From THE COASTRIDER
A VERY SAD AND SORRY STORY
There have been many sad tales of buyers being caught out in property deals, far too many tales, and no doubt there will be more as time goes on despite the slow down in sales. The property market here in Spain is so very different to that which most have left behind in the UK or Ireland and many of us have been guilty to some extent of making assumptions about how the system should work based on our knowledge of our home country; many of us also make decisions on our property with our hearts rather than our heads perhaps besotted with the sunshine and good life. Many of us also make the mistake of accepting lawyers appointed by builders and their agents whose loyalty to the customer has to be questioned. Yes perhaps most of us make a mistake or two along the way but most of us are able to recover from those mistakes eventually and straighten the difficulties out or come to terms with them and get on with our new life here on the Costas. For some though the price can be very high indeed and Mike Brain is one of those.
Mike and his partner came to Spain looking for a property in the country, somewhere close to a town but not in an urbanisation. Somewhere they could develop into perhaps a boarding kennel or similar business. That dream has turned very sour indeed as the following account from Mike explains.
Because the case is pending, we have omitted the names of the companies and individuals involved.
Back in January 2004 we explained to sales staff that we were selling our house in the UK and that a property in Spain would be our only home; we were shown a property described as a "country house" in Guardamar. It needed reforming but we were assured that there were no legal problems and that water and electricity could be connected.
On the basis of sales staff assurances and a builder's quote we decided to purchase.
We were taken to a firm of lawyers - in Torrevieja - where we again made clear that we intended to live in the property as our only home. The firm assured us there would be no problems. We paid €2000 deposit and returned to the UK.
Following several urgent calls from sales people and we transferred the balance of payment to the lawyers and in May moved to rented accommodation in Spain, having sold our house in Bristol.
During February and March I had made several trips and accepted a quotation from a builder for the reform. Work began in April, after accepting designs from an architect, During the following months we realised that the builder was ‘ripping us off’ and we were paying more and more money for less and less work, so we sacked the builder and again consulted with the lawyers. They agreed that we were in the right as we had a contract with the builder which had not been honoured. They then suggested an agreement rather than court action, although they did neither. They suggested we find another builder to build us a house as big as we could afford, with swimming pool, garage etc in order to increase the value of the property. Various quotes were obtained but we did not engage a builder.
Because of the expenditure with the first builder, we found that we then required a mortgage or loan to fund the completion of the house. Our lawyers said this would be no problem and took us to a well known bank that required €300 for valuation. The bank then told us that the paperwork was not correct and that there was in fact no property registered on the site. Our lawyers said they would sort it out and took us to a Notary in Callosa, where we obtained the escritura for the original (small) property.
They then took us to another Spanish bank where we paid a further €300 for a valuation, only to be told again that the property was illegal, with no value.
In July 2005, after many, many calls and visits to our lawyer’s office in Torrevieja (where they constantly made excuses for not seeing us) we finally had a meeting with the owner of the company who said he would deal with our case personally.
In August 2005 we received a call from his secretary, who said that her boss could do nothing more to help, this was after one and a half years! I then collected all my paperwork from them and consulted a legal firm in Alicante. They said we had a very good case to sue our original lawyers and the sales people who sold us the house, but as they were quite expensive they recommended legal aid and put us in touch with the relevant authorities.
In February I received a reply from the Legal Aid Society, who appointed a lawyer for us in Torrevieja. The lawyer appeared to be excellent, but after two meetings explained that as they also represented our original lawyers, they could not take our case.
Back to Legal Aid who appointed lawyer number two in San Fulgencio.
After several meetings he said he could proceed with our case - as he is also a policeman and has been told he can only do one job! So perhaps with his pension in mind, he decided to drop the case.
Back to Legal Aid, who appoint lawyer number three in Quesada. She presented our papers in court in September 2006. Since then, despite many calls and several visits to the lawyers, we have no information on any progress. We are told we must wait for the court to hear the case.
In the summer of 2007 my partner returned to the UK to live with her sister, as we are unable to live together in Spain in rented accommodation on my pension. I remain here in the hope that one day the Spanish legal system will help me salvage something.
I have lost my home, partner and everything I worked for in 67 years Mike’s mistake was to trust and rely on the word of those he believed were professionals in their field. Not a heinous crime just a very human condition. Now he has to wait for the Spanish courts to hear his case and look to salvage what he can from the last four years problems. He still owns the half developed property in the country but can only take his Labrador Gus out for walks round the grounds and pick the oranges, reflecting on what might have been.
Paul Mutter
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