Ocean View Properties

It is reported today in the Daily Telegraph that some 400 'investors', including 300 Brits have lost £34,000,000 after paying deposits for non existent holiday homes in the Costa del Sol.

This relates to The Estepona Beach & Country Club.

OVP were the selling agents in the UK, & buyers put down £85,000 deposits each.

They used lawyers affiliated with OVP rather than independant ones.

The builders didn't even own the land & had no planning permission & the money paid has gone.

What ever else one can claim about the difference between Spain & the UK property markets, it is certain that this situation could NOT happen in the UK.

The buyers now face years of investigation & possible court action (it's Spain so nothing is definite) & the end result will still be no money!

In the UK, at least, if it can be shown that the lawyer (independant or not) was complicit in the fraud (or just incompetant) their compensation fund will pay out, in addition the legal process is much faster & by now, if it was in the UK, those involved would have been dealt with in a UK court.

Until Spain sorts out this kind of problem the market will remain in ruins.

I couldn't agree more. The situation in Spain is dire, both for those affected directly by abuses of this nature and those who are trying to correct the system in Spain. We need to have  immediate accountability and fast tracking of cases in place in the legal, banking and real estate sectors before many will feel comfortable to invest in Spain.

Keith is doing an amazing job trying to get the Banks accountable for monies that were deposited in Spain relating to offplan purchase and everyone needs to read and understand his campaign to effect this. Everyone involved needs to sign his petition and provide evidence so that he can bring this to the attention of all the powers that be.

www.bankguaranteesinspain.com

Also sign Suzanne's property scandal petition

www.spanishpropertyscandalpetition.co.uk

Please spread the word.

This message was last edited by ads on 14/12/2010.

This message was last edited by ads on 14/12/2010.

rob6578

I'm a victim of the crooks at OVP also, though a different development. They couldn't stoop much lower, they were friendly, helpful, making out all the time they were being straight etc, we even had a well known snooker celeb on the inspection trip!!   In reality they put us in touch with a crooked UK conveyancing  company (now gone bust)  who then passed us on to a dodgy Spanish lawyer and  it became clear shortly after we refused to complete due to massive breaches of contract, all 3 were in cahoots with the dodgy Spanish developer Aifos (now gone bust).

As is always the case in Spain, they were able to cheat and lie to many good people for far to long because they could get away with it, and most people from the UK assumed the lawyer would have integrity even if the agents were liars?. OVP acted as an honest link between UK and Spain., nothing could be further from the truth. They took full advantage of  the corruption and lack of regulation. If there is any justice, any previous owners of OVP should be asset stripped and funds returned to those they cheated. They made millions from the lies and deception of decent people.