Will this incompetence ever end?

We are both in our 70s and feel our only childs inheritance will be lost now we have spent our savings which we both worked from the age of 16 for. We feel we have made a great mistake purchasing our property in Spain. How much longer will we be healthy enough to travel to Spain. That answer is in the lap of the Gods.

Our lawyer from a large company in Alicante, large site in the coast road. this gave us a feeling of security. dont be fooled by the explanation we received when asking what work the company would do to ensure our purchase would be safe & Legal long before we employed them.

Anyone wanting the details of all the companies used, I would be pleased to send on, just send your Mail address and i will reply.

i haven't read all this thread, but would just like to express my sympathy for Poedoe. What an awful thing to have happened to you. I know it's easy to say, but try and think of the positive things in your life. You have been made a victim by these con-artists, and they're probably enjoying their lives, not even troubled by their consciences. Decent people can't see into the heads of these people. Try not to give them the power of ruining the rest of your lives. Your child has been a victim too, but I also don't believe we should worry too much about not leaving a lot to our kids. You might want to look up 'mindfulness.' It's supposed to be a really good way of handling stressful situations. Try and enjoy your time on this planet; otherwise these criminals will have won in another way too.

I've been the victim of many cheats and I know all about the fury you feel. And I have got annoyed if people have told me to chill out, because it's easy to say. And it is much harder for you as the bulk of your wealth has been taken from you. But it would be worth trying to work out a way of coping psychologically with it.

All the best.

My feeling obviously do count but so do all the other purchasers in the same position as we are, someone out there must know how we can get what we have paid for without the crooks that are allowed to carry on cheating people like us. We have done all the right things paid all the fees employed the people listed by the Spanish legal system,  

The legal heads of Spain just ignore the wrong their professional people are putting so many people through. We are not criminals because we wish to have holidays or live in Spain. A country we still love even though these cheats are allowed to carry on without being stopped by the so called Spanish LAW.

After so much reporting of so many shocking instances of betrayal, theft of deposits, illegalities, etc., etc., I begin to wonder if all this continues to go on just because it can!

Maybe I am stating the obvious, but we Brits., brought up on a diet of somewhere to complain, when things are incorrect, that probably brings some sort of recompense, in a reasonable amount of time, or Gawd élp ém if it doesn´t!!

We find these situations absolutely mind-blowing!

Maybe we should also remember, that most of the laws probably date back to the franco era and it is not that many years the country has enjoyed so-called democracy.

These are not excuses, just maybe the reasons for the alien mindsets that exist?

My firm belief is that any buyer of property  in Spain MUST get involved personally as it is quite clear that you can’t leave it to your appointed ‘professionals’.  How many of us actually research the system before parting with the ‘hard earned’?  An agent told me a couple of weeks ago that he conducts many arms-length sales – can you believe that people will part with their money to someone they don’t know, invest in a country they know is dodgy and expect to come out of it smelling of roses?

How many owners actually KNOW that their home is legal, not because the lawyer says it is but because they have seen all the documents to prove it?

There was a saying in Spain some years ago:

The Brits come to Spain, fall in love with her and leave their hearts here when they go back to Britain.

When they come back to Spain to collect their hearts, they leave their brains back in Britain.

We researched for 7 years before purchasing our apartment, made several private visits & 5 visits with agents. asked for written conformation from the lawyer of the search they would do and still we have been duped. The Notary held both our final payment and the same value from the builder to ensure us that if the builder failed the finance held a total of €52k would be used to complete any problems. A Few months later the builder confirmed the complex was completed and the fund was paid back to him.

Obviously no checks were made to prove otherwise. 11 non nationals had completed their Purchase, all using different agents and Lawyers. The builder at the Notary's meeting charged €900 in cash for the utility meters to be fitted, 10 of these purchasers paid up. One lawyer held on to the cash payment waiting for the proof of the meters being installed. Tell me now where the mal-administration lies.

The main problem in my opinion was with the Notary, one legal person we should be able to trust. Our agent advised that we were smartly turned out for the completion. The lawyer promised to do a complete search. The agent told us we were looking at the last apartment on the ground floor. We took on board and read all the details for all these statements because we were in a foreign country and wished for nothing to go wrong. 

8 years on we have no utility Transformer, the road is still mud, part of the lift has been removed. the community fund has paid for sprinklers in the garage and many other faults to be put right. The Builder sneeked in and removed the pumping system for the emergency water system, 

The builder is still trading under another name, the Agent ATLAS is still advertising property & the Lawyer still in business. Most of the Nationals that were living on the complex also failed to pay the community fees which paid their utility costs. The Builder collected rents from his tenants yet failed to pay any community fees which paid the community utility charges for the whole complex.

This message was last edited by Poedoe on 22/06/2014.