28 Mar 2011 3:33 PM:
We paid letras on 2 apartments of Aifos in Mijas. When we asked our original solicitor in Fuengirola, Antonio Lopez Alvarez, about bank guarantees he shrugged it off and said Aifos did not provide guarantees and that they were such a big company that in the unlikely event of them going bankrupt, their land and other assets would be enough to cover the return of the money we paid. Well hindsight is a great thing and we were very naive and we believed him. It is obvious now that the solicitor was in cohoots with the estate agent and possibly Aifos as well.
Since then we have changed solicitors and are now represented by Maria. We have won our case against Aifos but have to wait in line with the other creditors. So Maria and her team are now bringing a case against the bank. She said that even though we didn't get a bank guarantee the law still applies. However, the bank will obviously strongly contest the case because if they lost it would open the floodgates. But it does at least bring some hope that we may eventually be refunded.
As regards the previous comments about Aifos still trading - it is the same in England as in Spain. If a company goes bankrupt, that's it, they're gone and creditors only get what the liquidators realise from the remaining assets. But if they're in administration, the purpose of that is for the administrators to try and run the company to see if they can pay back creditors from trading profits. That's the theory anyway!
Forum thread:
What is happening with AIFOS ? ?
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