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we signed our contract for las caballerivas in june 04 and were never told there was no planning permission until 18 months later when we queried why it was not being built. Have just been out last week and were laughed at by another developer building behind the site who said they would never build on this land as it was rustic land and that Aifos are renowned for taking peoples money and not completing.

We have informed Aifos we want out deposit & other payments back, does anyone have any advice on this as to any problems they have encountered when trying to get their money back as our lawyer is Spanish but was recommended by Aifos!!. We are really worried that we may not get it back and annoyed that we now have to go elsewhere, even though we were offered the Hippodromo but these are not built as we saw and have no building licence so would not trust them further anyway.

 

Has anyone else got there money back yet?

I take it by the no response that people who are trying to get money back are having no luck. We are still arguing with Spanish lawyers as to our final bill as we feel we are being charged the full price for a property we never got so surely the final bill should be reduced as they have only carried out a portion of the work. If we HAD got the property then there would have been a lot more work involved, as it was a few phone calls and emails seems to be adding up to a hell of a lot of money. Hope at least some of you are having some luck and to anyone thinking of buyung a property CHOOSE YOUR LAWYER CAREFULLY

We have been informed that our formal settlement is in the process of being calculated, to include interest payments.  This was 3 weeks ago and as yet have heard nothing further.  As far as I am aware, our court action is still pending.

 

We were verbally informed by Aifos in October 06 that we could have a refund of the money we had paid but  this would not be until mid March, we asked for this in writing but since then have had no contact from them & don't expect to so have now changed our Lawyers (which were recommended by the agent who we now find is a good friend of an Aifos manager, say no more!!) as 2 and a half yrs down the line refund of money paid is not good enough. Have now started proceedings against Aifos for the money paid and interest but realise we have a long haul ahead of us & a lot more money to pay out in the process.

 

we got a letter from Aifos on Friday 5th January that stated that modification of the plan changes have now been accepted. This had held up the granting of the licence for the last 2 years. Aifos will now initiate immediately the seeking of the licence for Las Caballerizas. Aifos included a copy of the signed agreements from the council. Hopefully my 3 and bit year nightmare maybe starting to progress.

Dave A (Las caballerizas I Block D)

To all for your info.

3 years ago, we placed deposits on 3 penthouses with Aifos. 2 were on Las Cabs.

Luckily, our lawyer insisted on a clause being inserted, to say if the building licence had not been received within 6 months, then we had a right to a full refund on request.

Without going through all the sworded details, which is enough to turn you grey, we have been trying, even finally through the courts, to get refunds with no success. Our independant spanish lawyer has gone through all the correct legal routes. Aifos never ever responded, or in the end, even made any court appearances at all, and 3 weeks ago judgement was made in our favour for full refund plus interest and costs.

Good, you may think, but Aifos has still not replied in any way, and so we are now in the process of enforcing the judgement. If even this is not effective, then we have to apply for an embargo, according to our lawyer. God only knows if even that will work.

Any one who has managed to get a refund from these rougue developers, has been extremely lucky in my view. Those of you who are holding on expecting Las Cabs to actually be built, cross your fingers, I wish I had your faith. If it ever happens, youre in for a long wait. You like us, are a very cheap form of finance.

If you do decide to ask for a refund, expect to be totally ignored. We were.

 

Just wondered how everyone who is trying to get their money back is doing. Dont give up hope you have to keep the presure on them. We spent many of our holidays trecking up to the office at the racecourse and the one at La Cala but we also also asked the agents we had bought from to help as well. We also spent a fortune on lawyers bills and i had weekly sometimes daily contact through email and letters with our lawyer. We got there in the end but it did mean we can now no longer afford a place at this point in time as prices have risen so much and we would NEVER buy off plan again. We want to see what we are buying next time already built and completed LOL

Hi, I also bought an apartment in this nightmare development unfortunately. From the point of sale (ie the Estate agent) right through to the legal advice from supposed Lawyers and of course the Developers, all of these people are complicit in this debacle and in an ideal world would all be prosecuted. It is illegal to sell real estate without a correct license so why at any point down the chain did none of these so called professional mention this? So, having waited this long and with the property market increasing considerably, I'm tempted hang on although the Spanish market is cooling...

I'm happy to say that buying off plan is not always a disaster thank fully.

Does anyone have any further news, rumours though?

I have just spoken to Aifos office in Manchester who tell me that Aifos has applied for the licence on 23rd March 2007 for Las Caballerizas. They remarked that the application usually takes 3 months before an answer is given. My own suspicion is that even if Aifos gets a licence they will not declare it and start building until all units at Aifos Hippodromo at the other side of the racetrack are sold.

Dave A

If there is one thing I have learnt, it would be to never believe a word Aifos or any of their agents tell you.  It is now 3 years since we "bought" our 2 apartments and 18 months since we asked for a refund on our investment.  We launched our court case 18 months ago and still await a court date which our lawyer led us to understand would be scheduled for last November!  We fly to Spain on 26-4-07 and are due to meet with our lawyer the following day.  I cannot believe that this company continues to be allowed to sell property without bank guarantee.  The entire situaton is a farce!. 

This message was last edited by andrewgarstang on 4/24/2007.

We too are waiting for a court case to come up - it is 6 months since we heard from Aifos that they would refund our money so looks like we have along haul but we are oing for compensation also whether we get it is another matter. It is unbelievable that they are still selling without bank guarantees lets just hope new buyers are sensible enough to realise not to sign unless one is in place. As I said in previous correpondence we were told by many when we went out in October that the land that Las Caballerijas should be on will never be built on as is rustic land so cannot be developed and I don't think the developer with the buildings behind it which were almost finished in October 06 would be happy either.

It's sad though that folks like us are being penalised and unfortunately 3 and a half years ago not many knew what conmen Aifos were and all the lawyers and agents involved with them - including agents in England who were just as bad as they too don't want to know either now. Our bloods are all boiling now I think when we should be out there enjoying ourselves but I really can't understand how the Spanish government can let them get away with it and so many complaints.

 

 

 

Justice for some

 

www.revistaelobservador.com

I'm hearing from another website that AIFOS accounts have been impounded. Now, is this a regurgitation of the previous thread or something new? Does this mean they cannot trade at present or ?

The article posted on another forum is the revistaelobservador one, as mentioned on here.

Have just come back from Marbella - we went to La Cala and up to the Hipodromo - there are no Aifos flags at all now and lots of other buildings have gone up since October. Glad we are now not buying there as it is a concrete jungle & looks horrible, the golf course isn't even complete., even the race track looks delapidated. When we were out in October we were given the choice to change apartments to the ones behind the hipdromo these are half built and haven't been touched by the looks of it since we were last out in October and there were no workmen at all on site that day.

After seeing our lawyer one good thing I suppose I can say is that hopefully Aifos will not go into liquidation as apparently all of the big banks have lent them money so they are trying to keep them afloat or they will lose all their investments. Our lawyer has put an embargo on another property with Aifos which stops them selling this & completing the particular site until they have paid us our money. It will still be next year our lawyer says before the court case and everything is settled though. He did say that he thinks Aifos acted in good faith when they first started out but they just go greedy and are in a state, we saw not one Aifos flag throughout the whole area and they weren't at the airport anymore advertising, still doesn't justify what they have done.

 

Just returned from Spain today the Aifos office at La Cala has now gone and there was no sign of life up at the race course. Looking through the windows all the magazines on show were faded and dated January 07. The flags outside the office were very tatty and they were the only ones to be seen even the billboards and any other mention of Aifos has all gone. We took a wander to try and see if we could find any sign of Aifos work being carried out in the area but no. We have taken some pictures but i will need to unpack my camera to post them.

Good Luck to any one trying to get their money back there are so many storys going around that its hard to know the truth about anything you get told.

Have put pics on sorry for the delay

 

Hope everone had a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year. How is everone doing has anyone got their money back would be interestedto hear

Still no progress! Another year, same old story