Builders versus owners - what can be done?

My opinion of Arrohabitage has just gone to rock bottom!! We had agreed to buy  store 4 in our block and have already TT'd €3210 to our solicitors. they phoned me today to say that the store they had agreed to sell me was "already booked" but I could have a "similar" store (store 2) for an extra €200 plus VAT. 

First of all the store we booked was confirmed by the developer as being available. Store 2 is identical and in my view if they had made a mistake and sold the store twice they should have offered the alternative at a discount not for an extra €200!

My solicitor is trying to resolve the situation but advised me that the developer had already sold me the appartment so I was in a weak position.

€200 is not a lot in the grand scheme of things but I hope you can understand why I'm a tad P****d off! 

 

It's a scam for sure.

I was quoted:

We finally got our store dispute sorted today. I have been told that they had reserved the store we wanted for us. Then when we went to pay they said it was sold to someone else so we could have another store for 200€ more. It now appears that the someone else was actually us so we now have the store we wanted at the original price. However anyone reserving a store from now on will have to pay 200€ plus VAT than the prices quoted by Max! below

I have been contemplating if I should buy a storeroom. On the one hand one would be very handy but on the other hand I think the developers are charging way way over what they are actually worth especially as the actual sq meterage is about half that claimed by the developers (I am very reluctant to pay over the top to these greedy developers) and I do not think that if I were to sell the apartment say in the next 5 years I will recoup that investment i.e. I think the sale price I would achieve would be about the same weather or not the storeroom was in the equation. What do you think? Also a question for anyone who has bought a storeroom (especially anyone in block 3) would you consider renting it out?

Hi Raj - there is no doubt that 3200€ plus VAT is not good value for money and I doubt if you would get back this outlay if you were to sell the apartment in 5 years time. The decision to purchase is down to the individual. We took the view that with a much smaller kitchen than we're used to we would over time find ourselves with a lot of stuff that we didn't have room for and chose to pay the price anyway.

I don't know what will happen to unsold stores when the apartments are eventually handed over but I guess the builder will simply hang on to them and put the price up even more if someone wants one in the future.

Hi All, I agree with Max. There is no space in the apartments for messy/ugly stuff BBQ's,walking boots ,ski's etc so as they say the developers have us by "the short and curlys" I think the storerooms will eventually sell as anyone thats paid a couple oh hundred thousand euros for their dream aparment wont be bothered about an extra 3,000. Also there isnt enough for evey apartment.. I'm sure that some day in the future we may be in a position where we can get even with the developer!

Don't get mad get even! I was so annoyed at them putting the price of the store up by 200€ after I had booked it that I resolved to look for the opportunity to do just that. In reality I probably will never have the chance but it's good to imagine that I will.

We only have 2 bedrooms  and I think there is more need for a store if you have a 2 bedroom apartment. If you have 3 bedrooms you have more flexibility so Max! and RG can afford to stick to their principles.

Hi all

I think its a discrase that the developer is allowed to put up the price of the store room. As you say get even if you are not going to buy a car put a garden shed on your car park space see what they say then. well afterall it is your space!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi All Thanks for the replies. Max I quite agree with you in that had the developer included the cost of the store room in the original price i would quite happily have paid it, thinking about it the same goes for the air con, actually I cant understand why the developers havent at least included the air con and charged a little extra for it in the original price. As it stands, with the store room being a seperate entity from the apartment I cannot see me getting my money back if i had to sell within the next few years. So I guess what it boils down to is a) how long i am going to keep the apartment (which i dont really know at the moment) and b) how badly I actually need a storeroom or if I can make do with a couple of storage cupboards in the garage space and or in the terrace. Having seen the available storage rooms in Block 3 on my last visit i have to say compared to the 3m2 (the smaller of the 3m2) storage rooms the cupboards in the terrace / garage may not be such a bad idea as the actual usuable space in the remaining (smaller) 3m2 rooms isnt much! The only viable option is the larger unit but that costs mega bucks! Looks like I am going to have to give this some more thought! I can't see the developers reducing the price of the store rooms on any remaining units after completion as from what i can see they have already covered the costs of the storerooms from the apartment sales and therefore any storeroom sold is pure bonus money for them so they can afford to just hang on to them....mmm I wonder if i can squat in one and claim squatters rights!! ....now that would be getting even with them! hehe

Hi all,

I have read all your inputs, and I can see that this subject has been reason for some negative thoughts. Whit the risk of beeing misunderstood, I'll suggest that you try to look at it from an other angle. I'm only trying to get a positive dialogue, and I think that I understand some of the reasons for this frustration. Also please remember, English is not my native language, hence excuse me for my bad grammar :o)

We have all bought a property on more or less known conditions (I know that completion date has changed and for some the view also has changed, however this has to be accepted as risks). For phase one it was known that all apartments was sold and delivered without A/C (in phase two this is included) and that storage room was/is an option. With this in mind you should consider one or more of the following bullets:

• find out whether or not you need an storage room (what are the alternatives)?
• How much is a storrage room worth for you?
• Can you accept the price?
• Do you need to make sure that you get the money back when selling the apartment?
• What benefits are there by getting frustrated?
• Is it fair that the owner (in this case the developer) set the price?
• Find your own question(s)

Which ever question you can/will answer, might give you input to your decision on whether to buy or not, and then accept your own decision.

For information, we have also bought a storage room, and we accept it as a part of the total price. We have choosen to buy a storage room, because we feel that we need it as long as we have our apartment, and we also belive that it will be a good sales argument whenever we will sell the apartment. Whether or not that will raise the sales price accordingly, we will never know (and we have choosen not to care). We dont know whether or not DJ 3 will block our view or not, however we know that we can't do anything about it, and this despite we were told that the building wouldn't block our view (we have to wait and see).

I hope that i'm not stepping on any sore toes.

All the best.

Hello Wichmann Point taken, I now need to decide what to do. Incidentally when I placed my reservation deposit back in March 2003 I was told by the selling agents Viva & Andalucian Dream Homes that we could add air con in phase 1 during construction stage at extra costs, I was also told that there would be cream marble floors in this development not the black one they have fitted. I have since learnt to take anything anyone says in this industry with 'a pinch of salt' and that if something is important to you then to make sure that those points are incorporated in the private contract.... sorry going a little off topic there. I agree with your comments that the storeroom will probably aid the sale of the apartment in future etc.