Hi there...I´m new here :-)

Huma do not appear to be concerned about bad publicity. They are not concerned about the law - --- they make their own  laws as they see fit. They decide if and when they will speak to you. They hold our money and are not interested in the efffects upon peoples lives when we can't get it back.

There is an old thread on this forum about a lady who was removed from their offices. They are extremely arrogant and do not have the slightest regard for their clients who have invested a great deal of money in their business.  It is also worth remembering that the police are governed at local level, and often the press are not interested in what they see as expat issues.
I'm sure that many people would advise you to change your lawyer immediately and get the refund process started as soon as you can.  You may be looking at a long wait.

Apologies for the negative response but since buying in 2004 we are weary and jaded --- every day looking forward to some good news !

Antojo, thanks for the advice, I have contacted Andersons and will be visiting them within the next couple of weeks to get things going, I'll also be visiting Aldea to pick up my BG as I only have copies and if I've got time, I'll visit Huma too. I'll let you know how I get on but they wont be man handling me out  of their offices without a fight!!!!

Thug

If you have up to date bank guarantees I would stay with Aldea.  From some of the comments I have read about Andersons they dont appear to be doing such a good job.
Changing lawyers is very expensive.  Since Encarna and Sarah joined Aldea things have improved greatly and your costs will be a lot less.

Marilyn

Is this the same Aldea who did not get us a Bank Guarantee and will now not answer my requests for answers.

Maralyn, it is going to cost me a lot more moving Solicicitors but Aldea have told me it will take 6 months to execute the BG and I have very little faith in them. I know Andersons will cost a lot more but if I get my money in  a few weeks time, I will make up the difference in interest gained! 
Also Aldea are telling me I should cancel the contract with Huma and forfeit any right to interest, this sounds like a bit of a con to me. 

1600E
I dont know your personal circumstances or why you ndidnt get bank guarantees.  I was merely pointing out that anyone with up to date BGs would be better staying with Aldea as they will get your money back.  If you change lawyers you could end up paying exit fees and costly up front fees with a new lawyer and whos to say they will be any better.  I was charged the costs of notary and burofax and balance of bill which was amount agreed when I first purchased. I have now received back both staged payments.
Hope this clarifies what I said earlier.

Marilyn

Maralyn, I do have BG for both my stage payments but why do Aldea say it will take 6 months and yet two other solicitors have both said 3 to 4 weeks, it doesn't make sense? The other thing which makes me sceptical about Aldea quite simply is: if they had done their job properly, I (and lots of others) wouldn't be in this predicament, I employ a solicitor to make sure all the relevant paperwork is in place, quite plainly they are negligent.

Thug

We were with aldea until last Nov and moved to a new solicitor. it took 5.5 weeks from instructing him to cash our BG to having the money in our bank, cost 1950 Euros approx.

Mark, Excellent news!!! And this is why I think it's best to change solicitors. If the moneys in the bank that quickly the interest will make up the extra cost of another solicitor.
My intention is to get the BG paid and then sue Huma for legal costs and interest.

We pulled out Feb 07 and instructed Aldea to cash in our BG's as we had put down a deposit on another property, Mirabel shook her head and said we were mad and it would takes 6 months to get our money back.  We told her to go ahead and told her in no uncertain terms if it took anly longer than 2 months we would go out there again and camp on her desk, we also instructed them to work for us on our new purchase as we thought this might give them an incentive to work harder to get our money back..  At the end of April our funds came through and we were able to proceed with our new purchase.  As far as we are concerned Aldea were pretty crap from beginning to end but they did get the job done in the end and there's not a days goes by that we don't thank God!!!!  I can't begin to imagine how stressful this is for everybody and from the bottom of my heart wish you all the very very best with whoever you choose to use.

Julie

 Mark
That is a record time for a refund ...well done. 
Guess you can recommend your solicitor to those that need a good one.

Tough, very tough times ahead for all:
Spain has big big problems, believe it. From lower numbers in tourism, to a crashed property market. Just like home.!

Who knows what the best way is to tackle this ? We targeted the BG first then moved into the litigation stuff to take them to court. Remember to add ALL your costs (lawyers, flights, charges), all your interest on mortgages for x years, plus compensation in the court claim.
Keep every original receipt, get bank / credit card statements, mortgage statements showing interest.

This will all proove beyond doubt what this developer owes YOU for non delivery of the property / breach of contract.

Best of luck everyone. Keep up the fight.

If anyone wants the solicitors details I will pass them on

Marylin,

371 posts slamming Aldea, one from you saying they are ok, hmmm  I wonder who to believe?

scales

PS Can't beat Mark T he got his money back in three days less than me,perhaps Mark we should have taken marylin's advice and let Aldea take their 6 months...........I don't think so do you?

Maralyn, Scales, I know you have both left me PM's, unfortunately I dont yet have access to PM (I have requested), when I do, I will reply, if needed!! I am going out to Spain w/c 20th July, will visit Aldea, have a barney no doubt, and then go to my new solicitor and see if they can get my money back in record time!!!!! Then it will be off to Huma for another barney!! 

Don't know what to do now, if anyone can offer advice or recomend a decent solicitor.
We signed power of attorney in December last year and cancelled in April'07.

We do have bank guarantees but Aldea are saying that the bank  Casa murcia are not paying out now?

Tricky

Change Solicitors QUICK. We sacked Aldea last November. Our new solicitor cashed in our one BG in 5.5 weeks. Just wish I had kicked up more of a fuss to get the 2nd BG, now waiting to go to court.

I read about so many people going to court for refunds. This is a worry to everyone because I'm sure the courts will have many many cases of failing deveopers ... How can they cope ? 
What's the time scale to get near a court / hearing?
Has anyone been given guide line times to wait ?

This ACC developer has a lot to answer for putting all us hard working, tax paying, EU citizens through this fiasco
!!!!!!

Hello,

What really happened here, can someone please tell me?

I was under the impression that ACC was a legal site, what happened, did the council change their mind, was it ever legal to start with? I just want to know why it was being marketed, promoted and sold by many agents and solicitors, what changed? Thanks.

In a nutshell, and someone will correct me if I'm wrong, the local town council gave permission to build but the government didn't!!!
I think there has always been a doubt about whether the building should go ahead but Huma and the agents were keen to rake in loads of money and didn't really give a sh.... oh I mean they didn't really care about who they ripped off!!!!

PS just been over to Aldea to get my bank guarentees and have handed them over to Andersons who seem a lot more competent, Aldea are truly a joke and are working for Parador/Huma rather than us. They asked me for a cancellation fee before they would give me my BG, I told them were to go and demanded the BG's.

I would suggest you change solicitors.

Caprice

As far as we know, ( this was information from our first solicitor )  Huma bought the land very very cheap as it was ' rustico ' land and got provisional permission to start building from the local mayor. At the next election one of the candidates who had hoped to become the next major was not successful, but he was elected to be leader of the regional government. 

The regional government ( Junta de Andalucia ) was given 5 months to say yes or no to the land being urbanised, the leader deferred the decision to the very last day, and in November the site was closed by the local police. Our solicitor ( who was working alongside Huma)  urged them not to sell any more properties but they ignored his  advice. 
 
Since then, there seems to be a long standing power struggle between the two polititians which may never be resolved. What this means for us is that the mayor has probably received a very large amount of cash in his pocket in the early planning stages. The agents have collected their commission ( they get paid when we have paid 40 % ) and neither are interested in us now. The banks are sitting on our money ( accumulating lots of interest ) some people have had a refund but some haven't even got a bank guarantee. Most of these people have since scarpered , never to be heard of again.

The lawyers are raking in lots of money, some have been successful , some can reply every day to your emails until they receive your payment, and then you'll never hear from them again unless you are very persistent. 

Then, to add insult to injury, a Huma employee who we spoke to when we last visited ACC told us that Huma needed our money to buy the new site at Thabernax.  They have since tried to persuade many buyers to transfer to OCC.

They ignore us , they ignore the law, they do as they please. They are extremely arrogant, I would never do business with them again under any circumstances. 

The day we bought at ACC we saw a man buying aromas in blocks of 10, to sell on as investments. I often wonder what happened to him. Thank god we only have one property to worry about.

There may be people who have a different version of ' what happened' . If so , share your thoughts !!