Deals at Polaris World

Hi

i do not believe for one moment that the reason for the delay is down to a back log at the town hall, every proposed development approval would be dated when recieved and target dates would be set for approvals and rejections, if there was not such a system in place it would be utter chaos and the town hall would not function properly, each and every application has to be dealt with in a proffesional manner, i feel if we were to contacy the town hall we may well hear a completly different story from the one we are hearing from corvera.

in truth we are being treated as fodder, not one word of positive information regarding any aspects of building works in two years, not to mention the proposed golf course,

i really thought this company was reputable and reliable, how wrong can you be.

dave

Hi all, what a depressing situation we find ourselves in.  I am pretty sure we do not have a leg to stand on with regard to the delayed start, I think it is all part and parcel of purchasing off plan at such an early stage.  I spoke to my solicitor many months ago regarding this and she said there was nothing we could do except transfer the contract to another purchaser.  As we bought in Phase I and this is written in the contract it would be possible, but not, if I remember correctly, until 3 months after start of construction!  When we initially purchased our apartment my solicitor went to extreme lengths (to the point that Calidonia almost cancelled our contract due to late signing)  to find out the conditions of the bank guarantee,  i.e. when it could be brought into force - eventually contacting the bank directly.  I'm pretty sure that if she felt this was one of those conditions she would have said when I questioned our position.   Also, I thought that our deposits were put into a 'Client Account'.  An account that the developer can not touch or receive interest from, but one that the development mortgage lender will lend against as proof of purchasers - if that makes sense.  Anyway, please correct me if I am wrong.  Perhaps I'm being naive.

I am all for collective pressure, but all in all I just don't think it will get us very far.  However, please count on my support if anyone takes this on.  I think, as Kev said, give them till end of October and see what happens.

Lets hope we are not still discussing this come 2008!!!

Anita.

I have written to my Spanish solicitor to ask if it is an implicit in a contract of this nature that the developer must make 'reasonable endeavours' to acquire their construction permit in good time. I have also asked that the solicitor writes to Calidona and Murcia town hall to establish whether or not this has been done requesting dates etc. If it has then fair enough, if not then personally I will consider legal action in Spain or I will take advice from my MEP as to how to deal with this under European law from the UK.

For those of you waiting to see how it all works out- good luck. My guess is if you think it is difficult dealing with Calidona, heaven help you dealing with a Spanish bank in the unlikely event that Calidona has terminal cashflow problems before Corvera sees the light of day. Read around these forums, bank guarantees rarely mean a cheque in the next post when things go awry.

Hi

For what it is worth. I would also support any group action.

We bought in April '06, phase two.

I will aslo check with our solicitor about how water tight the Calidona position is.

Someone, somewhere may find a way to force their hand?

Stewart

I would suggest that everyone who has a concern about the continuous stream of misinformation from Corvera and who requires answers from someone with sufficient authority and knowledge to provide these should write direct to:

Bruno Dureux Parize, Director General, Calidona, Avda de la Union, 61.30703, San Javier, Murcia, Spain.

This gentleman is an English speaker who was educated in Manchester, according to the Calidona website.

The more people who write within the next week the more likely it is our dissatisfaction will register and some action or communication may follow.

Hi All,

As far as I can recall and has been confirmed by our solicitors that the deposits paid are safe (bank guaranttees etc.) and developer will only be able to use these funds against each and every plot and take a separate mortgage for each and every property. Developer will be under pressure to complete as soon as they have all the "approvals" in place and mortgages are taken out . I am not really worried but delay is a cause for concern. I shall certainly write to Calidona's director.

Rav.

Hi - further to my earlier posting - and in response to Ronnie - although we have not yet spoken to our lawyer about the situation in principle we would support any collective approach and action, especially if nothing has happened come October.  In the meantime we are also going to write to the Calidona Director General as suggested by jdy - and maybe copy the letter to De Vere and the PGA to see if there is any reaction from them.

Hi everyone

We have only recently put a deposit on Roda Golf on phase 4 and were told -completion in 18 months. We added at least 6 months onto that and possibly 12 months.  We have experience of new build in the U.K.and all related problems with build times etc.. You start with the best of intentions and then are faced with unforseen problems beyond your control.  We ended up 14 months over time scale which was a nightmare for us and clients waiting for completion. The people at Roda and Covera are on the front line and can only try and reassure everyone that everyone is doing their best. Someone has already quoted somewhere either on this site or on Rodas that this is the problem of buying off plan. No one including the builders can know the definitive completion times but can only try their best.  Other sites may have much shorter build times but is the standard as high?  Reading Rodas site. There are snags but not massive problems. Overall the standard of Calidona seems to be very high, not the case with some other larger builders.

To contact the PGA and DeVere is not a good idea. They will be well aware of the delays already.  By all means get together and contact the person mentioned in an earlier post but to cause upset with De Vere and the PGA will only serve to possibly harm us all in the long run.  We found that complete honesty and openess with our purchasers was the best way to deal with delay problems . Calidona should have done the same instead of trying to fob you off. However , we all live and learn and hopefully they will learn from this.   Good Luck. We are still absolutely thrilled with Roda. I actually wanted to buy at Covera but our family wanted to be nearer the beach so we are on phase 4. Covera is in a fantastic situation and very near Hacienda which is much more expensive but you can visit if you want to. It's near enough.  Good Luck with "the Management"

Incidentally. We went on one inspection trip and actually put a 3000 euro deposit on a villa with a large Costa Blanca company. There were problems so we backed out . The company would not give us our reservation fee back. We then went to Murcia under our own steam a few times and looked all over.  We chose Roda and have no regrets.  Their staff are lovely and as I said are on the front line. Write to the management.

Hi Whittle.

All fair comment.

The issue here is not just that commencement of the development is delayed (which I understood was always likely, hence the reason I have been quite relaxed for the last 18 months since I signed up). My complaints relate to; 

• The length of the delay in commencement of construction, which is now 9 months and counting for stage 2 (and c.15 months for stage 1?) with no end in sight.
• The readiness of Calidona's staff to provide conflicting information and worthless guarantees regarding start dates. (I have wasted time and money flying my family to Spain to see a dust bowl rather than the promised construction site on several occasions).
• The question of when will I hear something from Calidona that actually turns out to be true. 
• The fact that I am exposed by the Calidona contract to this kind of behaviour, apparently without end or the opportunity for any recourse on my part.

I am looking for openness, honesty and information which they can back up with evidence. I agree with your conclusion that these are the main issues and this should be the request to Caldona's Director General.

I also agree with you that there is likely to be no benefit involving De Vere and the PGA. I deal with the PGA in the UK, since the company I work for is a sponsor of one of their major European Tour events. I think the PGA  would feel this is nothing to do with them at this stage and the same applies to De Vere. This would only change I think if this problem goes on for a long time and there is any suggestion of bad press (e.g. 'innocent UK investors, incompetent Spanish lawyers and unscruplulous developers with the PGA/ De Vere's endorsement' etc. ) I do not imagine for a minute this is what we are facing here so I agree there is no reason to involve them.

I must admit that I used to smile at the forum comments of over-anxious 'Brits abroad' who it seemed clearly didn´t understand the Spaniards attitude of 'mañana'. I have now realised what twaddle all this 'neurotic Brits/ laid-back Spaniards' line is. If you were one of the people, like me, who wanted to hold back your second-stage deposit payment, because construction had not begun as promised, ask yourself about Calidona's  'mañana' attitude then. I have all their indignant letters demading payment on the agreed date to remind me of the reality.

My letter to Calidona's DG will be in the post tomorrow morning.

Hi Jdy

I note your last sentence with interest. I was looking through my paperwork last night and I noticed on some original documents that the second 15% payment was to be made in Dec 2006 (Phase 2), 'on the start of construction'. Unfortunately I did not pay much attention to that at the time, hence I paid in Dec '06.

Interesting that they got very indignent about recieving those funds although they had no plans to start building for months or years!

Stewart 

Hi all,

Point absolutely taken about not involving De Vere or the PGA at this stage - we will confine ourselves to writing to Calidona's DG. 

We too have been pretty relaxed about delays up until now but - having been given what appeared to be an "absolute assurance" that building work would start in September during a visit to Corvera in May - the fact that it now appears to be slipping yet further is beginning to make us twitchy.  Not least because we have a lot of money tied up in a deposit that is not earning us any interest.

Hi

A bit of hopefully good news not connected with this. Just a "cheer up".  Our solicitor said that Murcia are abolishing Inheritance Tax next year. Hope he's correct! You've probabely all heard anyway.

Hi whittle thanks for that piece of interesting news - where did you read it?

Just a little niggle I read this snippet yesterday and wanted to pick  up on it but couldn't remember what thread you had posted on when I came back today.

How about a new thread for this topic? I am also interested in advice on wills!

We're phase 2. Bought last Dec 06.

We paid our first deposit in Jan 07 and the second was due in April. But we still haven't paid that yet and won't until we see some progress.

Interestingly enough, when I contacted our solicitor (Martinez) to find out what was going on, we got the usual response about "Town Hall blah blah etc", but they also told us our second deposit was due last April and to pay it.

We were very disappointed at the solicitor's attitude as we would have thought they should be supporting us, and not getting the money for Calidona.

Been reading the various messages over the past couple of months.  Very informative - thankyou all!

We bought in December 2005, and wanted some kind of reassurance the money was safe before paying the second installment due in December 2006.  Our sollicitors met the developer and provided a comprehensive progress report in January, so using the assurance provided by the bank guarantee, we proceeded to pay in February 2007 unaware of the slippage that has since occurred.  With hindsight we should have taken the option for the sollicitors to hold the funds in their 'client account', instead of this being relayed to Callidona & secured against the bank guarantee.  

An update on Corvera airport can be seen on www.roundtownnews.co.uk/content/view/12146/34/

My understanding is that inheritance tax depends on where you are domiciled, as opposed to resident or ordinarily resident. (ie where you belong rather than where you live or normally live).  If you are domiciled in Spain then Spanish inheritance tax rules apply. 

Malcolm & Mabel