cedula and legal time allowed for developers to complete

Hi there,

Two question really which I wonder if anyone can help with.

1.  Our contract states that the developers have a license to build which is granted for two years during which time they must complete.  Now ....  I understand they can claim for Acts of God etc. and therefore  have an extension beyond those 2 years.  What I would like to know is -  do they have a maximum period for that, for example  2 years?

2.   The position I am in is that our developers now have the cedula and therefore want us to complete.  I however have my doubts that  the  development should have the  cedula yet.  
I am wondering exactly what things need to be completed before they are granted the cedula.  Do they, for example, need to complete the communal pool ? Does any one know of anythings which might  be considered by a purchaser as non-essential for the cedula, but does in fact form part of the contract and or cedula?

Many thanks.

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Just for my interest, what exactly hasn't been completed regarding your communal pool ?

What things haven't your developer done that concerns you ?

If they've received the cedula the ayuntamiento is obviously happy with granting it.

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The celuda is only for the property itself and the Town Hall is not interested in the external community areas

As far as the community areas are concerned it depends on the wording of your sales contract and if you have roghts to refuse to complete and this is soemthing that a lawyer should advise you on

If the COH is in place you cannot lgally refuse to complete

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Dear Avicola:

Please have answers below in bold green ( same text of your message):

Hi there,

Two question really which I wonder if anyone can help with.

1.  Our contract states that the developers have a license to build which is granted for two years during which time they must complete.  Now ....  I understand they can claim for Acts of God etc. and therefore  have an extension beyond those 2 years.  What I would like to know is -  do they have a maximum period for that, for example  2 years?

Let me please clarify several things on this:

a.- Work License is issued by the Local Council, parties submitted to their timeframes, conditions etc... are just Local Council and developer. Validity deadlines stablished for Work Licenses do not expire automatically, an express declaration of lapsing is needed and that declaration is just issued after a procedure in which the developer is heard. The only  consequence of that is that the developer needs to renovate that Work License. No more consequences and of course, no consequences for you.  

b.- Expiration deadline between you and developer are stablished in the purchase contract.

c.- Extensions of the  timeframes of your private purchase contract needs to be communicated to you, justified to you and allowed by you. According to the doctrine of our Supreme Court.

2.   The position I am in is that our developers now have the cedula and therefore want us to complete.  I however have my doubts that  the  development should have the  cedula yet.  
I am wondering exactly what things need to be completed before they are granted the cedula.  Do they, for example, need to complete the communal pool ? Does any one know of anythings which might  be considered by a purchaser as non-essential for the cedula, but does in fact form part of the contract and or cedula? If the cedula or FIrst Occupation License is in place, you need to complete. You can ask for some compensation if the pool is not finished.

Many thanks.

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Very, very many thanks for the information.

The facts are that the developers were given a 2 year licence to complete.  This was 11th August 2004 as per our contract.

When I asked the sales manager at the time when we were looking at purchasing what would happen if they did not complete in time, he told us that it simply could not happen as the penalties were too high.

With the development still not complete in May 2008, we asked again, what about these penalties.  The sales manager told us that they would simply make the excuse of strikes on the mainland, or Act of God so we had no comeback.

At that time he, along with other estate agents we have since spoken to, estimated a complete date of around Christmas 2008.

(It transpires that in fact there were no penalties whatsoever in our contract).

Then in June and July the site became awash with workers and - hey presto - it was comlete.  That is why I was suspicious that the cedula was correctly granted, it seemed rather that they had pushed it through somehow and I was also suspicious that it was within a week of the 2 + 2 years (that is why I came up with the idea that maybe there was an extra amount of time for which they could claim Act of God, etc.)

But we have definitely had no contact from the developers and certainly no agreement for an extension.  So, from what you say Maria, they only have 2 years and should have completed 2006.

The million dollar question then.  Do you think we have a good case to cancel the contract?

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Dear Avicola:

What is the completion deadline stated in the contract?

Do you have a Bank Guarantee?

I would rather need to see the contract that you signed to valuate your possibilities.

Know that works are finished once the First Occupation License is in place. What do you know of this?

You can find my contact details at our website:    costaluzlawyers  ,   es

Best regards,

Maria

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Very many thanks Maria.

The deadline as per our contract was August 11th, 2006, yes two thousand and six.

We asked the estate agents what on earth was going on and did we have any legal rights with regard to the delay.  They told us no, they would just claim it wasn't their fault.  The estate agents had previously told us that there were huge penalties for delays and that it could never happen.  It transpires now that the contract does not have any penalties whatsoever.

The estate agents also said that we had no choice but to complete or loose our money and 'why would we think we could get our money back.'   And that was before the cedula was in place.  It was someone else who told me that we did not have to complete until the cedula was in place.

Now they do have the cedula (I am told, I haven't seen it) and they got that a few weeks ago.

But in the interim, we have gone to the solicitor and he has issued them a demanda.  That was 2nd July.

We then got a letter from the developers asking why we hadn't turned up at the notary on the given date and saying we had 20 in which to complete.

We sent the letter to the solicitor feeling fairly amazed that we had received it when in effect we had given them 20 days to respond on 2nd July.  And also, since they hadn't responded, it was going to court and the solicitor had sent us a copy of the court document.

The solicitor said that maybe no one at the courts had time to send it yet !!!

We have already paid the solicitor 4,400 euros so we are quite in a state of shock that the developers appear to know nothing about it all.

We have since sent a copy of the court document to the developers ourselves which the solicitor instructed us to do.

And we don't have a bank guaruntee or know anything about it.

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