POLARIS WORLD NIGHTMARE CONDADO DE ALHAMA

This is not unusual and the judge was right - you contract will have said that they had 18 months to build the apartments from the day they commenced but that date was never stipulated.

Polaris are not selling the apartments off  - the banks are and they are making losses as well.

I feel sorry for those who were defrauded. I suppose that the vague "complete within 18 months from start of build" wouldn't have of itself been so bad if only the staged payments had been tied in to the progress of the build - which is, of course, the sole purpose of staged payments. How anyone could justify needing staged payments when the build hadn't started is beyond me. But you need a fair judicial system, which Spain doesn't have. Hindsight, I know. 

I know this might not be of much comfort but if they had completed on time and you had paid in full then your appartments probably would have devalued by more than you have paid over.  Doesn't make it right though.

I feel extremely sorry for all those who lost money on Polaris World.

I remember going to the Polaris building just outside Los Alcazares with models of all the resorts, very impressive, it was buzzing in there, loads of people caught up in the excitement reserving properties at quite a rate.  

We viewed all the sites when still at off plan stage and decided on the Mar Menor and reserved an apartment at 272,000 euros. We had 3 days to pay the initial 3000 euros, followed by another large amount after 30 days. We returned home and changed our mind before paying anything in hindsight we were so lucky. We have made a few bad decisions in our life but that was one that went the right way.

We now visit the Mar Menor resort on most visits before returning via San Javier and its so sad to the number of vacant apartments even at the now much reduced bank prices.

I also remember the apartments just outside the resort which looked like something from the flintstones, the person who showed us round said he was definately buying one. maybe two, again off plan as they were a bargain!, cheaper than the Polaris resort and much lower annual fees. I wonder if he did buy, probably not as they are also mainly empty and now 73,000 euros, less than half the original value.

We have now recently bought in Los Alcazares and although some building is now taking place with apartments available off plan we would not buy off plan mainly due to the polaris issue. We wanted to see what we were buying

Again very sorry for all those who lost on these resorts.

Kerry

How can so many people hand over so much money, for something they cant see or touch, except for a picture of what they could look like, and the say so of someone they don't know and never will know, and in a different country as well,  when some people wouldn't buy a £4.99 box of screws from B & Q without seeing what they got in return for the money.

Hi I sent this thread way back on the 28^th November 1998.

I have quite a number of friends who have bought on a Polarise World site. La Torre, Mar Menor etc. and though there are always teething problems at first PW have always come up trumps in the end.

As for PW being in trouble financially.

No you have it wrong. PW Director has almost the same name as a director of a company on the Costa del Sol who built illegally. And it is he who has been told that rather he knock one of his buildings sites down he can sell the remainder properties at a lower price to local Spanish families.

I have a friend who bought on that particular site &completed last year.

She doesn’t appear too bothered as she lives on the site she feels it will be good for her to have the apartments permanently occupied rather than being a woman living alone on an almost deserted site.

As for Condado looking different from the original plans. This is nothing new. My son bought a 2 bed apartment here in England almost two years ago & it differed quite a lot from his initial viewing of the show home to apartment on completion.

There is always some small print somewhere that will tell you that “plans may change at the builder’s discretion." You just have to look for it.

And negative equity. No matter what country you live in. If you have bought over the past few years it will apply now

You just have to ride out the storm if you can.

A happy PW purchaser 

This is my latest comment.

Stop slagging of Polaris. Stop bringing up old headlines.

My son`s apartment fell so low in negative equity that he never thought he would be able to move.

Luckily he has recently purchased a newly built house with his fiancée after a local builder offered them a fantastic deal.

To re kindle this head line is stupid. Yes we are in negative equity & yes there are people buying at a third of the price we paid but I have between having between 5 & 7 holidays a year on Condado & we would never have been able to do that had we not bought when we did.

So stop bringing up old news. It’s out dated & there are many of us who would not change a thing.

Jan.

"you contract will have said that they had 18 months to build the apartments from the day they commenced but that date was never stipulated. "

" We purchased 2 apartments. paid the staged payments, only to find that when they should have been completed, they had not even started building them. "

Was there no specific end date written into the purchase contract?

Did you have a legal Bank Guarantee?

Were your deposited monies (staged payments) placed in a special account as per Ley 57/68?

If there was no specific end date written into the contract or you were not issued with a legal BG, might this be considered negligence/lack of due diligence on the part of the original conveyancing lawyer, plus, might the developer /Bank have denied you your inalienable rights according to Ley 57/68?

Perhaps an independent lawyer could advise?