Dear Readers
A year a two ago my Mother and Step-Father went to Spain to view a number of proposed development sites via an agent.
It was only when they arrived home did it become apparent to me that they had signed up for a £100k+ property. The Agent sold the property on the theory that they should take on a mortgage and rent out the property. It was stated that the property rental value should more than cover the mortage, and the property should rise in value making thier investment grow.
I was very uneasy with the whole situation and couldn't understand how my Mother and Step-Father could get a mortage at their age. My Mother is 60 and Step-Father is 70. Although, it was intimated by my Mother at one point that I would need to sign something (I would of never signed anything because this I suspect would put my house up as collateral), but luckily this never materialised.
At this point the development is currently 12 months or more behind schedule. I have recently learned from my Mother that their mortgage application has now been refused (what a suprise) due to their age. This now leaves them in a very vulnerable position as they have already paid a third deposit on the property (circa £30k) and cannot now afford the property. The developer has now stated that the only way to salvage this situation is to either use their house as collateral or seek another interested party. Both of these two options are not possible.
I believe that the property has been mis-sold to my parents on the premise that they would be eligible for a mortgage when in fact their age prevents from being eligible for a mortgage. If the company was registered in the UK the law would surely safeguard against this and I would be confident of recouping the deposit. But as the company is registered in Spain what is the best way of recovering the deposit?
As you can probably tell from the email the topic is quite emotional now for my Mother as she has put her pension into this apartment. Two weeks ago my Mother and Step-Father attended a conference and confronted an employee of the company. The employee confidently said that they would easily be able to sell the property on for my Mother as there was great demand for these apartments. This is contrary to what I believed was happening to the property market in Spain. I do not believe that the developer will be in contact with my Mother again and are not taking this issue seriously. I will ultimately take this up with the Managing Director if there is no response from the other Senior staff.
Therefore, if there is any advice you could offer on this emotive subject it would be much appreciated.
Thanks.