Maria and Felix,
It is all very good advising Shaggi to report the offender, but how many purchasers would have followed Shaggis' action of trying to verify that the company was legal? Not many, and to my mind none.
Maria your tenacious crusade for improvement of consumers rights is acknowledged and admirable and probably the way to tackle the problems, but without swift and heavy fines for wrong doing and with judgements that rely on which side of the bed the judge got out of then I suspect you may always be swimming upstream.
When purchasing a property in ones' native country the paperwork is totally confusing to the majority of people. When purchasing abroad, add to this confusion; the probable lack of the language, almost certainly a lack of native legal jargon, and a set of completely different buying procedures and you begin to understand how the 'sharks' (in all the professions associated with the purchasing process) can make their killings.
When using a solicitor for conveyancing purposes one should be able to trust, that at every step of the procedure, your interests are protected 100%. And be confident that if there are any problems arising from that solicitors work then compensation will come from them in the way of a fine levied on them by their governing body. No quibbles, no wriggling out of it and no trying to pass the buck. Perhaps then and only then will the banks, builders and estate agents and of course solicitors be inclined to stop their illegal and misery causing banditry.
Sorry for the rant.