06 Jan 2009 11:53 PM:

Hi all,

As much as I want to remain positive I have just had confirmation that I am not one of the lucky ones who has a bank guarantee in my solicitors file, I have to say I am beginning to think some sort of 'flipping' deal offered by IA Global might be our only way of salvaging something from this mess.

After looking on various sites to find someone in a similar predicament I found the following correspondance :-

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• Suzanne Says:

  Tue, Dec 2nd 2008, 16:32

  Regarding those who do not have a BG; on another thread it was stated that 'Developers can be fined up to 25% penalty of the amounts they should have guaranteed'. I was wondering how rigorously this is enforced? Is this up to the Judge presiding over a particular case, or up to a prosecuting lawyer to try & get this Fine enforced?
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• Lawbird Lawyer Says:

  Tue, Dec 9th 2008, 16:59

  Dear Suzanne, It's up to your lawyer to pursue this penalty if his client wishes so. However, we stress this is not a means to recover your deposits only to impose a punishment on the developer whose failed to comply with Law 57/68. That's why many people choose not to follow it because it doesn't really help them.
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Does this mean that without a bank guarantee the best we can hope for is to impose a bloody fine on the developer, what good does that do us, and we'd have to pay for the priviledge of fining them !!!! The whole process of passing a deposit over to a developer and just trusting him to issue the bank guarantee seems ludicrous. If the worse that can happen is he's going to get fined 25% it's no wonder there are cowboy developers out there breaking the laws. I'm sure they are clever enough to get our deposits into some swiss bank account where no one else can touch it and then when it's time to get a rap on the knuckles in the form of a 25% fine they say 'sorry I've gone bust' !!!! what a great scam !!!!

I only hope that there is a case for recovering all deposit monies for simply having not met the stated completion date in the private purchase contract. I will be getting independant advice on this shortly. There's no way I'm paying out another penny unless I have a realistic chance of winning !!!

Best regards,

Mark

Community thread: Anyone else bought an of plan property at FortunaHill Golf and waiting on completion ?

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05 Jan 2009 9:24 PM:

I admire your optimism Mark and I hope for all our sakes you are right and IAP Global justify the membership fees and save us from this potential nightmare !!!

I am yet to engage the developer with legal action as I too am waiting for a clear and positive message from IA Global in the coming weeks.  I am still waiting to hear back from Plus advisors regarding my bank guarantee, I sent them a message a few weeks ago but suppose with the number of upset clients they are dealing with it will take them a bit longer to get back to me !!

I didn't intend to bring a negative outlook to this forum because I am trying to remain positive but am also naturally preparing for the worst !!!

I will keep the faith and hope for a positive start to 2009

Best wishes

Mark

Community thread: Anyone else bought an of plan property at FortunaHill Golf and waiting on completion ?

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04 Jan 2009 7:58 PM:

Hi all, I found this forum a week or so ago and have since then been gathering together all my information relating to my purchase at Fortuna Golf. My main concern is obviously the missing Bank guarantees, which should surely be the most important piece of documentation to obtain in an off plan purchase. I have looked on various websites regarding Spanish bank guarantees and there are a number of pitfalls even if you have one. Try belegal dot com for a pretty good guide, there are many other good ones though.

I was initially disgusted that Plus advisors signed the Private purchase contract without having the necessary bank guarantee in place, however after a bit of research I found that this is always the case. Apparently the bank guarantee can't be requested until the deposit is transfered via the secure solicitors bank account. It is then a legal requirement for the developer to provide a bank guarantee. 

There should be something written into the contract (PPC) which clearly states the developers obligation to supply a bank guarantee upon safe receipt of the deposit monies, as I only received a Spanish version and no translation I'm unsure of what is exactly stated in my contract, thought I could trust Plus advisors to sort that though. If anyone has a translation and they could contact me via the private message facility I'd be most gratefull. 

This is a quote from earlier correspondance from Plus advisors 'between our responsibilities are the checking of all relevant documentation and verification that all legal sellers obligations are complied with on due time guaranteeing that both ''private contract'' and title deeds are correct'. Surely that should include ensuring the provision of a bank guarantee is included in the contract and then making sure they actually get it !!!!  

I don't know exactly how much chasing Plus advisors did on our behalf to get the bank guarantees in place but obviously not enough. Basically the developer has broken the law by not giving us our bank guarantees and is also now in breach of the private purchase contract by not having the development finished on time, for me this includes the six months grace they are allowed. I am now intent on getting my deposit back plus the six percent interest accrued per year which is also a legal requirement, plus any other costs that are legally due to me. I am very wary of any flipping deal for the reasons others have expressed on this forum. I have also looked at Plus Advisors' website and notice it hasn't been updated since Feb 06, obviously not very busy then !!!?? I can't help thinking they are a bit of a mickey mouse outfit who are too close to the developers and IA Global for comfort, I would be much happier using an alternative independant solicitor, as someone mentioned earlier on this forum, if we can reclaim all our legal expenses surely best to use the best !!! Then again it will be harder to co-ordinate a group action.

I urge people to look at the Property Purchase agreement they signed with IA International, it is a Confidential Document and Note 7 reads - Deposit refund - Where completion does not take place due to the vendor not fulfilling the terms and conditions outlined, the deposit paid will be refunded in full to the buyer and the buyers legal representatives may seek legal compensations.  

Note 8 is IA International's exclusion of liability (no surprises there)

I don't know how relevant this document is in the grand scheme of things but at least it's something.

Maybe IA International will surprise me and come up with something, but somehow I doubt it, why didn't our completions co-ordinators tell us long ago about the missing bank guarantees and why have Plus advisors only just told us about it ??? There is one thing I've learnt from all this and it's the confirmation of the oldest rules in business 'You can't trust anyone' and 'if a job's worth doing..... you know the rest)

I hope to get in touch with a number of you via telephone using the private message facility so we can discuss our situation and an agreeable route forward.

If we all stick together hopefully we can sort these cowboys out and get our bloody hard earned back again !!!

I'm up for the fight, hope the rest of you are

All the best

Mark

 

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Community thread: Anyone else bought an of plan property at FortunaHill Golf and waiting on completion ?

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