Deals at Polaris World

Hi all

MRI Lifetime Club have just (for the first time!) emailed that Phases 1 & 2 will be completed by Dec 2009.

We'll see

Mike and Margaret

Do you really mean December 2009 or should that be December 2008 - I ask because we're expecting phase 2 completion by March 2009 at the latest!

Urgent  Correction

Oops sorry I meant Dec 2008!

Apologies for mistake

Mike and Margaret

Hi all,

We also got the email from MRI , it was our first contact for a long time too. We'll see what happens re: completion in December 2008 and exactly when the developer gets the licence and they start building in September. We're waiting for our Phase 2 apartment and are hoping that the golf course and other ammmentities will be ready when we complete. Has anyone heard whether this is likely?

Elaine and Chris

I received an e-mail from corvera a couple of months ago and they said that the golf course will not be ready for Phase 1&2 chances are Phase 3, the reason was something to do with the two islands have to be finished first.

Kev&Lou

Hi all

Jane and I have just returned from Spain. Visited Corvera whilst there and talked to Paco in the sales office. He said that they are going to start work on the Golf course imminently and are going to start building Phases 1 and 2 together as soon as the stamp has been obtained in September. He envisaged a Dec 2008 - March 2009 completion date for the first dwellings. We have bought on Phase 3 and the architects plans should be available from Dec2007 which would put completion for this phase at the end of 2009 beginning 2010....Steve

Hi All,

Got my message from MRI - (membership has it's advantages - you get atleast 1 message p/a) ! I bought in phase 1 and have been assured that golf course work will start immediately (when building licence is granted)!

Draging on a bit but few more weeks and all shall be revealed.

Rav.   

Our collective patience and faith in the assurances of Calidona is as impressive as it is misplaced, I fear. In spite of the posts below I have just been told by Pablo at Corvera in an e-mail that the work will probably not start now until OCTOBER and that there is still a 'backlog at the town hall'.  The foundation laying ceremony which I was told earlier in the summer was fixed for September now no longer has a date and it will be December before roads and lighting are completed. The golf course work will start in 2008. My wife and I are at the end of our tether with these games and so  have asked if we will be able to cancel our purchase. Pablo has urged against this but our next stop is our lawyers.

Incidentally my wife and I bought our phase 2 apartment in February 2006. We were told licenses would be obtained and work would begin by June 2006 and the apartment would be completed by December 2007. It now sounds very much that the main construction works may not even have begun by December 2007!! With relation to the golf course why an environmental impact study at this stage, and what happens if this throws up a problem?

The stream of excuses and 'nearly there' stories could run for many ,many months yet. I think all of us should therefore now be writing to check our right to cancel and to signal our willingness to do so to the directors of this company.

The Caliona website forecasts a company turnover of 250m euros for 2006 increasing to 4b euros when all 4 of its golf projects are complete, so this a business expecting to grow 20 fold in a very short period of time. Businesses with this planned growth line can have their cashflow stretched to the limit. I don't know of course if this is the case with Calidona but I do wonder , like many others, if this is the real reason for their stalling at Corvera rather than the 'delays at the town hall'. I know we all have bank guarantees which protect us but the cynic in me wonders if this just gives Calidona until next summer to start construction before they expect buyers to get really jumpy.

Spoke to Corvera this morning! They say the environmental impact study for constucting a golf course has been completed and there are no detrimental results which impact on the construction of it. This does not coincide with the email mentioned earlier. Calidona are sending out mixed messages.

They repeated September/October for the issuing./stamping of the last license and an explanatory letter  being sent to purchasers end of September.

Hi Shannon, Why would you believe anything the sales people at Corvera tell you after our collective experiences of the last 2 years? Pablo (who is on holiday now for two weeks) is a lovely guy, as are his colleagues there, but their remit is to peddle the latest story they are given by Calidona. I feel sorry for them actually as they appear genuinely uncomfortable feeding us this constant stream of blatant nonsense but  I cannot believe anything they say any more. You will make your own mind up of course. I have been 100% patient up to now but this has changed with the inevitable hints from Calidona of their failure to meet yet another 'definite' deadline. "Town hall, Spanish elections, trade holidays etc etc." I wonder what next- a hurricane warning? I am beginning to feel like I am being 'had'. Only the sight of cranes and foundations on site in the next 6 weeks would ally this fear however as I expect to see neither I will persevere with my lawyer to see what my options are. I do not doubt Corvera will be built one day but my teenage children could have kids of their own by then. In the meantime we could have been enjoying La Serena, Peraleja or dare I say Roda where I imagine my deposit money has gone.

Hi jdy

i agree with yuor comments 100%, i to have been fobbed off by dates which have never been met, i was assured that work would start in earnest in september of this year, i signed our contract for a penthouse appartment on phase two back in september 05, initially told completion would be sept 07, since then we have been given at least three different start dates.

it has become quite apparent to me that it is not in their interest to start yet and the town hall is just another excuse, i feel that our deposits are financing roda and when people move into roda their final payments will do likewise at corvera.

i will wait and see if they do start building works in sept, if they do not start i will be doing the same as yourself, i think as a group we should let calidona know of our discust at the numerous lies that wehave been told, i bought as a holiday retirment get away, at this rate i will be to old to enjoy any of it.

does anyone else have any ideas has to how we can apply any pressure at getting an accurate start date in writing, this hopless situation could run on and on for the next five years, it will be two years in sept since signing and not a brick or crane in sight.

dave

Hi all,

we put our first payment down in April '05 and were under the impression we would be in our apartment by now. I feel quite fed up at the moment with all the mixed messages we are being fed. If there are no obvious signs of building work starting in September we will be checking with our Solicitor to see what course of action we can take.  If we are to apply collective pressure on Calidona, count me in. I'll keep watching this thread to see if there are any ideas coming through

Hi,

We too were very depressed to read these messages as we have bought on phase 2 as our retirement home and my husband would like to get some golf in before he's too old to shuffle round the course!  I sent an email to Pablo to await his return saying that if we didn't get a definitive start date we would be talking to our lawyers about pulling out.  Our agent also contacted them and was told that a letter would be going out to all purchasers very shortly.  I agree that the more we pile on the collective pressure the more likely we are to get the message across and get things moving.

Hi all

I feel like we've discussed this particular issue in many posts! We seem to go round the 'houses' (unfortunately not in Covera) but as a collective group we appear unable to decide on a way forward.

I have discussed the situation with my lawyer who has advised that if we withdraw from the purchase we lose our deposit and we cannot sell as there is a clause in the contract that prohibits us from doing so unless we gain approval from Corvera. The builders appear to have us purchasers where they want us as everything is linked to when the building licence is granted but I do question whether such a contract is legal without the right of the purchaser to withdraw without losing everything espcially given the delays we have experienced (its all open ended).

In one of my previous posts, I suggested that all interested parties should take collection action in writing to Calidona in formally requesting an update and if this proves to be unsatisfactory to consider further action (although this would be a last resort). I'm happy to do this but need to understand who from the Corvera forum would support this or what objections others would have. Let's be clear however - we have 2 options:

1) Take action as a group and attempt to get answers and gain some confidence that our investment is sound and that we will not be kept hanging on as excuse after excuse is rolled out by Calidona

2) Sit, do nothing and wait

Personally, I prefer option 1 but individually I can't see anything positive being achieved - this would be different if we, as a group of concerned investors, jointly strove to gain some answers and options. Option 2 is the easy way out but please remember, we have all placed large deposits of which Calidona are likely to be funding other developments or picking up a tidy sum of interest (thank you very much!).

Thoughts everyone?

Ronnie

Hi

    If the stamp for the building works is 'bogged down' in townhall due to a backlog, wouldn't this effect many other developments in the area. I was wondering if anyone was aware of any others?

Also if this was a genuine reason could they not ask for the townhall to put this in writing on official paper ie something to the effect - we apologise for the delay in granting buildings works but due to this, permission is unlikely to be granted for Corvera untill Sep/Oct 07 etc. And then send us this with a letter of aplogy of their own.

The last email I had from them was to say they would be starting at the very latest April 07, since then nothing. Why do they not have the decency to communicate the reasons for the further delays? I always thought you should cherish your customers not treat them with such contempt. I have sent them several emails over the last few months, I am still awaiting a reply. The last time I contacted my agent they said thet basically that they're not getting any info from Calidona, before this I felt my agent knew nothing and was giving me BS off the cuff.

I believe like many that the delays are due to miscalcalations with the cash flow and that this would be too embarassing to admit to. I hope  the Devere Hotel group and the European PGA  have got a great deal of patience and will stick with Calidona as I have purchased purely for investment, but they must also have a limit as to the amount of delays they are willing to put up with.

I would be interested to know if Calidona persist with these 'delays' , would they be in breach of contract ( even if its not explicitedly stated), surely they can not keep delaying and not even have the decency to contact us in any direct way.

kev

Hi

  I've just read Ronnie's post but I find it hard to believe that we have no legal case, surely a developer can not keep delaying the building license indefinately ,for no good reason and with no explanation, and keep our money and this is OK. I f  that's the case we have signed a completely unfair contract ,why didn't our legal representatives point this out ( another bunch of wasters). I still feel if we get delay after delay and especially if there is no oficial explanation we must have a case, perhaps we should all contact our legal teams to this effect some legal representatives may be better than others. Mind you even if we got our deposit back would we get the VAT back, the cost of the loan ( interest payments), legal expenses etc.

I think its a good idea to take some collective action but there would need to be quite a number of us ( if there are 1500 owners or so and there is a petition of around 20 would this have much impact with Calidona). I feel some sort of deadline should be agreed upon ( possibly the end of OCT 07) and if this expires even the most positive thinking owners will have serious concerns and more owners will join in with some collective action, the more the better. Obviously we would need some one to co-ordinate this action.

Also I was wondering if someone ( possibly someone from a legal team or someone visiting the area or an agent) to find out if there is a genuine delay with building Licenses at the townhall, and what other developments are being effected surely it can't just be Corvera.

kev