Habitation License

We are still waiting to see what happens come the May elections!  When we last visited the area, we met with Jose (builder) who said he hoped the habitation license would come through in the next 3 months (that was March).  He said that once the elections were over, the licenses should start to be processed.

We have requested that our solicitor find out exactly what our position will be if they don't materialise.  We are not prepared to wait another summer without our holiday home!

Baggie boy

PS - we have requested to be sent a copy of the bank guarantee, whilst we are told there won't be a problem sending a copy, they seem to be taking an awfully long time to do so.  We will be interested to know if  anyone else had a copy, or are awaiting a copy?

Thanks,

Baggie Boy

Does anyone know when the elections are in Spain?

We too are getting very frustrated by the wait.

Regards

BCK

We are led to believe they are this month, May.  At least that Jose, the builder said when we were over in March.

Time will tell!

I think the municiple elections are today.

Does anyone know which Town Hall the development comes under?

Regards

BCK

Hi

We are still trying to get a response from our solicitor after writing, phoning & e mailing 5 times since March 10th! On rereading oyur contract it would appear we could only get our deposit back if it was the developers fault that it was not completed on time, is this delay the developers or the Town Halls fault? I have a feeling I know what the developer will say!

We will go over to Spain later this month to try to get it sorted if all else fails, anyone have the name of a good solicitor if we need to change

Thanks

Bye

Jill

Hi Jill,

Which solicitor are you using?

We also have had a lot of trouble with our solicitor, in fact they let us go all the way to their office thinking we we going to sign for completion and then told us of the problem with the licence.

 They have a very high turnover of staff and when we did go to their office I was unimpressed by the attitude of some of the admin staff.

We would like to change them if and when we get to Spain but are not sure how difficult this will be.

 However, I did manage to contact them by phone about two weeks ago and they sent a copy of a note from the builder. The girl I spoke to did seem slightly more efficient than the other people we had been in contact with earlier.

Regards

Chris

Hi

We have now had a response from our soliciotr who confirmed the habitation license was applied for in July of last year and this is not therefore the builder who has caused the delay.

He did suggest we could go to court but advised us to bear in mind the terms of the contract which stated "if the builder broke the contract due to a fault under his control" we would be entitled to our full deposit back

If we drop out now we would be in breach of the contract and lose 50% of our deposit

I'm not sure we can afford to lose any more money  ( approx £8,000) taking it to court if the outcome seems so clear?

We are planning a visit to discuss this in person with the solicitor and make a final decision

Jill

I agree its not the fault of the builder.

When you see your solicitor, ask them about the 'plan generale'.  We were in Spain on 27 May (local elections) and there were lots of rumours amongst the ex-pats (my spanish is not good enough to eavesdrop the locals), that most of the developments in Palomares now need to re-apply from the beginning from the 'plan generale' stage because the licence to build on previous agricultural land was granted by the previous councillor and there is evidence of mis-doings!  Apparently this is going to be fast-tracked and therefore only take 6 months (but they are closed all August).  My solicitor reckons in Spain in takes years (but he is a half full type of guy by nature).

My solicitor tells me he is currently drawing up a contract with the builder to allow us to withdraw, but he is unusually reticient on whether we will get the full amount back (if not, no signature).

Any more info would be gratefully received.

I received a telephone call today from Maria of Casa Residential assuring me that Jardines was not going to be knocked down and that the plans had been agreed.  Her English was excellent so I questioned her further.  The Habitacion has not been granted.  She was vague as to when that would be but offered us a contract whereby they would buy the apartment back at the same price if it was not.  This was offered to us in January via our solicitor, but he was unable then to get a time limit on this or a bank guarantee so we turned it down.

Interestingly, Maria was very keen to stress that 80% of the properties were now completed and living in.  We were only out there 2 weeks ago and it certainly wasn't our opinion.  In fact, I would be surprised if more than 5 were lived in, but of course more may have officially signed and then just left them empty.

Bearing in mind there are 76 (?) properties,  that means 16 haven't completed . . . mmm m m  do only the rebels talk on this site then?

Experience tells me that Maria etc. tell you what you want to hear, not what is actually going on - Cover your rear at all times or you are likely to be shafted.