Phone Call from the Developers - And New Plan of Action - Must Read

I just thought would make you aware of a phone call I received last week , it was from a lady who's name I didn't manage to note saying she was calling all the purchasers of apartments in the aureus complex from the developers Next Century SL.

The lady rang from the following number 0034956790479 and stated that the developer had no money and they were contacting all purchasers who had cancelled and wanted to see if they would consider completing on the purchase.

She also stated that if they do not start selling the apartments they would be in a position where they would have to hand over to the bank and we would all lose out. 

Hi!

I received a similar call - basically if you buy I can cover costs and maybe pay some others back.

No discount, not clear what happens if buy and no others complete.

Allegedly 60% let - is this 'our' properties if so who gets income?

Caller seemed genuine but did not offer anything I felt I needed to 'jump at' once bitten?

Hi All,

It is difficult to know what to do.

My understanding is the bank gaurantee is designed to protect off plan purchaser's deposit.

However once the property is completed and the occupation license is granted the gaurantee becomes null and void.

So I am wary about paying out for a lawyer to go down this route with the bamks.

Unless -- With the problems at Aureus does that mean  the banks should have still protected the deposits.

If this is the case then I may  be interested in joining up and all go with Maria at Cost Luz Lawyers.

Dave

Hi Everybody

Although I have not received a call I have managed to make direct contact with the developers and it seems that little discount will be offered if one were to consider purchasing.  As stated previously on this forum I believe that we should issue proceedings (against whom I am not sure) but to do so as a group would certainly strenghten our case not to mention cutting our legal costs.  I will be in spain in September and  will visit the development to see if I can get any more information and I would be delighted to meet with anybody who is interested in proceeding with this.

Regards

Iris

Hi Mark,

Have you made any progress with Maria De Castro? Although, I did not buy into this particular developement, I bought into Sea Golf Regency, I believe it has very similar problems. I was promised my money back years ago but have not seen anything due to the developer not having any funds. I am now keen to explore other ways like you have suggested below of trying to get my deposit back. Although I am very wary of throwing more money at this if there no real chance of getting the money back.

thanks

Alex

Hi Mark

I am also interested in proceeding with Maria but would like a clear and definite plan of action before parting with any more funds ie   how much will it cost in order to take action and complete, does her firm have other clients who have successfully retrieved deposits in similar cases, can we take group action therefore splitting the costs, how long can we expect to have to wait, what are our chances of a positive outcome for all, if we do not proceed are there any other options etc etc. 

Is Maria providing you with any of this information?

thanks

iris

Hi Mark

I am interested in hearing more about joining forces, however we have not been contacted by the developers but we have since changed our telephone number so this may be the reason. Have you any idea about costs involved if we join forces. I know one of the other forum users looked into claiming as a group last year but the costs seemed rather high this may have changed with the recentpost from Maria.

Look forward to hearing more.

 Hi, I am interested in joining forces in submitting a collective claim with Maria De Castro representing a group of people in our situation, whilst  I did not purchase in your development i note from the Ocean Estates catalogue that your development was advertised along with ours (Sea & Sun Hills, Selwo, Estepona) apparently these were exclusive. 

I too received a telephone call from a lady asking if i would complete on my development , she was not too keen to discuss discounts although eventually she offered 10% , considering the properties have dropped by 40-50%, this figure was not acceptable.

My understanding from my lawyer, who has been totally incompetent , who failed to obtain B.G and thereafter failed to cancel my contract whilst this development was under judicial administration , is that Blue Storm SL (developers) have no funds and that they apparently failed to fulfil their mortgage payments, if this is true it will be pointless to proceed with legal action against them.

I have been in correspondence with Maria who appears to be the only lawyer who is genuinely interested in this farcical situation we all find ourselves in. Like many other purchasers i am very reluctant to throw more money after bad, bearing in mind that we are dealing with the Spanish Judicial system which we all know is a law unto themselves. 

As mentioned I am talking to Maria, the only problem I have is that this could be a dripping roast and at the end of the day Maria cannot guarantee a successful outcome.

I know that there are numerous other developments that were sold under Ocean Estates that were caught up in operation White Whale  who may consider joining in submitting a collective claim using Maria.

Good luck (we need it)

John Scobie

Hi John,

Blue storm are the same developers for all of these developments (including Sea Golf Regency that I bought into). Hopefully if there was enough of us taking the same line of action we should be offered some form of discount on the fees.

rgds

Alex

Hi,

Has anyone decided how to proceed and if some kind of collective action would be the best way forward?

thanks

Alex

Hello all,

I haven't yet received a telephone call from Maria.

This is the first time that I'm writing a post in this forum.  I too am a victim of Aureus La Lenea and bought a hotel apartment in the development through Ocean Estates (OE).  Initially, I spent a deposit through OE and the main deposit was paid through the lawyer.  I did receive some sort of a bank guarantee statement which was all in Spanish and that diddn't help a lot.  It took a long time for things to get off the ground before they sent the diggers to start work on site.  My lawyer told me after about one year that, the original developer was cheating on the contract and that he was arrested and sent to jail.  A second developer took over the project (Next Century SL?) and managed to complete the project.  Between the first developer and the second, there was a long gap of about 2 years or more and I did go there to inspect the progress on site.  The development was fairly advanced and sort of nearing completion.  By this time, I had already lost interst in it and asked my lawyer to get my money back.  That's when all hell seem to have let loose!   There was another long silence (seemed like an age!) and finally they told me that I'll have to wait for my deposit since the developer was bankrupt.  It is impossible to get money from a bankrupt individial.

I decided to change my lawyer and went to another based in Malaga (Martinez Echevarria).  He got in touch with the Juducial Administrator to investigate about refunds of deposits.  to date, that lawyer has been repeating what I have read in your messages; i.e. the developer has no funds and the courts in Spain has allowed him "unlimited time" to pay back.  Most of us will be 6 foot below ground and pushing up daisies when he gets round to paying out deposits.

I just learnt today that a similar group to us in the same situation has taken action against the courts (not the developer) in getting their deposits back.  You can find all details on a web site that I cannot write here unless I have made 10 posts.  If you check on google the following; theleader.info/article/35510, you may find some information.

Please let me know what you think of this and let's get together and do something about it.  After all, it is our money that they are with-holding illegally.

Regards - Sreemal Perera

Hi, 

I have sent numerous e-mails regarding deposits paid against off-plan properties,our development Sea & Sun Hills, Selwo was completed, as the property market collapsed we chose not to complete. . With the recent success with Finca Park we are now seriously considering contacting Maria of Cotaluz Lawyers.

At the moment we have 2-other victims considering similar action,perhaps you maybe interested in joining forces.

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

John scobie

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This message was last edited by markstanley on 27/10/2013.

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Hi All 

We are still working with Maria but things are still going very slow and to be fair the amount of information coming back to us on the state of play is not as good as it could be. We have asked Maria's team for detailed status of where we are in the process of getting our refunds back and to give us an idea of the steps we need to follow but this dosent seems to be very clear. 

Don't get me wrong we are making more progess that we have ever done before but this seems to be a very slow process. 

Mark

Hi Mark,

Would you mind me asking how long Maria has been working on this for you? I have been thinking of using er services and am trying to get a feel how long the whole legal process can take. I have been told it by some people it would be at least two years before even going to court. Is that correct?

thanks

Alex