Hi all,

I have bought into Terrazas and have been on the phone to my lawyer. Apparently the developer never bought/acquired a bank bond despite the lawyers reminding them to several times.

Situation now is that it looks like Terrazas will NOT be built and there is no bank bond in place. The lawyer was fairly confident that we will get our money back at +6%, however, if there is no bank bond in place, to my limited knowledge the company will be forced to pay it if they are found guilty (lawyer was talking about pursuing through a criminal court). This is of course dependant on the ability of the company to pay back all liabilities, ie if this payout causes them to go bankrupt, there is no guarantee we will receive all of our monies back.

There is a lot to talk about and discuss and I think it would be great if everyone involved signs up for this message board. It is not difficult to get on so please if you are reading this and have property in terrazas or balcones join the message board. I think that my lawyers could have told me earlier than today when I started questioning them that for the last 11 months there has been no bank bond in place even though according to the contract there should have been. I also feel that H20 may have some liability here as I was assured by them that there would be a bank bond in place.

Please, if anyone has any other information put it on the message board. Hopefully we will reach a resolution on this.

Hi,

Just so that everyone knows I received an email today from my lawyers (Criado & Kraus) that they are looking to see out of their clients who wants to 'wait' and who wants to move the case based on there being no bank guarantees to a criminal proceedings court. They have also advised not to make the second payment.

Have other people from different lawyers been given the same information? What is everyone planning on doing? I would be happy to get my money back given the new lower prices in UK/Europe for investing and given how the euro has strengthened against the pound, however, I am unsure what chances we have of getting our money back....

Would be interested to hear anyones point of view.

This is definitely not one of the best news. I bought in el balcon. I'm trying to reach my lawyer now to see what we can do about that ... but the contract says that there must be a bank guarantee in place. If they don't have one that must be a criminial offence. What does your lawyer reckon about the probability of getting the monies back? 

Many thanks,

Yevgeniy

Hi fskins! My lawyer written back to me on friday telling that the legal assistant from the developer has contacted her and told that works were ordered to stop by Town Hall and it seems that it happened in all nearby developments. She also said that it seems that Town Hall announced that works will start again in the beginning of next year and that the developers trying to get confirmation of this in writing. Have anybody actually check with Town Hall whats going on?

Hi everybody. We bought into this development also and were given every assurance by H2O that we were fully protected in case anything went wrong. We've now been informed by Peninsula that the development will not be going ahead within the next few months. They are going to contact us again 'very shortly' -haha- to let us know what our options are. I think we are going to try to hopefully get our money back, anyone else of the same opinion?

  Dear All,

Can't say a lot now, except that I've contacted Ayuntamiento de Alcaucín and they confirmed that they have technical problems. I did not understand half of what the guy said as he speaks spanish very fast. Whoever can, please call ayuntamiento mon - tue before 1 pm spanish time and ask for the person called Téchnico. He would explain what happens briefly - and do not forget to tell us here. I might try to call him and record while i'm calling to understand it later. Anyway, I asked him when do you think the works will resume, on what he told me that he didn't know. Good news though is that he told me that HAENDEL ( i.e. the company that actually builds for Peninsula) has the license and everything, but it is indeed the Ayuntamiento that suspended the works for some technical reasons.

Fskins .. When you say bond, do you mean what they call bank guarantee? It is indeed illegal by spanish law not to have bank guarantee. But what has happened to it? My lawyer contacted peninsula and they told them that this is true that they do not accept any responsibility for that because the development is technically suspended or something like that.  But this is worrying, as I feel like i don't have any clear idea whats happening with the development. 

Could everybody please post their views on current matter of things. I'm lost. 

Fskins which law firm do you use as they seem to be quite good in tackling the issue?

Many thanks, 

   Ze

 Lawyers had to verify the existence of bank guarantee as well. Did the bank go bust or something? 

 Hello guys, 

for those of you who would like to take joint action against the developer on terrazas de alcaucín let's do that. My phone number is 07887582092 

Take care. 

Hi there,

Indeed there should have been a bank bond in place, i think 30days after the initial contract was passed, but it never was. And the lawyers never told me that it wasn't in place. It is illegal for there to not be a bank bond in place. I am part of a group case, I'll email the name of the lawyers privately for anyone that wants, apparently there are 5 others already in the case. The lawyer is planning at the moment to do these as seperate cases anyway, so it is a group document, but will be individual cases. The options are apparently to go to court now over the fact that there is no bank bond in place and the notice that it is unlikely that the development will be finished in december, there are legal precedants for this. The other option is to wait until december when it is confirmed that the development has not been built and then go to court, chance of success increases by 10% apparently. I can't make up my mind whether to do it now (less chance of Malaga Haendal going bankrupt in the meantime) or wait and then have a greater chance of success. Apparently it is not possible to go to court again if the first option is taken and the developers are found innocent.

In reply to the post below, the bank didn't go bust, there was just no bank bond issued!

What are anyone else's thoughts?

Hi All

I am new to this, but on reading your messages, my Son is in the same position, whereby he purchased through H20 an appartment on Terrazas de Alcaucin, he had passed the matter to his lawyer to handle Criado & Kraus, but had not heard anything for a while, today he got a mail to say Peninsula where hiding and not responding, so he want to start court action, however has asked for payment up front £1500 (pounds sterling) is this normal, I am  becoming increasingly concerned as my son is loosing 23K Euro on this shambles and no fault of his.  I am struggling to guide him about whether he spends more money.  All he wants is his money back.

I would appreciate any guidance

Another worrrying point, I ready a thread about the lawyers, did not give me any confidence, suggested they where conning clients, is this true, where do we go from here

Hi Jackie,

I am still undecided whether I am going to use Criado and Kraus, can I ask where you read the threads saying that they were conning people? I would like to read those before I decide to go either way with them. Also check how much your son has already paid them for other parts of his contract, he may be able to offset the cost of the case against things he has already paid for that he may not receive.

The thread is under

Casares del Sol Suites My Casarse!

If you search for Criado & kraus on this site you will get there, he has left a contact name and address my son is going to contact him to also get some feedback

Hi there to all of you

I'm new to this but it seems in the same position. We bought a plot on Terrazas de Alcaucin and work has halted.

I have the same concerns as you have regarding Pennissula and C&K but I am trying to get some leverage out of H2O, after all, they sold us the dream and they have their commission!! I think it's their responsibility to provide support, answers and full backing of their company

I'm conscious that we are stronger if we all work together and if we have to appoint an English Lawyer on this we share the cost!??

How does this sound?

Regards

Tony 

 Yeah what would be the normal practice in this case? May be indeed we should hire a common quite enthusiastic lawyer whose costs we can all share. Suspectively the longer we wait, the sooner the developer can be liquidated or its assets would serve to compensate their unpaid bonds first. Currently we could sue them for the following 

1) absense of bank guarantee in place 

2) selling building in illegal green land ( see latest info on arrests of mayor and some other important people in Alcaucín). 

3) lack of communication 

4) no progress on the site, so that the development is not going to finish by the date stated.

Seems like enough reasons.

Good evening to you all...

I think the we should proceed by the following means

• Understand how many parties are involved
• Agreeing how many parties wish to take action
• Sharing of personal e mail addresses
• (maybe) agreeing to have a meeting with each other to agree the plan of action
• Electing a lawyer and take this action forward

I'm fairly bitter about what's happened and want to ensure I/we get 100% of my/our money back + damages and interest etc.

If anyone else is feeling the same way, get in touch via private message or on 07833 332795

(Myself and my wife are private purchasers like yourselves)

Regards to all

Tony 

Hi all

I have been adding to the community forum El Balcon Alcaucin which was phase one of the complex.

I couldnt understand why replies and updates were so few then i found this forum.

I might be able to help as i have been chasing a refund since Feb 08 and have picked up alot of info along the way.

H20 were bought by MASA but as things have got difficult MASA have washed hands of El Balcon/Terrazas as it suits to blame H20.

fraserscott@masacds.com is the contact for MASA

Sharon Hitchcock at Penninsula used to be the manager at H20 and when MASA took over went to Penninsula.

I have sent a petition to the European Parliament regarding this case and this has been confirmed as admissable and the European commission are investigating further. I await further update.

If i can help anyone feel free to send a private email.

Hi forseys,

Thanks for adding to the wall. Is there any value in more of us writing to the European Parliment?