maria

For those prepared or able to risk more money on legal fees, that certainly sounds like it should be a possible route to justice. It's the same old story though sadly, even though we have a very clear case, we need to know that the chance of justice is worth the risk?, and nobody seems to be able to say with confidence that we would win our case, or if we do we would see our money, however much we are in the right???

Maria,

If you have ongoing enforcement and outstanding developer appeal in place with a lawyer can you start this action against the bank with a different legal firm, or do you have to give notice of cancellation to the developer and former lawyer? In other words would you have to write off existing action taken against the developer in order to proceed with a simultaneous claim against the Bank? If not, what would happen if the enforcement was successful (seizure of assets) in the interim? In that circumstance, would you be able to claim for costs incurred with the Bank claim to date, or would those costs have to be written off?

Is your advice therefore to wait until the enforcement action against the developer has concluded before starting action against the Bank? If a developer has illegally asset stripped, would this be classed as a conclusion to the enforcement procedure, or could you envisage a situation where it is still a requirement  to continue to search for other assets?

 Goodstich: I see very good possibilities of this action to be effective ( deep study, similar Case Law existing, backing of Law Proffessor and other legal auithorities)

Ads: you can start this action simultaneously to contract cancellation/ appeal.. in whatever stage you find yourself. All costs linked to the lack of Bank Guarantee can be claimed back.

I cannot beleive.... how I've been  treated on this blog.. I always said the  truth.   I will not forgive you maria.  let me tell you something after all. you are not god.............you act like a god ..you took my money and no evindence given??????

This message was last edited by contact on 30/06/2010.

This message was last edited by contact on 30/06/2010.

Kelju,

Many congartulation  you won your case.. you are very lucky man, I bought off plan property in year 2003.

for £17.000 paid deposit. and lawyers fees 1500 euro. it's almost 8 years. but no joy.  did you buy  in EL-zoco apartment?

My lawyers  fee 1500 euro I gave to a lawyer (called) she think her self as a God.., No any evidence given to me.  and now she blocked my private messages...because she does not like the Truth?

This message was last edited by contact on 02/07/2010.

I'm a new member and I was hoping to look for a professional lawyer to help with my case. By viewing numerous blogs and threads Maria seems to be giving great advice. However, by viewng some of 'contact's' replies to posts, it seems that this member is having problems with her; therefore I am beginning to hesitate, whether I should deal with her...

Eclipse.... it is great that you are obtaining full information and references before instructing legal representation.

We all do hope you will find the rightest lawyer for your case.

Best wishes,

Maria

We have just heard today from Maria and her team that they have won our case for us, and we have been awarded our full deposit back plus annual interest and all legal costs incurred to be paid for by the deeveloper.

Can I say that with all the negativity on this thread about the system, Costa Luz lawyers and the costs involved, it has been handled with extreme professionalism by Costa Luz Lawyers all the way through the process, from arranging and handing over Power of Attourney right through to the actual final hearing a fortnight ago.

Our case was fought and won on a point of law ( no bank guarantee), so any sceptics out there who doubt there is any hope, please be assured there are good lawyers out there who do actually act in your best interests and actually do as they promise.

As for the costs involved, Maria and her team clearly stated what the costs would be to firstly represent us, and secondly to take our case to Court, this they did with no hidden costs.

I cannot speak highly enough of both Steven at the office, and our Lawyer at our final hearing Fernando,

Many thanks Maria, and keep up the good work !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tugay

Congratulations (and to Maria and team). Pariticularly encouraging for those that haven't a bank guarantee.

When you have received your deposit money and interest/ costs would you post again please - some of us have won our cases and haven't received deposits yet and many wait over one year for their interest and costs.

Steve

Hi Maria,

Could you respond to a query on the thread titled "success claiming under a bank guarantee" please.

Thanks.

Great news about your case Tugay.  I hope the developer complies with the judgment.

Another positive result for María, Steven, Fernando & the Costa Luz team.

There is hope for all of us and we will not give up the fight.

Kind regards

Keith

Hi Tugay, congratulation on winning your case, I hope your developer/bank pay up soon and you see your money in your bank account. I have been so impressed today with all the messages of success from the members of EOS it has given me new hope so I do not want to dampen the mood, but in our case the Judge in Murcia court passed sentence in May 09 for us to receive our deposit, plus interest, plus all legal costs, but the developer has simply ignored the judgement and will not comply.  We have been waiting since last year for our case to come to court to ask the Judge for permission to seize assets or access developers bank account, but nothing has happened yet and we are still waiting patiently.  Even when we have that sentence it may mean yet another wait while some assets are seized and sold to raise capital to pay us back, so I think we are still in for a long wait.  We put our deposit on our bungalow in Oct 06 when all that needed completing was the garden wall and drive.  Since March 07 when the property was due to be handed over, the developer has refused to answer any mail, emails, faxes or telephone calls, both from ourselves, our lawyers and the court lawyers. 

Anyway the very best of luck, I hope your developer is a genuine company who will comply with the court's sentence and you will soon see your monies returned. R and G

R and G

Did you pay the deposit for your bungalow direct to the developer's bank account or did you pay the deposit to the Estate Agent or Lawyer?

If you have not already done so I would urge you to sign the Bank Guarantees Petition at:

www.bankguaranteesinspain.com

Kind regards

Keith

Hi Keith, we paid our deposit to the Estate Agent but got the receipts from the Developer.  We have already signed the petition and wish you every success.  Our case is with Maria and team at the moment and they are also counter claiming our case with the Bank for not providing Bank Guarantee so things are moving, it is just a very slow process and we thought that once the judge made is judgement we would see our money, so we are just warning people not to think everything is plain sailing or will happen quickly. The Spanish Justice System is very different from our own and takes years and years to process claims especially when the developers just do not acknowledge the legal system. R and G

We are demanding this because of the totally unreasonable delays many purchasers are being subjected to due to the fact that the number of Bank Guarantee LEY 57/68 cases reaching the courts has increased in excess of 300% in the last 2 years.  Surely there is no other issue in Spain that has been the subject of such a huge increase in litigation cases over the past 2 years.  We are now witnessing more Bank Guarantee LEY 57/68 cases reaching the courts in the past 12 months than the combined total number of such cases in the previous 11 years.

Kind regards

Keith

Hi Keith, I have just signed the petition and would like to thank all have compiled it as it must have taken a great deal of time and effort.  I just feel we need to do all we can towards solving this situation.  Our case, without a bank guarantee, went to court over a year ago and we are also awaiting the money.  It's just incredible that this can go on - either the developer pays out or they go bankrupt if they are unable to pay- but this is clearly not the case.  Good luck with this and well done!

Hi Sparky

Thanks for adding your voice to the petition.

We will continue to do everything we can to get our voice heard and press very hard for a solution to this totally unacceptable situation.

Kind regards

Keith

Hi All,

We have just been inform by Steven at Costaluz Lawyers that they have received our costs back.We received our deposit "out of date guarantee"back in Dec.2009.It has taken 2 years from when we contacted Maria to reach this stage.We can not thank them enough for what they have done. Keep up the good work !

Hi di55pink

It is great to know that some Judges must actually understand LEY 57/68 and realise that any pre-determined expiry date in a Bank Guarantee is invalid.

As per LEY 57/68 Article 4 - A Bank Guarantee only expires when the Town Hall issue the Licence of First Occupation/Certificate of Habitation and the promotor/builder provides that document to the buyer or the buyers solicitor.

It shocks me that your first solicitor told you that you could not attempt to execute your Bank Guarantee because it had expired.  These are simple basic things that a solicitor should know.  Unless of course they were recommended by the builder or Estate Agent and were not working in your best interest.  In other words, maybe they had a 'conflict of interest'.  You were their client but maybe they were getting many leads/recommendations of clients from the builder and did not want to 'bite the hand that feeds'.  An all too familiar story and a big part of the current Bank Guarantee abuse.

Good job you found Maria & Costa Luz Lawyers!!

Kind regards

Keith

Hi Keith,

Yes our solicitor was recommended by the estate agent & I am sure there was a "conflict of interest" which is so wrong as we were paying for his "advice" Marie's team only managed to execute bank guarantee barely 2 weeks before First Occupation Licence was granted.

I must also say if we had not found the EOS site we would naively have believed what we were being told. So I must give a big thank you to Justin & his team also for just being there & giving us the means to become more clued up.