Warning! I do not recommend Ocean Estates

Problem is there is no regulation here for estate agents although I hear its on the way but this being Spain the committee that decides the rules has still to decide who will be on the committee but they cant even decide who will be on the committee that selects the committee - if you get my drift. I dont know if Ocean knowingly sold developments that have since been determined illegal but they clearly did not research them as much as others becuase there were developments that other agents simply would not promote because they could not confirm the correct licensing procedures were followed. In addition techincally they have not broken the law - whether they have been negligent or stuck their heads in the sand is perhaps another question. It is the developers and the corrupt planning and town hall officials that have broken the law - and to be honest they are the big fish and that is who the authorities are most interested in - there are traces of it everywhere - police, planning office, legal department - the works. They are the areas the law are concerned about - if the government officials are permitting it to happen then the expectation is that unscrupulous individuals and companies will exploit it - who knows maybe at some stage agents who have sold the illegal developments will find themselves caught up in it when they have dealt with all the big cheeses.

I dont think (correct me if I am wrong) that anyone has suggested they have broken the law as it is - I think what is being observed is the unrealistic and unscrupulous approach to property sales without having a care after the dotted line was signed - for you and those intending to complete for a holiday home it would have been a wholly different experience - for those not having their calls returned 6 weeks before completion where they dont wish to or physically cannot complete owing to lack of funds and no chance of a mortgage it is the other end of the spectrum. Friend/client of mine who originally bought through them subsequently bought 2 more but would not buy through Ocean owing to the lack of after sales service and the fact that when he contacted to enquire as to how the sale of his investment was going all they tried to do was sell him on another viewing trip to sell him another. 

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The NAEA(National Association of Estate Agents)which is the UK governing body have informed me as i was a member in the UK that they are looking into widening their membership to Foreign shores as at the moment i cannot declare my qualifications and membership here in spain.

Speaking from experience that are a very good ombudsman and have enforced laws in the UK that have helped uk agents toe the line.

Unlike the associations avaliable here at the moment they should bring some levity to the market place if people only use their members.

I hope they do manage to break into the spanish system as from experience they are very good and brought a great deal of changes to the way agents operated in the UK.

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Rixxy, are you talking about the new owners or existing?

I know from my past experiences not to trust Saxby, nor Pablo Anderson so even if they have a 'good guy' with 60%, and adding their poor reputation in the past, I could not trust nor recommend them ever again. Also quite a shared view on the Spanish Property Insight forums.

Basically agree with Smiley's 2nd para but would add that most of the greed was definitely driven by Ocean themselves and it was they who were the greedy s0ds, not the suckered clients. Then there were all those wishing to buy to keep properties, often with no LFO, no Building Licences, ridiculous delays, major spec. problems, lost views that they were promised etc etc, and many of those are still arguing or trying to extricate from the mess Ocean put them in. Their after care was non existant.

If they haven't technically broken the law, then it's a good impersonation of it, in fact IMO I believe they have by selling illegal properties, props. without licences, land grab props, white whale props etc. Their agents have been caught mis-selling.

Pitby has been given reasons why they have not been taken to Court, but doesn't understand the length of time it takes (it's Spain), nor the stress involved.

They aren't the only ones who have mis-sold, some of the others have been mentioned on this and other forums, it's just Ocean though who are constantly mentioned in the Press.

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Forgot to mention I,ve met P. Anderson at Ocean stands, know a bit about how he operates, met many who don't care for his ethic either. Anderson offered to invest in same property I was interested in which didn't work, not sure what he was up to.

Why should an Estate Agent be allowed to have a Board member or share owner who is also one of their recommended lawyers, a definite conflict of interest? They will say they spread the business around amongst other lawers but the likes of DLM (inc. all their previous names), the White Whale bunch (owner was jailed) etc also have a bad reputation.

It's bad enough that their in-house lawyer Fernando Franco holds Ocean's API no 576 rather than the firm themselves.

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Ok scambuster you do not like Ocean estates, and I accept that you may heve very acceptable reasons for this point of view.

However I thnk you have made your point and like everything else in life at some point in time you have to move on. You have not added anything substantially new to your posts over the last few weeks.

Can we therefore close off this subject or please take then to court.

Cheers

grand canyon

 

 

 

 

 

This message was last edited by grandcanyon on 3/10/2007.

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Hi Georgia,

I have to say I totally agree with you. I am a member of NAEA in UK and couldn't get my head around the buying process being so different in Spain than over here. No I haven't had dealings with Ocean Estates, never heard of them but did come over with a company last year, We were lucky as we had a rep who was great, no pressure, unlike some other couples who were really being pressured. The reps didn;t like customers to talk to each other and wouldn't even say good morning to us which I thought a bit over the top but luckily ours wasn't like that. Wish we could have bought something from him. We bought through an independent agent eventually and everything has been great. Sorry gone off track, Yes I do agree that agents should be regulated because pma doesn;t even feature in their details. It is a shame because there are so many good ones and then there are the bad ones that give everyone a bad reputation.

Any jobs going in about 10 years time???

Gina

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Keep on keeping people informed of the rogue agents scambuster.!!

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I worked for Livingstone Estates for a couple of years and we used Andersons and Pablo oftern came on Exhhibition with us, i have to say we always found them great to work with and our clients were always happy. I also used them for the purchase of my own house and found them to be very good. I have also worked for a couple of crap agents neither of them Ocean, unfortunatly its the crap few that ruin it for the good ones! 

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I certainly will post about Ocean and other rogue agents Tish, and agree with toto99 that it's the c--p few ruining it for the decent agents who are trying to do a good job in a difficult market.

I take no notice of replies like grandcanyon who obviously also doesn't understand Spain's legal procedures, or works for Ocean methinks, so broadcasting will continue along with support for all those being ripped off.

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Yes, but Scambuster, although you are obviously on a mission, the thread is already here and people wishing to view it are able to - all the information is here for them to read, if they wish to.  All you are doing is "bumping" it back up with tired information.

You may have your cause for hating Ocean, but alot of people also don't have a problem with them.  And repeating "old news" isn't going to do your cause any justice and isn't contributing to Ocean's downfall. Yet again you accuse somebody (maybe rightly so, I don't know) of being in Ocean's employ just because they post something positive about them (you did the same with me)! 

You just agreed with Toto99 - and he has dealt with those involved with Ocean and praised them - that it's the rogue few who ruin it for most, and you still agree with him.  So what are you saying? 

The thread is here for people to read if they want to - I agree with grandcanyon, let's leave it.  People who want to can review it, just by clicking on it!!!

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I have to agree here that perhaps we can leave this thread alone now.  People have made their points clear.

Thanks.

Justin

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I will make my last post on this subject.

It is simply that I am in no way connected to Ocean Estates or any other Estate Agent, Lawyer, Developer or anyone else connected in anyway with property in Spain. There are others on this site who know my real identity and I can get them to confirm this if reqired.

If scambuster does not retract her comments about me I will through the Freedom of Information Act request her real name and take legal action against her. This is possible as I believe the server for this site is based in the UK. Scambuster does not seem to understand that anything she says must be true; otherwise she can be taken to court.

 

 

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Scambuster is a him not a her!

There is a poster on this sight and SPI who has a personal vendetta against me and tells lies and makes salacious postings about me on this sight and SPI. (Sunbelt/ glassman) Some would call it stalking. He has posted that I am scambuster. I am not and I will get scambuster to tell you himself. Justin could also verify  it.

I am very interested to hear about the Freedom of Information Act. I'm going to look into it. I know that if one uses forums such as this that  there are some unsavoury people that use them. It's a risk.

Whilst my husband & I have had issues with OE and I deplore them, I understand how you feel when untruths are said about you on a public forum.

 

Just to reiterate I am TISH!! 100% female. NOT scambuster.

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Been away for a few days, but sad to see a vendetta against Tish who is definitely not me. Tish is female wheres Scambuster is me (male).

Don't get your knickers in a twist Grandcanyon MPKA Pitby, you're making yourselves look foolish, so I can't retract I'm afraid. What do you think you'll achieve, how much will it cost you, will you receive a bean etc etc?

My comments are mine only and nothing to do with Justin or Tish or Warninggirl and a few others.Some of us were merely continuing the thread so ably started by Warninggirl about that dreadful agent.

If you both posted on the Spanish Property Insight, so strongly defending that company, you'd have received short shrift as others have before, because quite definitely client and staff ringers of the agent were definitely sussed there.

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Thanks Scambuster!

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Scambuster, my name is Jan and I'm fed up with you bringing me into your little diatribes!!!

I haven't posted anywhere but EOS and don't intend to.   You mention my name in another thread, and I'm neither poor nor old, so just leave me out of it!!

Get a life will you!

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This thread is getting particularly nasty now.  As I stated before can we please leave this thread now.  I will have no option but to delete this thread if this continues.

Points and opinions have been made, let's leave it at that now.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Justin

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Hello EOS. Can you recommend anyone who has been sold a property without a licence from who were Ocean Estates, who would be willing to talk with me.

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Hi, i never bought a property with them but surely licence issues are to do with the lawyers that handled the purchase and not the estate agent! This company has long gone.

Joan

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Joanmalaga.. It has very much to do with estate agents and with the lawyer. You may know that There are two licences that can be discussed. One the licence to build. Second the licence of first occupation. Properties were being sold without the first occupation and banks gave mortgages. The building licence was imperative. 

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