First occupation licence

Just Dan:

Your post just kept me thinking for the rest of the evening and some thoughts were ellaborated:

1.- The new Ground Act do not allow completions without FOL anymore.

2.- A house without FOL cannot be legally inhabited. There are administrative fines for that.

3.-  General, Basic and Universal  Law Principle:Contracts need to be fulfilled. If completions deadline arrives and house is not finished ( unless justified and allowed force majeures´ reasons) the consumer has a contractual right to cancel according to Law 57/68 ( in equivalence with contractual rights to cancel by developers) or to ask for compensation.

4.- Reasonable price compensations ( price reductions!) can be offered for a developer to avoid cancellations

5.-  Law from 1968 allows purchasers to cancel if  off plan units are not finished on time. It is time for this ot be observed. This legal possibility has been reiterated in General Building Act of 1999.

6.- Town Council´s problems or delays cannot fall into consumers.

7.- If consumer meets  all their obligations ( and poor consumer if not!!) developer needs to meet them all too. Balance of contract parties.

8.- If the system needs a revision ( compensations for delays, clear completion deadlines which works, timeframes for Local Towns to issue their licenses, for builders to build...) this does not to need be by forcing consumers to complete without FOL so that..... developers do not go bankruptcy.

9.- Regarding bankrupcies: moneys in off plan developments ( same that are asked to be refunded)  are not of the ownership of developers, they indeed need to be allocated in  special and different accounts and guaranteed with Banbk Guarantees or Insurance Policies since 1968.

10.- In order to avoid bankruptcies many measures can be taken: one among them: to provide development companies with enough reserves

Anyhow.... good agreements with some renunciations or giving in by developers and banks would help a lot . But they are just not used to that.  Yes, consumers are too used to allow and bear and lose. Yes, I am a Consumers´ lawyer. They usually are the weaker part.

Re: the Administrative fines who pays that?

Thank you for the reply Maria and it is very information

Now I dont know what the 100s of thousands without a habitation  are going to do now (is it 50,000 + in Marbella alone?)

If the law is up held to the letter then the market grinds to a halt ?Developers cant sell anything,

Hi Tish  Thats before we became friends

Dan

Hi Smiley

No one can argue with that.

Still brings about the question that the courts appear to not accept that this is reason enough to get you deposit back.

Now as the occupancy licence may take many years to sort then everything is in limbo,developers go bust,Banks refusing to honour any guarantees so deposits will be lost.

Now surely a blanket view that no one should complete, would it not  be a situation that this real and potentential financial loss should be considered as habitation licences will in most cases be given .Wont they

Surely people should be informed that this NOW ? law they should sit with their solicitors and take advice on a case for case basis.

Are some Banks not now showing reason on this lending rules as almost no completions would be happening in many areas of Spain.

Dan

How and when can the Judges be made to adhere to the Law and compensate people by giving their deposits back? It really is a stalemate situation if mortgages and valuations are not being given. Why is it taking soooooooooooooooo looooooooong to issue the LFO if they are most likely to be granted in the (distant !!) future.

Banks surely HAVE to honour Bank Guarantees......eventually.???

Tish:

Please have answers below in bold green:

How and when can the Judges be made to adhere to the Law and compensate people by giving their deposits back? It really is a stalemate situation if mortgages and valuations are not being given. Why is it taking soooooooooooooooo looooooooong to issue the LFO if they are most likely to be granted in the (distant !!) future.

Banks surely HAVE to honour Bank Guarantees......eventually.???

All those are big  legal fights which are going on in many Spanish Courts now. Supreme Court Decissions on this are needed and will come soon.  A Consumers Law approach need to compliment every legal claim as the whole body of Contract Law can have a new  reading by using this approach. Ask your lawyers to use it!

Hello to everyone,

Just  wanted to thank Felix and Maria for their help, and suggest anyone needing to find a good  lawyer would not be wrong in instructing either of these people.

Anyone that is  prepared to give there qualified experience and time to these forums ,should be supported .

Keep up the good work,

Muchas gracias.

Spanishsolicitor,

If a development (completed 2005)is under judical review ( Elviria Marbella) because of a corrupt building licence, and it has still not been resolved, can the developer claim he has the LFO under Administrative Silence?

It surely is black and white! I really want to know as at a recent court case this is what the developer is saying. The Judge is deliberating!!!!!!!!!!! Over what????????????? A

A while back a Lawyer said that the AS rule is admissable if the building complied with the licence 100%. If this was not the case, as with many developments in Marbella then the AS rule cannot be applied.