***STOP PRESS***

RTN received an email from Iwan as it went to press to say that the Judge in Orihuela has informed his solicitor that on 21^st June, 32 houses from the 61 affected on the urbanisation are going to be auctioned and one of them is Iwan’s property.

So has anyone got any ideas? Are we just going to stand by and be robbed in broad daylight? ATLAS INTERNATIONAL and AROCA SEQUEIR are still in business. Can they really chase us to the UK to recover TU's debt. Maria where are you? HELP. Anybody HELP.

Hi Fly 380

This is a shocking situation.  I am familiar with the houses built by Tecnologia Urbanistica.  There are loads half finished at the La Zenia Elite development next to the new La Zenia Boulevard shopping centre.  The owners had to finish some of the pool areas etc themselves on one of the Phases.

There are other Tecnologia developments around La Zenia, Villamartin, Cabo Roig and some of these were not finished.

Atlas International has an office in La Zenia opposite Mercadona/Pets at Home.  As you say, it is open for business.

It seems the Lawyer and Atlas may have a lot to answer for.  And.....it seems that Tecnologia were totally corrupt.

The Lawyer is guilty of gross negligence if they allowed buyers to complete their purchases without the deeds.  What about the Notaries - how did they allow the completion if there were no deeds???

What about the Licences of First Occupation - do they exist?  If not, why did the Lawyer allow completion - another point of gross negligence.

Were CAM aware that the properties had been 'sold' to purchasers when they allowed the re-mortgages?  What checks did CAM do when they issued the mortgages?  Were they builders construction mortgages or were they mortgages for a finished property?  If they were mortgages issued on a completed property then CAM should have checked that the LFO's were in place and that there were no other 'owners' of the properties.

There are around 70 people on the Bosque de las Lomas III community forum on here:


http://www.eyeonspain.com/community/bosque-de-las-lomas-iii-B57.aspx

Maybe you can contact them via Justin or by PM and get all the affected purchasers to join together as an action group under one Lawyer and appeal the decision from the Judge in Orihuela.

It seems to be a complex situation - but you need to move fast.  Form the action group and get a very good independent Lawyer on the case.

THIS IS A CASE OF TOTAL CORRUPTION FROM START TO FINISH.

THIS IS WHY IT WILL ALWAYS REMAIN THE CASE IN SPAIN - BUYER BEWARE!!

Kind regards

Keith

Thanks Keith110 - unfortunately I'm in Australia till the end of the month.

 I know this is a desperate idea, but do you have the possibility of bidding for your property at the auction?

The problem appears to be (as decribed in earlier posts) that the buyers of the property from the developer never signed the Notarial Deed of purchase and, therefore, are not the registered owners of the property in the Land Registry.  The developer as registered owners had taken a mortgage with the property as collateral either before or after the private contract of sale was sighed with the buyers.  This practice is widespread and usually does not derive in major problems because the mortgage is either assigned to the buyer at the time of signing the Notarial Deed or repaid to the bank simultaneously with the title passing clear of charges if the buyers pay in full.  It is never adviseable and a good solicitor would never accept to hand over the full purchase price to the developer except if simultaneously signing the Notarial Deed of purchase and the solicitor making sure the Deed is registered with the Land Registry.

In this situation it appears the developer disappeared from Spain before signing the Notarial Deeds to the buyers who only have the private contracts (as opposed to Notarial Deeds).  The problem is that private contracts are not enforceable vis a vis third parties, in this case the bank or other bidders.  Only Notarial Deeds and the Land Registry are enforceable.

I believe the buyers that find themselves in this situation have a valid claim against both the developer and the solicitor acting for the buyers that paid in full without the Notjarial Deeds but the developer has disappeared and probably has no assets in Spain and a claim against the lawyer could take years.

Therefore the only thing I can think of is to bid at the auction and then get the Notarial Deed and Land Registry done and afterwards investigate with a reputable solicitor the possibilities of winning a case against the developer or lawyer to recover the bid and costs.  You must first determine what the assessed value of the property for auction purposes is.  Most probably this will be a lot less than the original price and bid 60% of that auctioned price, pay it and then sort everything else.  The 60% I think is the minimum amount for the auction being successful.  If the bids are less than that, the auction may be declared desserted, meaning the house remains the property of the developer and the Bank cannot become the owner.

I strongly suggest you hire a good solicitor before June to investigate your options and specially whether something like this could be successful and whether you could ultimately recover the bid and extra costs from the developer or lawyer.

Hi Lobin

As you say it may be a desperate idea - but could well be the only solution as the auction is just a few months away.

RTN say that 32 of the houses are in the auction.  I am sure not all these 32 owners paid the full purchase price in cash when signing the purchase contract.  So some of them must have their own mortgages on those properties.

Therefore some properties may have two mortgages on them - Tecnologia's CAM mortgage and then the purchasers own mortgage.

If this is the case then it must be asked - how did the purchasers bank allow a mortgage to be given on a property when no deeds were signed and possibly no LFO in place?  And when another mortgage existed on the property?

It seems that everyone involved was guilty of gross negligence.

Can it be proved that the agents and Lawyer colluded with Tecnologia to defraud the innocent buyers?

Best advice as Lobin says is to engage the services of a very good independent Lawyer as a matter of great urgency.

Kind regards

Keith

May I ask a very important question here please?

Is there no automatic protection of monies when the purchaser pays the conveyancing law firm, until such time as the Title Deeds are made available?

If not then may I suggest that ALL purchasers are at risk in the existing conveyancing process in Spain.

The problem arose for those who paid for their properties without a mortgage.  All of this could have been avoided if someone (?Atlas or Aroca?) had advised people to take out even a very small Spanish Mortgage - it had to be Spanish and not here in the UK!  By doing this TU and anyone else involved would not have been able to pocket the cash instead of  doing the right thing.  Talk about innocents abroad!

They were however too busy lining their own pockets at the expense of people who (as we now realise) put their trust in them thinking as they were dealing initially with a British Company (Atlas)!!  . 

We only found out after getting judgement in the courts that there was an embargo on our property (which previously on paper still belonged to TU) due to the amount of tax he owed the Spanish Government.  Our representatives got this removed once we had judgement.

We are forever in the debt of one of our neighbours in Spain who galvanised us and 4 others into legal action and using a wonderful company in Torrevieja without whom we would never have reached a final & proper conclusion i.e. gaining our deeds.

Another neighbour (next door) worked for Atlas and when we first got wind of this scandal my husband spoke to the wife who was fairly senior in their workforce and she brushed it off as a mixup.  They must have known and could off the record have warned us - they chose not to.  However chickens come home to roost as then the preverbial started to hit the fan they lost their jobs and came back to the UK.  The house was eventually repossesed and sold. - God pays debts

I have persistently when posting advised people to denounce TU but I guess few did.  I passed our representative details on to one person whos response was that the Christian name sounded Spanish (French Canadian actually)!! 

My sympathies go out to those who maybe were not brave enough to take on TU through the courts but it looks as if "The Spanish B*****d" as I call him has got away with it and there is only heartache ahead .

Best Wishes to you all..

The problem arose for those who paid for their properties without a mortgage.  All of this could have been avoided if someone (?Atlas or Aroca?) had advised people to take out even a very small Spanish Mortgage - it had to be Spanish and not here in the UK!  By doing this TU and anyone else involved would not have been able to pocket the cash instead of  doing the right thing.  Talk about innocents abroad!

They were however too busy lining their own pockets at the expense of people who (as we now realise) put their trust in them thinking as they were dealing initially with a British Company (Atlas)!!  . 

We only found out after getting judgement in the courts that there was an embargo on our property (which previously on paper still belonged to TU) due to the amount of tax he owed the Spanish Government.  Our representatives got this removed once we had judgement.

We are forever in the debt of one of our neighbours in Spain who galvanised us and 4 others into legal action and using a wonderful company in Torrevieja without whom we would never have reached a final & proper conclusion i.e. gaining our deeds.

Another neighbour (next door) worked for Atlas and when we first got wind of this scandal my husband spoke to the wife who was fairly senior in their workforce and she brushed it off as a mixup.  They must have known and could off the record have warned us - they chose not to.  However chickens come home to roost as then the preverbial started to hit the fan they lost their jobs and came back to the UK.  The house was eventually repossesed and sold. - God pays debts

I have persistently when posting advised people to denounce TU but I guess few did.  I passed our representative details on to one person whos response was that the Christian name sounded Spanish (French Canadian actually)!! 

My sympathies go out to those who maybe were not brave enough to take on TU through the courts but it looks as if "The Spanish B*****d" as I call him has got away with it and there is only heartache ahead .

Best Wishes to you all..

Sorry dont know why I ended up with 2 posts obviously the 2nd one is the proper one.

The important point to realise here is that any purchaser should not have to depend upon complex prior legal knowledge (that's what you pay your lawyer for) or go through hoops (small mortgage etc) to get round any gap in consumer protection within the conveyancing process... purchasers monies deposited with the conveyancing law firm in readiness for transfer to a developer should be protected in some legally enforceable form, until such time as Title Deeds are made available, and I'm trying to establish if this protection exists under the present system in Spain.

Please Maria, can you advise if this protection exists, as this is a really important aspect for ALL purchasers.

Totally agree Ads but when dealing with corrupt organisations it is not always that simple else we would not have ended up in the position we did!    Believe me we read up before even going ahead with a massive investment like buying a house in a foreign country but deception and fraud is something you cannot plan for.

We were told by Aroca when we went to get our money back (when switching representatives) that they were powerless to prevent what happened as we had already entered into the sale (i.e. parted with money) before being seen by them - all set up by Atlas and as far as we knew the normal proceedure in Spain.

I am of the opinion that Spain is generally corrupt else why would the local authorities not helped us and others when this terrible situation reared it's ugly head - too many backhanders!!

Atlas is a family firm and I do wonder how they sleep at night.  I am still waiting for them to start the local buying shows again as I will be there with leaflets ourside warning people but I doubt I will get the chance as they know they have been rumbled but continue by keeping a low profile.

We have now sold our house and have no regrets in doing so.  Our 'dream' was a nightmare which unfortunately is continuing for many.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing ;o)

Maria,

Are purchasers' legally protected under the existing conveyancing system in Spain when they forward monies to their law firm until such time as the Title Deeds are made available?

Many thanks in anticipation for a reply!

I payed 137,500 euros for my property. The house next door sold a month ago for 58,000 euros. Tecnologia borrowed as of Nov 2011  176,889.36 on my property.  The properties (15 including mine just on our urb) are being auctioned in June. There is a rumour that the bank can chase us for the difference in the money the builder owes and what it achieves at auction. This would bankrupt me. Maria where are you? Yesterday I filed a Hoja De Reclamaciones against both Aroca and Atlas.

 This is a horendous situation but with Atlas and Aroca involved....understandable.

Atlas as a British company should be exposed in the British National press!

I know Aroca personally and they are a shocking company....we come across them quite often as Vendors who bought through Atlas in the past often pass on their details as their solicitors when selling through us.

I have only had trouble with them in every sale we have done to the point now that if someone tells me their soliciotor is Aroca i ask them to change or we cannot be associated with the sale!!!

It is all very well Spain trying to sort it's act at with new reforms making purchasing more secure for NEW buyers but with these ghosts lingering and now coming to light,Spain is going to take a long time to restore it's reputation.

Someone should go after Atlas and Aroca untill they are just distant nightmares of the way things used to be done here.

Every bit of good work that is done by Agents and lawyers currently is destroyed in one foul swoop by these Cowboys!

I wonder if Maria can enlarge on her  informative blog titled " Legal tip 718. Deposit contract: an important matter " see http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/costaluz/6769/legal-tip-718-deposit-contract-an-important-matter.aspx

I'm wondering if this form of deposit contract had not been provided from the outset, if conveyancing lawyers that failed to ensure title deeds were made available, as in this instance, can be made legally culpable (via their indemnity insurance) using this legal argument proving lack of due diligence?

Worth further investigation perhaps Maria?

We are working on it!

 Hi Fly 380 

 I understand from friends in the area you are using  the same legal team as me and my group. You truly couldnt have made a better choice , you are in safe hands now .

Best 

Leigh

That's comforting to know - thanks Leigh.