Palmera Properties

We won our case against Palmera Properties nearly 2 years ago..we are still waiting for our money,which was like most people our life savings.Is there anyone who has actually had their money back from them?

That's a name from the past. If I recall they had an office in Benalmadena and Fuengirola?

hi folks regarding palmera properties who actually owns this company... i bought a property from this company through my brother in law who used to work with an irish guy i cant remember his name who went out to spain and im sure palmera was the name he used..i had forgotten all about this until i read this thread....any information would be useful...thanks steve 

These guys were real cowboys selling multiple off-plan units a lot up around Almeria/Murcia. The scam was they would flip them pre-completion and you would walk away with a pot of money.

They kept everything in-house and charged legal fees up front and did not like outsiders at all. Bad contracts and no bank guarantees etc and if I recall correctly all the monies paid to Palmera did not go to developer as they were stripping out commissions. They arranged inspection trips and people came and bought. Their main activity would have been 2002 up to maybe early 2007 after that they were bad news and just fighting bad press.

There was a character there called Miguel Angel Rodriguez Zenni. I believe they closed up shop a long time ago maybe mid 2008?

Complaints were being posted on forums back in 2007 when completions were being delayed and buyers were faced with completing on multiple units etc. It was almost the start of "how do I get out of this contract and get some money back?"

Anyone in the property or legal business in and around Benalmadena would know of these cowboys and you are not the only case that I can guarantee you!

Elsie - is your case against Palmera or the developer becuase I think Palmera would have been the agent and not the developer?

But there is no shortage of information out there on this outfit and the sharks that ran it. If more people don't post I will see what I can dig up from the past.

Someday someone will write a book on all this ......

thanks for the reply faro i just wondered if it was the same guy.. i lost all my deposit and im sure there were a group of people who were trying to take these people to court..  my brother in law also  lost money and he worked with the guy out on the oil riggs for years cant for the life of me remember his name im also sure they started another company and called simple properties i must have been simple to fall for that one...anyway all the best faro and thanks 

Hi Elsie,    You will find Palmera Properties is or was the associate office in Benalmedina of Sol Mar Properties, Darlington.

Hi Faro,

Our case was against Palmera..our spanish solicitor thought we would stand more of a chance taking them to court rather than the builders.He was right,we did win the case but like i said in my first email..there is no money.Spoke to solicitor last week who has informed us that it is looking more like Palmera have no assets. If they have nothing,surely they would be bankrupt or something  by now,considering they owe a lot of money to a lot of people..If you here anything,please let me know?

Regards

Elsie

 In every case, where there is already a Court decission against the developer, use a tort action against the bank which received your money and did not secure on the existence of bank Guarantees.

It seems we might be also preparing a general petition to Bank of Spain  on the lack of Bank Guarantees.

Best wishes and please let us know if you ahve further news,

Maria

Elsie

Would you please advise the name of the development and/or developer. Have you looked for info on the development specific forums.

Palmera ran many scams and I recall they even offered a 2 year resale guarantee so confident were they the market would keep rising. That guarantee was not worth the paper it was written on!

But the big problem was all monies were paid direct to Palmera including commission and legal fees and they then (hopefully) passed on certain sums to the developer. This type of structure was very common back in those days and of course left many in limbo with developers saying they never got the money and some developers even saying they never signed contracts etc. I have seen contracts where developer or land owner was not even a party to the contract and people still paid over vast sums to unregulated agencies!!!!! I'm not sure the word bank guarantee was even known back then becuase it was jump on the bandwagon quick there's gold in them hills and did those buyers jump on!!!!!  I don't believe Palmera issued bank guarantees where they were also the "lawyers" and other lawyers weren't exactly chasing for bank guarantees!

It would be interesting to know why your solicitor felt it better to go after the agency and not the developer because I can't imagine Palmera having anything tangible and they would only argue they were let down by the developer. It may be you have to start all over again and now go after the developer?

Many suffered on the El Zoco development (Las Alpujarras) and the developer there was Proturex - google those names and you'll see many horror stories. But if your developer was Proturex I think they have already gone out of business.

Becareful before you hand over any more money to Spanish lawyers until you know who you are up against because no point flogging a dead horse!

Sorry I know this is not good news but I'm being honest with you and if you tell us more we will do our best to find out how you might fare and what options you might have.

Copied in from other threads.

There's lots out there and some lawyers handling multiple cases should be able to give some good free advice.

The letter from Naomi makes interesting reading becuase it talks about all monies not being paid over to developer and also Grupo Mirador (I'd forgotten them) saying no involvement.

Letter from

Naomi Webb

IURA DESPACHO JURÍDICO S.L.

This is the latest news from IURA Lawyers in Spain.

In Fuengirola, on the 11th of May 2009

            Dear Clients,

            Regarding the Palmera Properties case I can confirm that things are moving along but as I have already mentioned on numerous occasions, unfortunately the pre trial phase seems to be taking forever, we are constantly pushing for things to be resolved asap but at the end of the day it is entirely down to the court and at the moment they are inundated with cases and simply do not have the resources to deal with it all.

            Gotardo Rodriguez, the director of Palmera Properties handed over a ton of paperwork regarding all purchases. This is now being reviewed by ourselves and the Court, this is in the theory when we should be able to determine exactly how much funds were kept by Palmera, how much was or was not paid to the developer, agency fees etc. There are still statements to take place, most importantly that of Enrique Faura (the director of Grupo Mirador), he appealed against the original citation as he insists he has absolutely no relation with any of you and that your case is against Palmera as they are the ones you paid the deposits to, although this may be true, there are numerous documents that make it clear to see that they, along with other developers received part of the money.

            At this stage it is possible that the Judge may request further information, should we need to present additional information we will obviously let you know immediately. At the moment most people that have presented a case against Palmera in the Torremolinos court are in the same situation, this is due to the fact that the investigation phase of all cases is being dealt with under one file. In the long run the number of affected clients will benefit clients but at the moment it is causing a bit of a delay.

            On another note, I understand from many of you that another law firm has been sending e-mails in order for you to join their group of affected clients. Some previous Costa del Sol Action Group committee members who were asked to leave the Group have decided to form another group, and this is why you are now receiving the communications. It is highly unethical for any law firm to contact clients directly when they are aware that those clients are represented by a lawyer/s. We have informed them that if the situation arises again we will take whatever action we feel necessary and appropriate. As a law firm they should be more than willing to contact us in order for everyone to work together, juts as we have done with other lawyers dealing with identical cases.

            There are also people posing to be victims of the Palmera scam e-mailing clients informing them that their solicitors are second to none and that if you want to resolve your situation you should get them to act on your behalf, having paid a joining fee of 1.500.-€. Please be aware that under no circumstance are these people buyers, they have simply formed another group and are recruiting clients. For legal reasons at this moment in time we are unable to state who these people are, but I am sure it will all come out in time. Many of you have already sent me these e-mails, but should you receive any further communications please forward to our office so we have a record on file.

Should any of you need any further information please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail and I will respond as soon as possible.

Kind regards,

Naomi Webb

IURA DESPACHO JURÍDICO S.L.

Also Maria of Costluz was also representing a group

I received an email from Gotardo recently. He is willing to help our Palmera Properties clients, but the only help he can offer are new units to be sold at  what he thinks are good prices. Just for the case any of you is interested.

_______________________

Maria L. de Castro, JD, MA

ask the Banks