reply to floella, "Starfox, don't give up, there are many more legal well built properties than illegal ones. Problem is the owners of the former are not desperate to sell at give away prices."
Thanks for the encouragement although I have not seen anything to suggest there are more legal properties than not. Almost all of them have issues of some description, and even a 'legal' property can have issues like debts, FdOs and other things but still be technically legal or tolerated. Still might as well have one last crack at buying a property whether it has problems or not, it's rather unfortunate that sellers insist on using your deposit money to fix their problems, it should be illegal.
CoH is just one of many things buyers need to be aware of and I do agree with you that it would be nice if the shows did have a duty of care to it's clients but clearly that is not the way some cowboys work. I couldn't tell you what goes on behind the scenes of a Place in the Sun or even the type of contract they make you sign for appearing on the show and subsequently purchasing via them but I can safely say I wouldn't be rushing to buy one of their properties.