I have some concerns in relation to an off plan property that I put down a deposit to purchase in June 2006. At the time of the initial deposit I was told that the development would be completed in October 2008 and that the bank guarantees were in place. Therefore I made the purchase on this basis.
There have been a number of problems in relation to the completion of the first part of the purchase, then in getting the bank guarantees.
I purchased the property on the basis that I was told that the bank guarantees were in place (in June 2006) - later I found out that they were not in place.
I raised questions about the bank guarantees several times during 2007 and kept getting told by my lawyers that they would be in place soon and that the works on the development would start in the summer of 2007. I kept asking my lawyer about whether I could pull out of the deal as no bank guarantees were in place and they kept telling me to wait and see
The bank guarantees in fact did not come into place until January 2008. The private purchase contract was signed with a completion date of December 2008 but when the bank guarantees came into place in Jan 2008, I was told by my lawyers that the completion date has been moved to June 2010. I objected to this quite strongly. I purchased an off plan property on the basis that it would be ready by the end of this year, I do not want to wait until 2010. It is a long time to wait. I asked what my rights were in relation to pulling out. I was told that if I wanted to pull out that I would lose 50% of my deposit. My lawyer also told me that it was my fault and if i had wanted to pull out I should have told them earlier - but I have copies of my correspondence with them that I asked again and again about the bank guarantees and why they were not in place and why the works had not started.
Since then, I have done a lot of research myself to find out what my rights are in spain in relation to this purchase and have found that there is a consumer and contract law to protect the consumer and this is when I have found out that there there is an OMIC which can maybe help me to recover all my monies. All of this information I got from this website and through reading articles by Maria (thank you Maria).
I have contacted the lawyers again and raised a lot more queries now that I am aware of my rights however I have been told that I cannot get my monies back until after the completion date has been breached. However I am not happy with this as the developers lied in June 2006 when they told me that the bank guarantees were already in place and also I feel that the lawyers have not protected my interests properly - i.e. when the bank guarantees were not in place by the stated time in the private purchase contract, they should have taken steps to recover all my monies - they did not do that. Even when I kept asking questions about my rights in early 2008, they did not inform me about my rights. I am still waiting for answers to many of the questions that I have asked the lawyers.
I understand that under consumer law I should be able to get my monies back with 6% interest if the developer breaches the completion date. As they already know that the completion date of December 2008 is not going to be met (as the building license was only granted on 17/8/08, do I really have to wait for this. Is there any way that I can get my monies back earlier than that given the lies and deception that has been going on since June 2006.
What can I do to sort this out quickly so that I can get my money back as quickly as possible.