Recovery of Deposit

Hi

Is it not strange that in a modern european country when a citizen has been deprived fraudulently of their money for a deposit on an off plan house that was never built that a very helpful and respected legal professional advised him not to take action  to recover deposit of 3005 euros. It would cost him more in legal fees with no guarantee of winning and even if they won the court case there was no guarantee of repayment of debt.

Surely this is a daming statement from a legal professional. I do not doubt this person's credibilty but the country surely is rotten to the core if it cannot provide law and order to european citizens.

How many deposits do these criminals have?

dd

Hi diverdan,

In reply to your question, I would say the answer to your question is: thousands if not tens or indeed hundreds of thousands.

If it is any consolation, you should count yourself fortunate that you only paid the initial deposit as some members on this site have lost hundreds of thousands of euros and after years of litigation are still waiting for justice.

Hi Diverdan, your lawyer is probably correct, it would cost you more than that to take the developer to court. We paid our deposit in 2006, our lawyer took them to court in 2008, finally won deposit plus interest plus legal fees in 2009, the developer refused to pay us our money back and so lawyer went back to court to ask judge for permission to seize accounts or assets from developer. An account was identified but .... believe it or not the bank refused to let us access the money as they said the developer still owed them money.  So you see 5 years later we are still waiting for about 92,000 euros and we believe we have no claim on our house either. So either the bank or developer have not only got our money but also any claim to the house as well. Your lawyer is perhaps giving you good advice, cut your losses. There is no justice system in Spain and I don't think there ever will be.  

Hi

I would also forget it because we were in the same position paid the deposit in 2006 + first payment, we could see that things didnt look good so I refused to pay any more, when I contacted our lawyer he told me that I was in breach of contract by not keeping to the payment dedlines as well as the builder not keeping to his agreement and it would be likely we would not get any money back. We signed an agreement with them to say they could not pursue us for money and vice versa. We have now bought a fantastic 2 bed penthouse apartment in Villamartin and saved more on the purchase price than what we lost and are very happy so cut youe loses and get a bargain on a re-sale ! 

Hi all

Thanks for your replies. I was fortunate enough to get my two stage payments back and have moved on and bought another place in spain.

In the Uk at the moment the market place is full of no win no cost solicitors for various projects. It would be good if eventually that happened in Spain. The first law firm to do so would if they could make the Spanish legal system work become a multi - million pound company!!!

Would it be posiblle if you had many people in similar situations of being owed money to have a joint action against the "criminals". Then even if it cost you 250 euros each you would still get some of your money back but more importantly get justice of a sort.

Finally as the builder still has my deposit on a "off plan house" that was never built if someone eventually builds there do I have a claim on the new property?  Debt is on the property in Spain so we are told.

Regards

dd

Just to echo everyone else.

think yourself damn lucky you have only lost 3000 euros

Like many many others were are sitting on a loss of about 75000 for the off plan deposit which the Developer never laid a brick on.

Plus something in the region of 10000+ completely pointless wasted legal fees which achieved precisely nothing.

Again we "won" our case and the Developer ignored the court.

a loss of 3000 euros is a pittance in comparison.

We have had a very expensive, very upsetting lesson : Never attempt ever to buy an off plan property in Spain and never bother wasting your money on pointless Spanish legal fees as itys 90%+ certain you will get nowhere.

You have had a smack on the wrist and a very lucky letoff !!

All the best,

John

This message was last edited by johnmfranci5 on 09/09/2011.

johnmfranci5

I am truly sorry about your loss however I still don't think I should count myself lucky. I have been defrauded out of some money many people have lost more but I two wrongs do not make a right.

Your anger should be directed at the source of your misfortune not at peope who not lost as much as you.

dd

I am sorry diverdan I did not mean to convery any sense of anger towards your good self ! My comments are indeed born out of the pure frustration of it all.

I think the really the targets of my anger as well as the obvious ones of the crooked developers and hopeless Spanish legal System are really the politicans :, Spanish, European and British who in stark reality have done practically nothing to stop the continuing property corruption in Spain and refund all those badly wronged including of course yourself.

The sad reality of it all is that I cannot see it ever changing. I really do wish I could be more optimistic about it all.

All the best

John

Just a thought but was this amount paid by credit card in which case might the amount of 3005 euros be recoverable from a C/c company?

John

No problem I can understand how frustrated you feel.

Ads

Tried that route but Cc refused to pay went as far as ombusman but he ruled as total amount more that 30,000 of which deposit was a part this was outside of section 75 of the act. So no joy there.

Regards

dd

 I am deciding to invest after all of this fiasco and quite glad in a way that I can learn from the misfortune of others. I really do feel sorry for you poor souls and hope that some day you find a way of getting your money back. meanwhile I am not going to give up my dream for the misfortunate events of you all and what appears to have affected "hundreds of thousands?" 

I love Spain and cannot wait to own a place there... The good thing is that there are so many empty and finished off plan properties now and the developers are just dying to give us a deal. its soo exciting! I am also told that the tax has been cut in half for new properties too so need to move before the goverment changes its mind ;-)

 I agree with you Guri, that this is an optimal time for buying in Spain.

Low prices, low taxes

Becareful of new developments and despite the VAT break better deals are available on resale units on what I would call established and viable communities.

Yes there are lots of good bargains about, but at what cost to many of us.  Many of these homes have been purchased by people in good faith, but after years of waiting for completion they have lost their money to the banks and developers, who then sell them on again.  Perhaps now with hinesight buyers will be prepared for the high class thieves and rogues, who hide behind fancy brochures, office fronts etc, but completely ignore the law when they do not come up with the goods.  I for one cannot believe that things have changed so much from when we put our deposit on in 2006.  I am not talking off plan house, but completed apart from garden wall and gate. 4 years of legal fight only to find out that developer and bank have totally ignored Court rulings and because we have gone through the courts we might legally have no claim to the house which can be sold again by the Developer or Bank. 

So take care, use a good lawyer, investigate who you are dealing with. Check out the addresses of the developer and builder and make sure they are not a hidden subsidiary of another company trading from a hole in the wall post box.

Sad and disheartened buyer of 2006, who also had your dream.

guiri007, the tax break is actually running until the end of the year and only applies to new properties.

You are right, there are certainly some outstanding opportunities at the moment but just make sure you really do your homework.  There are many lemons too.

Good luck.

Justin

 Hi guys,

I just wondered a few things...

M11block, was it a civil case that you took to court?

Diverdan, there are no win no fee companies out there - PM me for more info...

Johnmfranci5 - did you take a civil case to court as well?

And if you don't mind, how much did you get stung for?

One thing I always remember is what my friend says: There's only one way to leave Spain with a small fortune, and that's to  arrive with a large one!

It's such a nightmare for people... But not everything is lost. Never give up or they will have truly won.

Anyone has any questions, just PM me and I'll see if there's anything that can be done to help.

Sam

what law firms are doing no win no fee?

Sam

You are unable to acept pms?

dd

Hi all,

I have a family member who has been through what many of you are still going through. Deposits paid but works incomplete and all the other usual excuses. He refused to pay the final instalment as the villa was no where near ready his solicitor told him to pay but he refused went to court and lost. All in all he has lost around 68,000 euro's he decided that the corrupt spanish system would drive him into the loony bin and so decided to appiont a lawer back home. He too had heard all the scare stories of them seizing his home in the UK, According to his UK lawyer who stated that at no point would any court in the UK act on any spanish bank or lawyers instructions especially if  they still owe money on there present house in the UK. This was two years ago his UK lawyer worked in conjuction with a spanish firm who lodge some paper work not really sure what the paper work entailed but the outcome was he has lost his money but is no longer being chased for the remainder.  Why don't more people treat the spanish legal system with the contempt that they clearly show other national's and get a lawer from there own country get honest and well informed information and let them chase you, forget about contracts that you signed they are not worth the paper they are written on as so many find out to there considerable cost. I do know that if you own a property in Spain and have not paid your fees you can and will be tracked down and made to pay, but this isa totally diffrent process from a failed deposit