AIFOS/CajaSur partnership

I copied this thread from the general site so that it might get noticed a bit more.

Hi all, been along time since i posted in here but have been 'lurking' with intent!

I need a bit of input into this matter, even if it just to confirm my feelings on it.

I received a recorded delivery letter from Aifos today, which stated that Aifos have reached an agreement with the bank CajaSur to continue the build of Cortijo de Torreblanca in Fuengirola. Alongside the letter was a scanned copy of the aforementioned agreement (which is Spanish), which, when translated, states that the project will be rebuilt if 85% of the purchasers agree to it.

This sounded quite promising and i took the opportunity to ring the phone number at the bottom of the letter.

The Aifos representative told me a bit more about the 'deal' but i hardly understood a word but he said he would send me all the details in an email.

I got the email and basically it said that the original contract (and therefore price) would remain the same! The alternative was to go into the administration process and wait 6-10 years for 45% of the deposit, which works out at about 20K euros. So i either get 20k back or i buy a property and immediately go into negative equity! Hmmm, let me think, that sounds like an irresistable offer. NOT.

My other option is take the original bank to court and get all 50k + legal interest (approx 25k) + legal costs. A total of about 80k, which would be pretty much enough to buy a property outright.

C'mon Aifos, you must think we're stupid!!

Anyone else had this 'offer'?

Hi Fazerreli

my name is Ian ellis and was a member on eye on spain many years ago, Alison Handley was the one i would communicate with then.

i lost interest in Cortijo de Torreblance many years ago, as it was my dream to own a place in spain and  many a holiday driving up to that site year after year was all  to no avail.

Aifos ruined any love i had for spain, i have vowed never to return to the place.

I received a letter today from aifos asking ..........would i be changing my mind on joining the cooperative to carry the build forward, my thoughts are just the same as they were all those years ago >>>no information and all in spanish i have to reply by the 22nd of dec, i wonder how many people have paid more money over to these robin theiving bunch of _as_ards.

please if anyone has more info let me know what your doing, just out of interest of what could of been realy.

thanks and best of luck to you all

Elmo  

Hi Ian,

I'm not sure if i spoke to you back then but i definitely spoke to Alison. In fact, i tried to phone her up just last week to discuss what i wa thinking of doing next. But i haven't spoken to her for at least 3-4 years and i suppose she has chenged her number.

Anyway, the situation is we have paid approx 40% deposits on properties that have reduced in value since we paid them. My particular apartment was in block D2 and was initially valued at about 120k euros. The property is probably only worth about, dunno, 80-90k? The person i spoke to at Aifos seems to think that because we initially agreed to pay 120k that we would have no problem sticking to that price! Now, if theyd said, for example, you could have the property for todays market value, then i wouldve considered it because the final sum would only be pretty small. But they didn't, and i think they are being greedy.

So, i have decided to go along the route of trying get the refund of deposits from the bank that held the original deposit. Maria at Costa Luz lawyers is setting this up for a joint action against aifos's bank. Maria says that they will try and get the deposit plus legal interest plus the costs. This for me is around 60-65k. A lot of people are getting their money back through this route.

I feel exactly the same as you - i won't step foot back in Spain until i have my money back. I used to go 3-4 times per year, i haven't been back for 4 years.

The development had approx 900 apartments, and approx 850 were sold, each with average deposit of around 60k = 50M euros!

What could've been...could still be, if you have a little look round these forums. Many people are getting their money back.

I went down to Cortijo de Torreblanca two weeks with a friend who is a surveyor. It is a dump, with almost twice as many properties as originally intended. On the completed blocks, D1 and D2, the roofs are collapsing. That large S shaped building to the south casts its shadow over the whole development almost all day long in the winter. It is a depressing hovel which would not be improved by completing it. I believe it will be demolished and covered over because nobody with an ounce of sense will choose to live there. We lost £75k in that development and we sued Aifos in 2008, winning a substantial settlement. We'll never see it of course but almost any amount in recompense would be better than living in that hole in the ground.

Wow Rob, I didn't realise it had deteriorated so much! Although I haven't been there for over 5 years, maybe more.

I wasn't aware that the building cast a shadow in winter over some of the blocks, didn't think it was close enough. But, hey, i wouldn't have been using it in winter most likely.

I took the developer to court also, and won the case like you did. But no money to give us.

I'm now using Maria to get the money bank from the banks. Can't you go down this route?

I'm assuming youve seen the success that Keith has had in getting case law for this situation?

Hello Faz,

I mentioned to our lawyers about going after the bank but that suggestion was not received with any enthusiasm and I'm not sure why. These are our second lawyers given that the first had taken incompetence to a level previously unattained! I am reluctant to change again but since we won our case in December 2008 I have had almost no contact from the solicitors. I have faith in them but I would like to go after the bank because it was duty bound to ensure that the guarantee was provided; I believe that is mandatory under Spanish law for off-plan properties. Perhaps I will contact María and ask her opinion. The truth is I don't want to throw yet more money away as in some respects I am reconciled to getting zilch. The truth is I cannot understand how the Law in Spain allows a whole raft of people to virtually walk away from their responsibilities with hardly a word said. It is depressing.

I have no idea about Keith's success but congrats to him.

Hi Rob,

Yes, I can understand about your lawyers as my first one completely dismissed it too. He also took about £2k off me for the privelige of taking a bankrupt company to court!

You won't hear off your solicitors again because the case is over. No more news to report.

You must have been living on the moon to not have seen Keith Rule's case reported on here and elsewhere! Kidding aside, the link to the case is below, and i insist that you read it (or you could just read the last couple of posts where Keith summarises the case):-

http://www.eyeonspain.com/forums/posts-long-15909.aspx