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Hi all
.We have had the info from Maria about taking the banks to court and still asking more questions, because we cant afford to pay out again and it not working.We have also asked Miquel about this as well ,but we are still waiting on a reply from him.As per usual no answers as yet. I will let you no when we hear .Has anyone else asked there current solictor about this ,if so what was there views.
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I agree I am also very cautious about paying any more money unless it guarantees the return of our money. I believe that taking on the banks would be very costly. Do we know that anyone has won a case against the banks where they didn't have a guarantee?
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In answer to question asked by Trudge. Yes, I asked my current lawyer at Fusters about action against the banks. They considered that it would not be successful and advised that we continue with action against the builder. I am not very happy with this course of action and am just waiting to see if the price quoted by Maria will reduce if more people get involved.
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We, like everyone else, are reluctant to pay out any more money without a guarantee it will work. We asked our solicitor about Ley 57/68 and suing the banks, but were told that it was not possible to sue the banks as only the builder is liable. Who do you believe? We think that we have been told a load of cr-- by our solicitor as each time we are given some good news, we get knocked back big time a few weeks later. Last year we were told that a plot was due to go to auction for us by Christmas, then in January this year we were told that, guess what, there was a problem with the land registry so it was not going to happen.
July this year, the same old story, a plot ready to auction, then last week, surprise surprise, ANOTHER problem with land registry. We feel we are being taken for idiots and as long as we keep paying out, we are being given false hopes. Sorry to sound defeatist, but can you blame us?? Can anyone give us any GOOD news please???
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If all is honest it is scary. We are still considering suing the banks , Maria has told us she would acccept instalments, which is good of her, but is there any chance at all we could win. I don't think it's alot of money, if we knew for sure we would get somewhere. I still think our solicitors should be doing more , they have had loads of money out of us and seem to be doing nothing, What have we payed them for, to say sorry Huma are refusing to pay and the courts can't do anything, oh what a surprise thats what we hired you for to fight it .We put our trust into Miquel rather than Andersons ,makes me wonder if we did the right thing !!!!
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Hi
I feel the same i don't want to pay anymore money until i see thats someone has won a case against the banks or feel confident we can win. If the group action is not going to cost too much I am happy to join, and have given my details to Maria.
In the meantime i went against my solicitors advice that it will be hard to be the banks, and asked another solicitor(my parents solicitor in Spain) of his thoughts. This is what he said...
According to the said act that you mention, the developers who are going to build houses receiving some installments as part of the price have got two obligations:
- They have to guarantee the refund of the money which is paid in advance for the price plus 6% of yearly interests through an insurance policy or through a bank guarantee.
- They have to pay all the installments that they receive from the purchasers in a special bank account which must be opened in a bank or a savings bank so that they can use the said funds just and exclusively for the building costs.
In order to open the said special bank accounts in Banks and Savings Banks, it is compulsory that the developer fulfills the first condition, this is, they have to guarantee the money that they receive, or otherwise the Banks and Savings Banks will be resposible if they accept to open special bank accounts without fulfilliwng the first condition.
Now i have found out from y solicitor that the developer/ bank did not open a Special account for my payments! only a simple one, so i have written back to above solictor to ask him what happens if its not a special account and are the banks liable for not ensuring a special account was opened and therefore my funds covered by that condition and BG....
I will let you know what he says when he replies hopefull today. He is a good solicitor and highly thought of, so i trust his judgement. He has offered to take this on for us too, but i cant change solicitors without paying all the fees to date apparently!! i wonder if thats true or another untruth! therefore can we use Maria or anyone else to fight the banks in paralell to using our own solicitors... or will that cost us again to move as the new solicitos need all the paperwork from previous solictors apparently!! plus power of attorney with apostile stamp.... etc etc??
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I agree I do not want to pay any more money unless a guaranteed result. The banks are not likely to give up easily without a fight. If they lose it would it would set the way for others to claim and could cost them dearly. They also have, I imagine a strong legal team add this to the time scales for getting to Court. I don't trust and have no faith in the spanish legislation, the Officials or the courts, otherwise we would have had all our money back now. If Maria is confident she will win, maybe she would consider refunding some of the fees if we lose?
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Well, It seems from 2 solicitors i have spoken to now, in my case the account opened by the builder was NOT a 'Special Account' but a 'Simple One' therefore the bank is not responsible for non issuing of BG!
The builder certainly knew what he was doing! so i have very little faith if anyone has had a simple account opened and NOT a special account then the Banks are not at fault apparently.
cant beleive the law doesn't ensure the builders open a Special account, before the banks take the money but as my solicitor says, It depends what the builder said he wanted the account for, and he like you and me has any right to open what accounts he likes!
Why were we not protecxted by the solicitors then!!! It is all a scam, no matter what way you look at it...the system is by no way on the side of the clients purchasing property in Spain.
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Question,
Does the solicitor not have" a duty of care" to ensure the money that is handed over to them and in turn to the developer goes into the correct account and any waiver of this action should be considered as wrongfull appropriation of funds and as such should be accountable and liable should things go wrong like they have!
If this is the case then the solicitors liability insurance should be brought into play and persued by another legal representitive firmiliar with this sort of action!
??
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A number of people have said that the account being a simple one is not the be all and end all as the banks should have known where the monies were coming from. I think it would be difficult for a bank to argue they had no idea the money eas coming from a purchaser of a property - where else was the money coming from? There was a posting from Keith who is organising a large petition and court case against a different developer - he has spent months looking into the legal side of his case and his belief is that the account being a simple one is not vital.
In connection with Maria taking a court action on the basis that if she loses she would not get paid I just wonder why? It was not here who gave you bad advice or told you the property was going to be ok - you can not expect a new solicitor to do something for nothing because your original one was negligent - it has nothing to do with Maria - she is offering her services on a professional basis and you can't just expect her to change her basis of working because you were let down by someone else.
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Hi,
A criminal conviction will strengthen any claims that you have. Our advice is ... find out more about this case. Ask your lawyers about it.
Regards,
Maura Hillen
AUAN
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The trouble is winning a case against HUMA is a piece of cake - they don't even bother to turn up in court. The problem is they do not appear to have any assets to embargo which arn't mortgaged to the hilt - therefore I don't see how a criminal action will help me get my money back.
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More than a thousand homeowners could lose a residential home
According to sources consulted by 'Diario de Almería ", the amount of money paid in advance by buyers who could lose would add just over one hundred million euros
Ricardo Alba / Cuevas, Cuevas del Almanzora | Updated 01.11.2010 - 5:01
More than a thousand buyers of homes in the Almanzora Country Club development in the municipality of Cuevas del Almanzora, could be seriously harmed by the possibility of becoming homeless and without any moneys paid on account which, according to sources consulted by Diario de Almería could add just over one hundred million euros. The prosecution accused of a crime against Planning referred to in Article 319.2 of the Penal Code Gabarrón Alfonso Garcia, manager Easur, SL; Subiela Antonio Hernandez, a former administrator of Huma Mediterranean, SL, Carlos Parras Martínez, representative of Ferrovial Agroman , Juan José Parrilla Cánovas, former President of the Segura River Basin Authority and former Director of the Autonomous Community of Murcia, and architects Diego García Sánchez, Enrique Domingo Pérez, José Francisco Bernal Alarcón, Trinity Garcerán.
On the other hand, the Prosecutor considers alleged the companies responsible Easur, SL, land registered owner and promoter, Huma Mediterranean, SL, as a promoter, and Agromán Ferrovial, SA and construction. In its letter, the Office notes the commission of an offense to build 300 homes, between April and October 2005, on undeveloped land without building permits, with 1,794 houses planned in the first phase, in an area known and Llanos de Jordana, municipality of Cuevas del Almanzora, which are not authorized by not conforming to the planning regulations of the municipality basket. On this basis, the defendants asked for a year in prison, fines and disqualification. It also requests the demolition of the buildings at the expense of the accused and society in solidarity.
Over the next oral hearing in the Criminal Division No. 1 of Almeria, for the Expedited Procedure 248/09 pending an appeal, and if there are any legal delay, the Prosecutor will try to prevent defendants hide behind the ignorance of the classification of land, or the possibility of obtaining license Municipal Works, among other reasons because, according to the Prosecutor, all of them and their societies are dedicated to building making it physically impossible that know the applicable planning requirements of the municipality in which projected the Almanzora Country Club development.
British Those affected have found strange, however, that the prosecution has made them the offer of bringing proceedings. Most of those affected who have resorted to the courts against Mediterranean Human promoter, SL, they have for ignoring civil proceedings that might have to appear at criminal proceedings.
The Town Planning of the City of Cuevas del Almanzora, Juan José Pérez, explained to Diario de Almería, "We halted work at the time, as he did the Junta de Andalucía, and from there we do not know what will happen but it seems it is possible to settle this matter without the owners come out losers. As I said, I think there are possibilities, but I can not say anything in this regard. " The last word belongs to the Court Number 1 Criminal Almería.
This message was last edited by Sparky on 04/11/2010.
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Good, it's about time (long over due) we saw some justice! How is it this company has got away with this fiasco for so long?
Hopefully also, people will see their money returned as part of this new episode with Huma. Something needs to be done in the favour of those owed money surely ?
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Taken from todays Costa Almeria News
COUNTRY CLUB BLOWS WIDE OPEN
• Top businessmen charged with planning offences
• Expat homebuyers unaware of criminal proceedings may lose out on compensation
• Hundreds of sales contracts discarded at abandoned real estate offices
 By Richard Torné
THE president of Almería football club and three top business executives are facing criminal charges related to the illegal construction of the ill-fated Almanzora Country Club (ACC) residential complex.
Among those facing charges of building 300 properties illegally on rustic land are Alfonso García Gabarrón, the owner and current president of Almería football club; Antonio Subiela Hernández, the administrator of construction firm Huma; Carlos Parras Martínez, a representative of construction giant Ferrovial; and Juan José Parrilla Cánovas, a former minister in Murcia’s regional government and ex-president of the Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura public body.
If found guilty, each of the accused could face up to one year in prison as well as being fined and barred from holding office. The unfinished complex would also be demolished, with the cost being met by the defendants and their companies.
The trial was set for September but was postponed on appeal, although the details emerged only last week. It is understood criminal proceedings started in 2008.
The demise of the huge ACC project, which at one stage envisaged building 1,795 villas ranging from 99,000 to 245,000 euros, aimed mostly at British expat buyers, came when construction work was stopped on the orders of a judge at Vera’s main court in October 2005.
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If they started criminal proceedings back in 2008, how come none of our solicitors knew??? Or did they know but still fleece us out of money??? Does this mean that they should be putting claims in against these people for compensation??
Still more questions!
Perhaps, we as a group should be tackling the authorites who are handling the case????
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Thug I agree. It just appears that these people are above the law. I do wish I could understand the Spanish legal system, it just doesn't make sense. However one would imagine there must be some money amongst these big names so maybe IF it does at some point go to court then they should be forced to refund - if only.
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