belief four years ago and I still believe it today!

The forecast for 2008 is that it will get worse before it gets better, the pound will recover so lets just hope it does before masa stops building.

nigel & stella have it in a nut shell. enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.

The Fromies.