Breach of Contract

Dear Maria

Thanks for the advice. It basically sounds as if the law is on our side and we just need to act fast, have a lot of confidence and patience to ensure we are treated fairly and not bullied into thinking we might as well give in!

Watch this space

Kind regards

Gill Cefai 

Hi Gill,

Just noticed your posting.

Maria is correct  when she says that the 3 month contract extension is not automatic BUT in reality if the development is getting close to completion the architect can quite easily produce a statement with valid reasons for any extension! I don't feel you would have serious grounds for taking any action during this period. I would wait until the 3 month period has passed and then revaluate your options.........I think I may have raised this issue briefly in our email exchanges?

That´s it. You need to have good legal advice in the consumers´side, which is not very frequent in the real estate field ( even when Laws and Courts are getting more and more protective to buyers )  and fight hard with clear understanding of your position and rights. The bilateralism of contracts is  an essential  principle and any clause against or dismissing this can be invoked as abusive and therefore null and void.  Therefore if there are specific time clauses for the buyers´obligations, it needs to be specific time clauses for the seller.

http://www.costaluzlawyers.es/eng/?p=25

  FInd below an example of Court decission stating that the inprecise completion date is abusive ane therefore null and void .This sort of decissions, together with Consumers Law ( national and european) and general priciples of Law and provisions contained in book 4 title 2 of the Civil Code make a strong deffense against those imprecise essential terms of the contract:

I have a similar issue with a large developer in the Murcia region (Polaris) who in the contract stipulated an exact date the property would be ready by otherwise we had a two week window to notify them that we wanted to pull out.  This we did through our lawyer.  Now our lawyer is telling us that Polaris are now saying the property is ready however neither ourselves or the lawyer ever were notified it was by the date.  We have found out there are another 20 people who are also in a simlar situation trying to cancel contracts and the developer saying the property is ready.  However our lawyer says he has tried to photgraph the properties but has been refused access.

Anyone else having similar issues???

Hi RAGONP,

From what I've learned this past year clauses in contracts that are written in such a way that are clearly unfair to the buyer can be effectively "Struck Out" by a judge in any litigation proceedings! Your developer I'm sure would have given you specific dates to pay over your deposits with penalty clauses being applied for any late payment? They also say that you would forfeit your deposit should you not complete within 3 months of when "they" say the property has been completed.

Your solicitor should of course have pointed all of this out before you signed your contract. It's simply not reasonable to have an "open ended" contract period when they are holding your money! Personally, I would have your contract scrutinised by an independant litigation lawyer who has proven experience of taking this type of case through the legal system.

Good Luck and BE PROACTIVE................

raganp:

of course: non time defined contracts-- null and void.

Best regards,

Maria L. de Castro

Hi everyone

Have just received a phone call from our lawyer Martinez attached to MRI to let us know our 2 bedroom penthouse apartment on Roda Golf is due for completion in June. However, they have an issue with the developers regarding our property.

We purchased our 2 bedroom penthouse with solarium on a two storey block but the developers have built another apartment on top of this so therefore we are in middle and do not now have a solarium. We are being offered a choice of two options 1. stay with same apartment which is now middle floor without a solarium and receive a refund or 2. move to the top floor and stay with solarium but pay extra 32000 euros.

We have refused to accept either option stating that we want absolutely nothing shorter than what we paid for and dont expect to pay any extra for a  top floor solarium. Oh dear........ my head is now such a muddle!

Would appreciate any thoughts on this matter that may help us reach a decision. Martinez are away speaking with developers and getting back to us on Monday.

Cheers

June

Hi June,

Stick out for what you were told you'd bought & certainly don't pay 32,000€ extra, that's just not on. (32,000€ WHAT ????? ) 

Janice

See ? I'm annoyed for you !

Sorry to say this but as far as I am aware the apartments at Roda Golf were always 3 storeys...I can give you details if you want

It seems that MRI have sold you a first floor apartment not top floor  

If you like Roda Golf [and no reason not to]  then you have to make a  decision

Your contract will be with Roda Golf so look at it in detail

if it does say'  2 storey penthouse with solaruim' then you just need a good advice to  get the best deal

The contract should show the apartment details so it should be quite clear

Hi rowlandsbb

I can assure you most of the apartments were 3 storey but not all of them. The apartment that we were sold was on an end block only 2 storey high. I would be very interested in seeing the details you have.

Our MRI offer and reservation receipt states that we have purchased a Penthouse apartment .The contract detail from Roda Golf only refers to the property by number only starting with F2 -- -- -- -- which I assume is second floor but no further detail.

That aside if there were only 3 storey apartments then why would the lawyer phone to say we have an issue with the builder having built on top of our apartment therefore losing our solarium, then offering us a refund. If MRI had sold us a first floor and not a top floor apartment then why the phone call claiming there is an issue. We definately bought and paid for a 2nd floor 2bedroom penthouse apartment.

I have also noticed tonight on sifting through the contract that it says 'all expenses and taxes arising from the signing of the purchase public deed will be payable by the purchaser, including the plusvalia tax' is this correct as I understood the builder had to pay this tax.

Janice

Thank you for your support and taking some of the anger from me. I can see us with a fight on our hands unfortunately but hopefully not.

June

Hi June,

You said "I have also noticed tonight on sifting through the contract that it says 'all expenses and taxes arising from the signing of the purchase public deed will be payable by the purchaser, including the plusvalia tax' is this correct as I understood the builder had to pay this tax."

If you signed the contract with this on I think it's tough luck. The developer often tries to offload these expenses & taxes onto the buyer ! Our own contract in Spanish had this on also although our English copy had no such clause (conveniently omitted). As our agent had pushed their legal dept & we had left it to them to look after our interests as we were naive & knew no different, we insisted they were at fault as they hadn't checked the contract. We insisted THEY pay the Plus Valia. On a 195,000€ property it was 1,345€, no mean sum. They paid it.

Janice

Thanks

Janice we will check all this out when the lawyer phones again Monday - nightmare! Will keep you informed as things progress.

June

Hi June,

We have had many a chat in past posts about yours and our excitement on buying our new spanish homes. I was so upset to see that all is not going too well for you now. A penthouse apartment whichever way you look at it is always on the top so don't see how they can hope to get out of this. You must be devastated. I do hope that you will be able to resolve this and try not to worry too much. I know that is easy to say at this stage but I really do hope it can be. sorry I can't offer any advice apart from just wishing you all the luck in the world.

Gina

Hi Gina

Thank you for your support and so glad to hear that all is going well for you. I have been reading the posts but not responding much these days as we have been busy and away from home a lot.

Yes to say we were devastated at the news this evening is an under statement. For over 2 years now we have been fairly confident that Roda Golf was the right choice for us and delighted at its progress, but to be hit at this late stage (we were supposed to complete this month) is nothing short of a nightmare. If they have built another apartment on top of ours surely this has not just happened so why leave it this long before letting us know. At the end of the day though we have paid for a 2 bedroom penthouse apartment no matter what and we will not settle for anything less.

June

Rowlandsbb

Just to confirm that the apartments in Roda Golf are 2 storey at each end of a block with 3 storey in the middle so not sure why they would choose to build up on ours which was at the end of a block.

June

HI,

We have a penthouse apartment on phase 1 and it has 3 floors and we on the end, I think you have been misold your property.Hopefully you will win the argument, i certainly would pay an extra 32000.Fight your case

Hi Candyfloss,

Just to add to the confusion,you can actually get a penthouse apartment on the ground,first,second floor.........

The same as you can get a 2 storey bungalow!!!!!!!!

I understand from previous posts that you are a uk agent as i was long ago,you have to appreciate there is no mis-decriptions act in Spain as there is in the UK.

Basically you can call a spade a shovel as long as it's on the escritura.

In saying that someone has made a massive boo boo and mislead and mis sold you Locins unfortunately it will be down to you to prove this.

I wish you all the luck,stand your ground and make as much noise as possible to all parties concerned is my advice,it is a shame because Roda is a lovely development.

Big Boys strike again!!

All the best

Georgia

Hi Folks

Karen you say ' Iwould certainly pay an extra 32,000. Fight your case.' is this a mistake?

Georgia I cannot believe this has all happened now as we have waited over 2 years and meant to be completing this month - why has this not been picked up before now?

Someone has made a major boo boo and we will shout as loud as possible to try and rectify our situation. We are of course hoping that our lawyer will understand and fight our case so we can come to a solution quickly and easily.

Of course, we also think Roda is lovely and want to stay there but not to our detriment.

June