We have not signed our contract. Is it still legal ?

We were due to complete at the end of April 2009.  We have not heard anything from the developer so I was looking over the contract and have realised that we did not sign the contract because we were sent the wrong floor plans.  We have paid over 40,000 euros deposit.  We were told to sign the contract and return it to the developers.  Is our contract still legal ?  Any information would be helpful. Thanks

So you paid 40.000 € before signing a contract of your accptance?

HI Maria,  I think we received the contract through the post before we paid the deposit.  We were asked to sign all of the pages and also sign the plan but the floor plan was incorrect.  Our agent said that it did not matter about the floor plan but that they would send out the correct plan.  We did not receive that so we did not sign the contract and send it back. The deposit was due.  They contract stated that the developer (would try to complete by the end of April 2009) with the usual things that might hold up the development.  They were keeping themselves covered.  Apart from that everything looked OK. We paid the deposit in May 2007

Unusual paying a 40.000 € deposit and no signed contract but anyway that is now history and you need to take a pragmatic approach to your situation

You need a good lawyer and advice

Also chase up the selling agent  but do not mess about

This message was last edited by rowlandsbb on 04/05/2009.

HI Rowlandsbb

Our agent Medsea Estates are out of business so no help from them.

OK…you have a difficult situation

It is not a ‘ Spanish situation’ as it would be just the same in UK if you had done the same thing..sorry!

You appear to have given a developer 40.000 € with no contract and no Bank guarantee

And now no information from the developer

You should have a lawyer so at least give then a chance to help you…say 7 days to respond..they maybe OK

You want to know ASAP what is happening other wise you do not know your options

If not get a new lawyer ASAP

By the way which development is it?

Apparantly I do have a Bank Guarantee.  I received an e-mail on April 2008 from my lawyer to say that it was in place and is being held at their office until completion.

That is good news

But still find out how you stand.....as if ithe developer has not met the contract date you will be able to exercise the Bank Guarantee

Just one bit of advice before I close on this thread........the original bank guarantee is a very important document and you should get hold if it as soon as you can.....your lawyer may be OK and probably is 'but you should have the BG 'just to be safe!!!  

There is no specific date on my contract, just says try to complete by end of April 2009.

Thanks for your advice. I will chase this up ASAP

hello - we are in the same situation exactly - paid 40,000Edeposit  into what we were told was a Medsea Client Account   (following 6000E initial reservation). Medsea had not organised the solicitors when they sent demand for the 40,000 and a preliminary purchasing agreement so we didnt pay it and didn't sign the agreement at that point. 

The preliminary contract duly arrived from the solicitors  but there were several mistakes in it so we asked them to ammend it and pending the ammendements as the date for the payment of deposit  had already passed we paid the deposit into the client account which we assumed would be safe until the contract was correct and signed. I have chased the solicitors constantly and failed to get an ammended contract even though I have letters on file of apology from them and promising to send the ammended contract. The case has been ongoing for three years now. The development is just a pile of earth and I hear now that it is unlikely ever to get off the ground. Medsea are non-contactable and, I have since discovered , transferred our deposit from their client account  to the 'vendor ' Bella Callabria in Italy even though they had no contract or agreement from us for the purchase ! I feel sure this is illegal having looked at the Ministry of Justice notes on 'Client Accounts'.

I have reported the lawyers Giambrone Law this week to the LCS and the SRA as I feel they have broken their professional code of practice and have been negligent - they have failed so often to reply to correspondence and have certainly failed to keep us duly informed , They failed to notify us of constant changes in the  lawyer looking after our case and also failed to discuss with us their intention to transfer our file from their UK office to their Italian office - we just heard from them after it had happened .Ther client manager has also been positively obstructive in preventing direct contact with a qualified lawyer (I have looked at the Uk code where they are a registered company and also the code for european lawyers ) It seems they too are no longer contactable and may have gone/ be going into closure) . I am in the process of putting together a formal complaint to be sent to them as the first step in a claim against them. I have made them aware of this and have requested the details advised by the LCS ie. their complaints procedure, who will be directly responsible for dealing with the complaint , the times scale proposed for a substantive response and the names of their insurers. I have had no reply to my request for this information - 4 days ago.

I have reasonably requested repayment of our deposit from the 'vendor' Bella Calabria this week and await a response but maybe will have to take legal action against these too if not forthcoming.

Any advice /help/support anyone can share would be much appreciated. I may need the name of a very very good lawyer - i prefer the aggressive hard hitting , fast acting type and I want as much involvement as possible with regard to putting the cases together . I have successfully taken a couple of Global Pharmaceutical companies to tribunal over the past couple of years - sickened by the way they think they can keep employees in the dark and manipulate the criteria for redundancy  and I have served as staff representative on a redundancy consultative committe another horrific illuminating experience of how management think they can treat employees ! I have an absolute thirst for justice and am extremely thorough  in keeping records.

Help /Advice please ????

I have picked up here that I need to get a copy of the bank guarantee which I dont personnaly have but have evidence on file that the solicitors have it (for what that is worth if they are going out of business )

Click1958

 Friendly, Click 1958 But you keep the contract document and receipts of payments made to the company... correct?

Contract (unsigned kept). Re payment receipt. More information on its way to you. Thanks so much for your help.

I have just spoke to my solicitor who said that my contract is fine although it has not been signed.  They said that when a deposit is paid means that you have a contract with your developer.                                                                                                  

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone on EOS who replied with their advice and assistance.