Missled by agents

Hi Guys i feel that i have been misled purley to get a sale. I arrived in spain on the 10th december and have been looking around for a home, i saw a place on the internet and contacted the estate agents who had it advertized, we went to look but was informed that the community fees were 600 Euro a year, which for what i would use were way over my head, the pool was 200 yrds away, had very large gardens, 24h security guard, lift that i would not use and security entrance system.

Although a lovely apartment it was not for me. took a couple of days to come to my sences and informed the agent of my decision "Not to worry" i was told, "we have a lovely apartment just come on the books, and not listed on our site yet" it is next to a golf course ((i play golf)  was told the community fees were half of the previous property we looked at, so we arranged to take a look, and fell in love with it, the agent was our best friend and again prommised the community fee was no mor than 300 Euro a year, so like a dumpling i was ready to go ahead.

I have done everything, including paying my deposit, i have still had nothing in writing about community fees.

Since all this i have found out that the community fees are at the least the same 600 euro as the previous apartment i loked at, which i can not afford and the estate agents knew this but they did gain my trust and now i do not know what to do.

Any advise please from anybody.

Thanks

Hi,

Some friend, i wonder what other debts are on the property the only way to find this out is to ask for a nota simpler this will tell you if there are debts on the property, you should have engaged the services of a lawyer that has no relationship with the agent, did you sign any contract?  how much deposite are you talking about?

JIMMYR

is the agent an employee or the owner of the company?

If he is an employee ask to speak to the owner.

Agents are required by law to have and disclose certain information regarding any 

property they advertise for sale.

Failure to do so can result in large fines.

Threaten exposure 

Also just a comment 300 euros per year is a very small amount to pay for

community fees even 600 is low.

Good luck on recovering your deposit

I'm tired of saying this but do not hand over 1 cent until you have engaged a lawyer. Do not even pay a min reservation deposit no matter what an agent says about it being refundable if you pull out within x days etc.

Agents will always lie to get your money - they always have and always will - it's just in their nature!

Faro Please rephrase that to most agents lie otherwise I agree with you advice

thank you

fpegman - being the seaon of goodwill I will say 95% on the basis there is the odd decent agent out there!

Dear All,

how is it possible to tell???

A salesman aquaintance tells the joke that......... "how do you tell when a salesman is telling lies - his lips are moving".

Why cannot the good ones give an absolute guarantee of satisfaction with recompense?????

It seems simple and like all good insurance not expensive since the good are in control so claims would be extremely rare.

I see no sign of any guarantee with Sanquist SL

Regards

Norman

I agree a personal guarantee and no SL crap.

I believe most businesses no matter what the structure is individual and I never understand why on websites they refuse to say who is behind the business and what qualifications/memberships they have

Most of our properties are covered by the  Safe purchase guarantee spain for 20 years you can look it up on Google

It will be on the website in January

Jimmyr,

If you are truely in the position you state you need to see a Lawyer very quickly and explain what has happened.

It is too late to say to you now that you should have said NO....................that was always your choice. Also it's too late to say you should have done your 'homework' re. Community Fees ( we all ( nearly all ) have to pay these )............................the best advice Ican give you now is to find a reputable independent Lawyer and ask for help. Although this will cost you money it will probably be cheaper in the long run and certainly safer.

I would suggest if you can't afford €50 a month you can't afford to run an apartment

If it's only €3000 walk away now

Maybe Jimmyr, could make a comment on what others have posted?

Dear All,

better late than never I suppose, even looks comprehensive, but why only some properties?

far more important than all the "friendly helpfulness" offers.

In fact it should be advertised on the forum, or is it only available through certain agents?

Regards

Norman

First i would like to say thank you for your replies to my post.

The fact of the matter is that i was told that the property that i have paid a deposit on was half the price of the previous one i had looked at which was 600 euros a year, so as to being able to afford a property spain has nothing to do with it at all.

I sold my apartment in London and would like to have a better standard of living than i had in london, worked all, yes all my working life, and hence would like to live what is left of it in a warmer climate than the UK, therefore i know what i  need to have a nicer retirement, i do not excpect to get ripped off, and i do know i will NEVER be the loser, my family would make sure of that one way or another, but their way is not my way and that is why i needed to know the correct route IE, the legal route as apposed to broken legs route.

Thank you

Dear All,

is there a lack of realism here?

how can a recent retiree say such things?

"the community fees were 600 Euro a year, which for what i would use were way over my head, the pool was 200 yrds away, had very large gardens, 24h security guard, lift that i would not use and security entrance system."

it is almost like saying I have no children or car so I don't need the school and the roads........

However intended it reads quite odd.

Regards

Norman

' i do know i will NEVER be the loser, my family would make sure of that one way or another, but their way is not my way and that is why i needed to know the correct route IE, the legal route as apposed to broken legs route'.

Jimmy, you should be speaking with an independant lawyer rather than talking about your family breaking legs!!

I see you are posting on another forum but WHY are you not dealing with this through an independant lawyer, not forum members? 

You say your agent expects completion mid January! You need to act NOW (legally).

Whyever are you asking forum members on the other forum 'could you please put me in touch with the President of Lomas Del Golf, then i can ask him or her directly' (about community charges). You'll get nowhere fast doing that. The President cannot help you.

Sorry you should have done your home work before you parted with any money, i did ask if you signed any contract with the agent  I do think that €600 per year is very reasonable.

Oh i see then it is my fault for not recognizing this agent as a dishonest person, i assume these words are comming from a dishonest agent themselves and this is just how it is and accepted in Spain, well if it is then they should not be allowed to deal with those members of the public that look upon them for guidence and with trust, for it would seem that none from what i hear are to be trusted.

It is not i that have done a thing wrong, it is the thieving agents that would not think twice of stealing from strangers or their own family, yes from their own children and wives, because they have no feeling in their hearts, and if this is so then they care about nobody except their selves.

There is an old saying, "what goes around, comes around" and anyone that would seek to steal or con a persons savings or pencion should be wholey ashamed of their selves and lives, and not try to justify their actions by saying that it is a persons own fault for being unaware of what goes on.

Jimmy, have you NOW instructed an independant lawyer in order to sort this out or are you going to continue arguing with our members because you're angry with your agent?  I'm certainly not an agent BTW! I don't know what you expect of us all. To some extent you've been duped as many of us have been (& MANY MUCH WORSE TOO THAN YOU). Of course it's not right that those we expect better of should be unscrupulous, no one is inferring that.

Jimmy

One of the reasons to instruct an independent lawyer at the outset (BEFORE parting with one cent!) is to avoid situations like this.

If more people had found good lawyers then many on this forum would not be in the situation you are in now.

You stand to lose EUR3,000 (if that was the deposit you paid) - others have lost circa EUR100,000 and continue to pay on-going legal fees trying to recover their hard earned life savings (which most never will).

These are hard facts and this is life in Spain and Spain is very much an unregulated market place. It is a frontier country and there are no laws ............. hence why the dishonest thrive in Spain with many ripping off their fellow countrymen.

So if EUR3,000 is the price of your lesson then you have had a bargain becase other paid far more for their lesson in Spanish real estate.

Now go and have it out with the agent and stop ranting at us becuase we are telling you the truth!

This message was last edited by Faro on 30/12/2010.