I have spoken to my lawyer and reluctantly i will complete despite lots of reservations. The developer may go bankrupt and the bank will therefore take over all the assets . Legally the property is complete and by defaulting on the payment it appears we could lose the deposit and therefore the apartment. By completing now whilst not ideal it does guarantee ownership of the property and therefore ownership cannot be contested. Completion however does present the following issues
1 Apparently from a legal standpoint a snagging issue is not grounds for delaying completion
2. If not many people are willing or perhaps unable to complete the complex could be somewhat of a ghost town for at least two years .
3. The reason for two years is that it may take that long for the legal issues to be resolved with disgruntled default owners and the change of ownership from developer to the bank .
4 Community of owners will not be optimised and maintenance of property may suffer in the short term. Bank if they eventually become the owners will have an interest to enhance the look and feel of complex to sell remaining units whatever they may be.
5 Swimming pool may not be accessable in the near future and could be an eyesore whilst the legal issues are being resolved
I am painting a very black picture and my first instinct was to continue to delay but I am not convinced this will help as may complicate matters further .As a result I am going to complete but with my eyes wide open that this is a long term investment and it may take a few years for the complex to be operating anything like to its optimal potential. There is a chance that many others will do the same and the developer will survive and a robust community of owners will be formed very quickly but i honestly think this is wishful thinking and those who complete should should be prepared for the above short term issues.
hope this helps
rgds