10 Apr 2008 12:00 AM:

My wife and I were due to purchase a property in Benalmadena- we thought the completion date was December 2007 but when we had the contract translated in English recently we realised that in fact the completion date was June 2007.We visited the development in January 2008 and were pretty disappointed about the standard of the finish. The contract provides specific termination conditiions. Basically if the property is not ready by the due date then the developer is obliged to return the deposit funds along with 10% compensation. We instructed our Lawyer on March 7, 2008 to terminate the contract. We have heard nothing and when we chased him up today he said that he has a list of clients who applied to cancel their contracts more than 6 months ago so we have to be patient and that the legal process will take several months but we will get our funds returned along with compensation, He also stated that going through the court would take more than a year. THis lawyer is one that was introduced by the estate agents so I am doubtful of his independence and of course he did not correct us about the completion date being December 2007.

We don't want to be unreasonable but considering that we would have been obliged to pay the remaining monies to the developer on the completion date if it had occurred at the agreed time I don't see why we have to wait for months for the return of our funds from the developer.

I would like some basic advice on the steps to take to keep the pressure on and obtain the return of our deposit as soon as possible:

This website has mentioned a formal notice to the developer- Should we ask our lawyer whether the requiermiento notorial has been issued to the developer? Should we ask for evidence that this has been done? How long should it take for the developer to respond to this and when does the need for action on the bank guarantee kick in?

Many thanks for any assistance.

regards

 

Thread: breach of contract

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