22 Nov 2006 11:41 AM:
Hi everyone I have just joined this great site and am interested in sharing some of my experienced with you about Las Vistas
My name is Anthony and I purchased an off plan apartment in Las Vistas de Santa Maria , Elviria in September 2003. I was told that the development would take just under 2 years and would be magnificent. They were waiting for the permission to build a bridge in order to get to the site but otherwise everything was going to plan.
Over the next 2 years I visited Marbella many times on varaious holidays and went to see the progress at Las Vista. Unfortunately I was shocked at the lack of progess over the 2 year period but was assured that although there had been a few problems with the licencing my apartment would be ready in December 2005.
Soon after that I went to Marbella to celebrate New years Eve and heard all about the problems caused by so many developments losing their building licences, I did not realise that Las Vista had lost it's licence too as nobody had bothered to inform me. When I took a drive to the area and saw that all of the cranes were silent and there were no builders anywhere, I realised that things were really bad.
I went to MacAnthony's office and had a meeting to discuss what was going on and to find out what my options were. I was told that I should wait for the development to get it's licence back so that I can receive the flat that I had planned for - and at a 10% discount on completion.
This sounded quite good but when would the developer get his licence back and when did they estimate completion to be? These questions could not be answered as they did not have a clue if or when Las Vistas would get it's licence back.
I informed Mac Anthony that I wished to exercise my bank guarantee and get my money back as I has already wasted neally 3 years of investment time and interest as well, I was dissapointed, annoyed and felt that I had been ripped off. I expected the refund to be given to me immediately as I had only purchased this property because it came with a bank guarantee which protected my money and promised to return it if the develoment was delivered late or something went seriously wrong.
How wrong I was, I was put in touch with the lawyer that most of us have used and the letters and emails started flying! I soon realised that this was going to be a long battle and the bank guarantee was not what I thought it was at all. I had the option to go to court and pay 4000 Euros up front to the lawyer or try to squeeze my money out of him by using pressure and persistance, or to be prepared for a long and expensive fight. It shocked me to hear that I could lose the fight in court if he put up a clever defence and I may have to pay all of the court costs including his and I may still not get my money back.
I was also informed that The developer was applying for a 4 million Euro loan in which to repay some of his expenses, overheads and investors. This was good news as I now knew that he was not going for bankrupcy but was trying to keep the whole project alive.
Through persistance and the help on MacAnthony and the lawyer I received my cheque 3 months ago.
Good luck to everybody either trying to get their money back and to those who have decided to hang on and hopefully own a lovely apartment that they were promised - so long ago.
Community thread:
las vistas santa maria
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