Certificate of habitation

 

Hi

I fully respect and understand all those of you who have need or desirer to complete without the COH, it’s your decision to make. For me its simple if the Banks will not do it and the Lawyers in general don’t recommend it, they will have good reason, I wouldn’t do it at home, so if I don’t absolutely have to then I will not in Spain.

Phil

just closed on 40 apartments,no solicitor and no habitation licences. Transferred the money directly to polaris account. I felt better off having the keys and the deeds rather than having to try get 40 contract deposits back with no bank guarantees.

Ace..

Which is good if it works for you. I will stick with the professional advice.

As Skell says, it is a personal choice - and as long as you have been advised of the risks and consider them to be negligible, then if you feel comfortable taking the risk, all well and good.  Again as Skell says, there are plenty of advantages to completing on the date originally scheduled.

Many of us in the Jardines were in similar positions, although for most of us the Certificates were issued within two weeks of the original planned completion date - on Naranjos there seems to be much more of a significant delay.  In fact, have any Certificates been issued at all yet for the Naranjos properties?

Just hope that Ace has some very good indemnity insurance if he's acting for 40 purchasers and proceeding without solicitors and without Habitation Certificates! 

For those cautious ones amongst you (we too fell into that category) - the wait is well worth it!!  Good luck!

We knew that the COH would not be available today as originally advised by Polaris and to some degree are now relieved. We have just had our 1st snagging report back and have a 'major leak' problem as a result of a problem with the drainage on the solarium.

Apparently the hall wall, wardrobe and floor tiles are affected.

We know that Polaris will sort this out but have to say that even with a COH we would not complete until this is sorted out. Thank god for the rain or this problem may not have been uncovered until after we'd furnished.

Feeling pretty low after all the fairly minor reports we have heard coming back from other peoples snagging but sure it'll be OK in the end. 

Each to their own but we're with you on the legal thing PGM and this [hopefully easily sorted] setback has reinforced it for us.

As promised - a wee update on COH.
Our solicitors wrote yesterday to say that it wouldn't be ready til mid Nov - too late for our trip (on 5/6/7 Nov).
It's a b*gger and her indoors has ordered the horse's head to be delivered to the person responsible. Me? I'll restrict myself to sending ignominious emails to PW from "Outraged of Edinburgh".
We're going to go out as planned and do the shopping thing (really looking forward that). We can order the stuff we want and arrange delivery (hopefully for early December). When we're there, we'll meet up with the snagging folks, check progress & hopefully get a chance to go into the apartment to see for ourselves. We'll also give the solicitor the POA to complete on our behalf (but being a canny Scot, I'll be asking PW to pay for this..... or it'll be the whole horse in the bed next time!!) I see from other email strings that PW has paid for this in other cases. Any comments and advice welcome - presumably I write to their customer services folks?
Chin, chin,

Peter

Hi Peter,

Sorry to hear you will not be able to complete - there shouldn't be any problem with PW paying for the Power of Attorney, in fact they will suggest it!  You will still have to go to the Notary's Office for the appointment arranged for completion.  Your Solicitor will be there and they will draw up the Power of Attorney document whilst you wait.  Our Solicitor explained the document to us, and then the Notary came in and checked our passports, NIE certificates etc and asked us to sign the document in her presence - she then witnessed it and went!  As easy as that! 

Hope you have a good trip, even though it's disappointing not to be coming back with that huge bunch of keys in your hand!

Debbie / Paul - thanks to you both for the post. It's good to hear from others who've been to through the same thing. I've written to the solicitor and will be expecting him to go down the line that you've outlined.
Watch this space.
It's not all bad news though - having got her indoors to agree that I'd be best to get a 2nd set of golf clubs - for out in Spain, I've been and gone and got them. Just how I drop the bombshell (i.e. price) is best held back until tonight's vino tinto soothes the way.
E bayers watch out or the ad - "disobedient and spend thrifty husband - free to a good home"!
If only buying furniture was this easy!!

Peter

Peter,
Just a post to say that we were in exactly the same position as yourselves. We went over last week to complete but couldn't due to no COH. Solicitor said we should still attend their office where we went through the Spanish wills we had had drawn up and the POA. She said PW had already agreed to pay for the POA. We then went downstairs (the Notary's office was in the same building) where we went through the process outlined by Paul  and Debbie. Very easy and probably easier than completing ourselves ! Now just waiting on news !

Thanks folks - let's hope it all goes smoothly - not sure I can cope with all this one pace forward, one pace back stuff!
Confessed to the golf club purchase - and no violent response! (What's she after, I wonder?)
Lol,

Peter

Hi Redcloak,

Your strategy with the 2 sets of clubs is definatley the way to go.....I will do the same, but with all the other completion costs  at the minute I will wait until next year.  Too be honest, & despite recent optimism I still cannot see the course being properly playable until back end of next year though........I hope I am wrong !!

Regards

Nick

Hi All,

I have just registered so this is the first message I have posted, so please be nice!  My husband and I are purchasing a 3 bed ground apartment in the los naranjos.  

We originally had a completion date set for 13th October, so we booked flights and arranged for the kids to have authorised absence from school, only to be told that this was a bank holiday and they needed to change the date until 14th October, so we changed the flights and added another day to our accomodation (more cost).  Surprise, surprise we could not complete as the habitation license had not arrived.  At this stage we did not know that we are able to complete without this as our lawyer made the re-arrangements.  

Polaris once again persued us for another completion date, so we set for 3rd November.  I have just received a call from Nuria (PW) explaining that the license is still not in and asking what day I fly back to the UK.  Again we have taken the children out of school and now need to add additional days to our accomodation.  My father has even booked flights to come out with us to help us with the furniture etc, as this is far more cost effective, than taking the furniture pack route.  I can't understand why they chase you down to confirm a completion date and then do not have all the paperwork in place to complete?  Its not as if I just need to flag a taxi!!

I am now seriously considering completing without this license as the banks approval is only valid for 2 months, then we need to go through the valuation, bank statements, earnings etc again and what if they change their underwritering criteria in the mean time?  I am waiting on advise from my lawyer regarding the legalties with the license.

Polaris have mentioned on numberous occassions to give my lawyer POA, but on the advise from my Spanish brother-in-law, I will remain to waste money on flights and jeopardise my childrens education.  This is the last time though, If we do not complete this time, I am not booking another flight until I see a copy of the license!!

I am also abit panicked with some threads I have read on other forums about how PW are now not building all the facilities which were communicated to purchasers.  Does anyone know any more on this?

Spk soon

Regards

Kelly

i wonder will your bank allow you to complete without the COH.

ace...

Hi Kelly, we are in a similar situation with regards to the mortgage. We have an offer which is valid for 3 months but as yet no sign of a habitation certificate even though they have chased us to complete on 7th Nov. I don't think there is any point in completing before the certificate of habitation is in place because the bank will not release the funds until then. It also seems that a lot of lenders are reducing their loan to value offers from 70% to 60% at present. 

Hi Ace,

Apparantly there are a few banks allowing this to happen, so I am waiting for my lawyer to come back to me, so I can explore all scenario's, as well as if Bancaja allow this.  

I don't want to do something that will upset the apple cart in terms of rights and protection, but in the same breath can we take the chance with the global crisis?  I don't want non resident mortgages to reduce again in LTV or worse still no longer be offered.. 

They sell it, like its going to be very easy!!!

Kelly

Hi Kelly V,

Unfortunatley "Your story" is the same as for so many of us on Condado & I guess other PW sites at a similar stage. Without doubt they have massivley misjudged the issuing of the COH's activity & more importantly the impact that has had on us all with plans & arrangements that have been made.

From originally being told I was completing in May '09.......to suddenly being chased for an Oct '09 completion (with all the current market chaos) is an un-nerving situation - so I understand your anxieties completley

Howwver, as I mentioned on another thread last week, I will now complete next week without the COH in place, as a few others have done recently.  I am not advocating others should do the same  - in fact many if not all Spanish Banks would not consider a mortgage application without it - so for some it is not an option.  But I firmly believe The HC is just a bit  "town hall" politics anyway - All of PW's requirements are I believe in place & the delay is just a backlog caused my insufficient staff at TP Town Hall.

Try not to let this type of stuff put doubts in your mind regarding your original decision to purchase on Condado.  The end result is very encouraging & the development is coming on leaps & bounds - almost daily - as you will see from all of the comments from EOS members.  Please remeber this also SPAIN.  Things like this happen along the way, but you can't really influence it yourself directly, don't let it get you down. It's a bit like the exchange rate fiasco, only not as painful!!

Regarding the changes to the development.......I only have one comment to make.....This is the biggest recesion since 1929, yet the development is by & large still on track.  Of course PW need to put in steps to ensure they maintain good cashflow during this crisis....as you would expect any good business to do.  Some plans might get delayed or tweaked, but if that means that PW survive the next couple of difficult years  - then so be it.  Surely that is much better than just ploughing on regardless..........

Anyway my advise to you is only this......either hang on until you get your COH - which your solicitor will almost certainely advise you to do.......or like me & few others, complete without it.  It won't change anything either way - but whatever you choose hang-on in there.  I am sure You won't regret it

Best Regards

Skell

 

Hi Kelly

Firstly don’t panic or be unduly worried the resort is fantastic and is going to be 5* Welcome to the forum we are all friends hear even if we haven’t met yet.

Ace is probably correct in saying you will not be able to complete without COH as they will not release money without it, if your Bank do then its up to you to decide. Most people on the forum have gone down the POA route as this is a recurring problem with the COH, from the information people have posted on the forum PW will pay the cost of the POA but they will not pay for your wasted flights. PW do seem to be slowing down the rate they build but this isn’t surprising in this climate but the resort so far is first rate. Their is lots of information on the forum so have a good read at previous posts and then ask any questions you have and someone will try to help if they can, also tell us something about yourselves by way of introduction. You will soon be very glad you found EOS.

Regards

Phil & Ann

Hiya All again,

Thanks for all your comments and advise, I really appreciate it.  Sometimes you just need a little reassurance.

Okay so a little bit about us as an introduction, I'm Kelly as you know and 29 next month and my husband is Simon who is also 29..  We have three children Kane who is 9 next month, Morgan who is 6 next week and Lawrence who will be 5 in December.  We both work in the motor industry, although I am employed as a Fleet Sales Manager for Audi and Simon is a director of a contract hire company.  We live in Sunderland, but my husband is a Geordie and keen Newcastle supporter (shame considering Saturdays result!)  Our hobbies and interests revolve around the kids swimming, dancing, stage and karate and when we get a moment to ourselves we fall asleep on the settee!!  We are not golfers infact I don't think I could hit the ball, but I was sold the relaxed lifestyle.  Its great to get away from the hussle and bussle of the daily grind!

We secured our plot back in Oct 2007, which I believe to be in jardin 7, but don't quote me.  Its the block right next to where the club house will be.  We have peered through the window and know the number though...

Although I don't want to rent, my husband sees £££ signs and is trying to convince me.

We fly out again on Saturday.

Kelly

 

Hi again Kelly

You have obviously found this forum on EOS but if you haven’t already add the Condado de Alhama forum to your list by clicking on the Add another development option at the bottom of the development forums page, you will see lots of information on that thread also.

Phil

Hi Kelly V,

We also live in NE......Chester-le-Street to be precise.  I am in the Motor Trade to - Enginnering manager at the Nisan Car Plant.  My wife Deb works for the NHS in Chester.  Although not Gerodies or Machems ourselves........my kids probaly all are......not sure which though......depends which one you speak too.     We have 3.Charlotte 19 (at Uni), Laura 14 (Dance mad!!....particulalry Ballet) & Thomas 11 - sport mad - Footy, Cricket & Golf (like me).

Welcome to E-O-S.  We too are near the clubhouse - so neighbours in Spain too I guess

Hope to meet up in soon ....in sunnier Climbs to this depressing office in Washington!!

Regards



Nick & Deb