Zodiac Villas nightmare.

Is there anyone out there who has parted with money to Zodiac Villas to buy a property off plan in Valencia and have now been told that they have no licence.    I have parted with 60k and would like to contact other people in the same boat.

Hi, yes there are more people out there who are victims of the Zodiac scam! that We too have parted with thousands of pounds to find out we have bought land that isn`t even urbanised!

 Anybody reading this, stay clear of Zodiac villas and the Las Palomas Development!!

Hi Angie

really sorry to hear about your predicament. But this thing really is outrageous. Do you know waht the current state of play is? Have Zodiac Villas disappeared? What has happened to the German builder and his German lawyers? Is the local mayor to be prosecuted. And what about the poor people who sold up in England and completed on their sale. Will they be evicted or what? Is the development finished or will it be finished and maybe retrospectively urbanised?

Such a terrible shame. But I am just wondering if you will be OK if the develoopment is eventually legalised.

Noel

No one has mentioned a bank guarantee which every builder, by Spanish law, has to give purchasers who pay by stage payments to safeguard their payments. Can't you claim your payments back with this ?

Maria will advise. Maria is a very helpful lawyer here on EOS & has helped many with various subjects.

Contact her here..

Maria L. de Castro, JD, MA

Lawyer

Director www.costaluzlawyers.es

Hi Noel,

Yes Zodiac Villas are still around, i have spoken to the Managing Director today! He is saying he was told by the German Lawyer that the develpoment was going to be urbanised and that the infastructure project had been sent in to the town hall. He had a meeting with the Mayor himself who confirmed that no such plans had been sent and thus no approval! The Lawyer has now dissappeared! Regarding the people who are living in villas on phase one, these technically are illegal, but i don`t think they will be demolised.

Regarding the bank guarantee issue, no bank guarantee was put into place. I am trying to sue for the first construction payment i gave to the builder but as they have no money, they are offerring us more land by way of compsensation. What do we do, accpet the offer or try to sue someone who is saying that have no assets it`s such a mess!

I`ve been told by my solicitor that eventually the development will become a legal urbanisation but this could take 2 - 5 years! He has advised us to take the offer of the land. To add insult to injury we have now been informed that we would have to pay a community fee of thousands of euro`s if the villas are ever built! If anyone can advise me and the others like me as what to do, please reply!!

More info on Montroy!

If you too have been unfortunate enough to have brought land on the Las Palomas development, i have been advised to get the builder to sign the title deeds for my plot over to me officially, via the courts. Apparantly this means if he sells the land on, no-one will be able to build on the plot i have purchased. Hope this helps!

Is there anyone out there who has instructed a solicitor to register at the Land Registry the existence of a lawsuit in relation to their plot on Las Palomas. I have been advised to do this by the managing director of Zodiac. He has also given me the name of a solicitor, Fransico Royo, who he said is acting on behalf of a lot of Zodiac clients.  While it seems to make sence to use a solicitor who is acting for a group of people on the same front, I'm not sure if I can trust anything that Zodiac say at the moment. Is there anyone who can confirm that they are using this solicitor or if  they have been advised to do so by Zodiac.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks and good luck to everyone in the same position as us.

Colin.

For God's sake get a grip. Zodiac are not your friend. Zodiac told you to use a German solicitor because he was known to the developer and because he would do you all he would charge less. Who do you think he saw as his client?

If you intend to sue use a reputable lawyer. I would suggest you at least look at:

The International Law Partnership LLP
The Vaults
Holborn Hall
193-197 High Holborn
London
WC1V 7BD
England

From the UK: 020 7061 6700
From Overseas: +44 20 7061 6700

This used to be known as J Howell & Co until they expanded. As the name implies they are international laywers and use Spaniards or British lawyers who are qualified in Spanish law and can explain it fully in English.

It was Howell & Co who warned me off this development. There is, by the way, another problem with this development which the German lawyer has not pointed out to you. In addition to the illegality of the urbanisation the developers do not have (or when I was involved, did not have) bank guarantees.

This means that if they go bust or just go away there is no financial guarantor who will pay to complete the development. And this applies not just to houses not built yet but to roads not finished yet. It would be almost certain the local government would try to make the people living there pay for this in addition to what they have already paid. This could be a lot!  

I hope this is helpful. But please get your own lawyers. Do not use Zodiacs. Who knows...you may want to sue Zodiac later on and then do you think their lawyers will be on your side!

Noel

Cheers Noel,

                                    I had no intention of using this lawyer, I just wanted to find out if Zodiac had been spinning this line to any other people in the same boat as us. 

I have been going back over the corresponance I have had with Zodiac with the intention of listing out  out all the excuses and lies we have been palmed off with, its a bloody long list I can tell you.

This is being sent to a reputable solicitor who like yours, deals with Spanish Law but is located in the UK.f

Thanks for your input, it all helps.

Regards,

          Colin.

Hi,

I`m using a spanish solicitor based in valencia to act on my behalf, he is representing 5 Zodiac clients but he isn`t the guy  you mentioned.

I think it`s a good idea that we use different solicitors as we can share different information with each other. My solicitor has advised me to go with the offer of land rather than sue for the first construction payment. He says Morarim will probably go bust soon. He has also told me he will probably end up in jail as there are currently seven suits against him for fraud.

But what about Zodiac? I would be intersted to hear from anyone who can give us any information as to whether we can claim any damages from them. My solicitor says he his probably already prepared himself for this eventualluty. Noel is right what he says regarding these extra fees that will apply, i have been given this news also.

I just wish i had gone to his solicitor in the first place!! Any info that might help please post or email me directly.

I'm also affected by the Zodiac / Morarim scam and would be interested to know if anyone has made any progress - we are using Francisco Roya in Valencia (who assures me has had no contact with Zodiac) - We need to make a decison whether to sue the developer or go for a land deal. Morarim however have inflated the price of the land they are offering. There are so many rumours its difficult to work out the truth. This includes Klaus showing potential clients around our partly completed property - it just goes from bad to worse.

Steve

Zodiac Villas are now returning all recorded delivery mail as "not known here"

I am working with both a UK and Spanish Solictor but no-one holds out much hope of getting anything

Basically they are all a load of crooks and we have all be defrauded

Just out of curiousity I called their telephone number and it was answered. I am sure you have all the details but just in case:

Thanks Noel

They return any written correspondance that looks remotely threatening, especially if it is sent recorded delivery

They don't answr the phone if the number is hidden with a 141 prefix or if they recognise the incoming number

I'm planning a visit to the office at some point to hand deliver my threat to prosecute

Hi,

       With all the bad comments I have seen regarding Zodiac Villas and the Los Palomas site, I wondered if anyone out there knows if there has been any problems with the other site that Zodiac are advertising, in Llombai?

Thanks.

           Mitch.

They don't sort out a bank guarantee

They are probably lying about urbanisation status and planning permission

They just walk away if anything goes wrong

If you want my advice - avoid them like the plague

Hi All

Just been reading through all the posts about Zodiac / Montroy development because my parents have a vila there - they are as much in the dark as everyone on here.

When I read the post about Zodiac selling villas in Llombai I did some digging on the net and found the following contact details they are using when advertising these villa, which might be helpful:

Ashby House 9-11 Gardner Ind Est, Kent House Lane, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 1QZ.  Tel +44 208 668 1176.

If you want to have a look, these details are on kyero website under estate agents in Llombai.

Hope this helps.

V.

We "bought" in September 2005, although not through Zodiac Villas.  We already live in another area of Spain.  For the first year Morarim promised to start our Villa every two months!!!!!!!
We have just taken him to Court.  Our Lawyer from Valencia was totally useless.  They took a great deal of money from us with again promises that they would get our money back as Morarm has a great many properties registered in his name and these could be embargoed.  All Morarim offered us was to give us the Esquitra, which will cost us another 2000 Euros if the Lawyer handles this!!!!!!!!   Our Barrister did not say one word!!!!!!!
As we are fast aproaching 70, any chance of building in 5 years time is too late for us.  We can not afford to throw any more money at the project.  It would appear that it is perfectly legal to sell a worthless piece of paper (signed in front of a Notary).
Obviously if the land is urbanized then the plot will be worth something, but  I do imagine we will be liable for the payment for roads, street lighting etc
If you know of anyone taking the case for Fraud, then perhaps we could get together on this.