Bank Guarantee

We too like many others are still waiting for the building to be started on Las Islas in Terrazas de la Torre. We have been told this will not happen in the near future if at all and to be honest are completely stressed out and fed up with all the lies we have been told by Polaris World.

Polaris World never respond to any form of communication so we have instructed our Spanish lawyer to go to court to get the bank guarantee so that we can get our money back.

Has anyone been successful in getting the bank guarantee and the money back and if so how long did it take.

Surely Polaris World must be made to take some responsibility for all this as they are giving Spain a bad reputation. 

Any advice or comments welcome.

As spain is completely corrupt from the president down, don't hold your breath

Bank Guarantees are being executed and money is being refunded without major problems in Spain. Just find a good independent lawyer with good knowledge of the related techniques for these specific cases.

Alamred: well... what can I say about Spain and corruption?... I do think things are much better now ( in terms of legallity) than 4-5 years ago.

Best regards,

Maria

' Bank Guarantees are being executed and money is being refunded without major problems in Spain.' ?????????

I think Maria you must be having a laugh!!! 

I think Maria is correct provided the BG is written in accordance with the law

A recent example I have had , a development mothballed by developer ,and lawyers instructed to exercise BG just before Easter 2009

Money paid by bank tansfer to buyers account [ not l;awyers] first week of June 2009 with interest for 2 years..and it was not neccessary to go to Spain to surrender the actual BG documents......the bank accepted they existed and did the transfer .....just had a check with the buyers Spanish Bank that they had an account with them

Lawyers cost 1000 €

Logic really..if you have a well written BG, take the correct procedure and then sensible business practise applies

I do suspect that some of the lawyers used by buyers are not really experienced and others just try to milk the UK buyers!!!

However, with the recession ,and I think because UK buyers are now more savy, perhaps because of forums like EOS, that the days for these lawyers are over!!  

So if you have a BG get a good lawyer and it will get sorted.....well that is my experience as there may well be some exceptions!

Alamred

Which bank is it?

cam, i know of other unfortunate buyers who where given bbva. duetche bank, i am sure many disgruntled buyers here can give you a long list.

crooks, scum, corruption, torch the lot of them

well...  banks have refunded 4-5 clients of us this current week: it seems to me that they are responding to  executions  when properly done, but of course Alamred I respect what you say regarding your own experience and wish you all the luck!

A couple of Golden Rules for all off plan purchasers in Spain:

1. Make sure you or your Lawyer receives - and holds on your file - the original bank guarantees bearing the developer’s and bank’s signature. Any dispute with your developer means you are unlikely to get an original BG once the dispute is underway.

2. Ask your Lawyer to check and confirm to you in writing when, and if, the Bank Guarantee(s) expires and under what circumstances.

3. Ask your Lawyer to ensure that the Bank Guarantee is formally renewed at any relevant point either because it expires before the "legal" completion of the development - BG's are often phrased to expire on the "application" for the License of First Occupation and there is a clear risk of a significant time delay between the "application" and "granting" of the LIFO - or because of further stage payments made by you.

Hope this helps!

Mark
 

Very sensible but just now and I suspect for some time to come, off plan as we have known it over the last decade, is now dead in the ' concrete'!

No need to buy off plan a property which will not be ready for 2 years or so ,as there is lots of choice of ready now and re sales...it is better to see what you are getting!!!

The  feed back from clients is that this is the prevailing approach partly caused by all the propblems which have arisen and are still takiing place as builders are facing up to the problems of the credit crunch 

May make it more difficult for the Spanish developers when the  recovery gets going, but to get sales they may well have to build on spec just like the UK housebuilders in the main do or with a very short time scale

But there will of course be those who buy individual villas etc built to their own spec when these simple rules of making sure that the BG is properly written apply       

Understood but you may have overlooked those who are still perfomring under a PPC on properties that are not yet completed. The advice is simple don't wait for a dispute to arise to make sure that your advice, understanding and files are in good order.

Being based on the Costa del Sol and running a Buyer's Agency, I have been active in the discounted market for a while. The direct from bank/caja or developer prospects are huge, real information is sketchy and purchaser's are still being asked to take a "trust us" approach to their decision making. That's not sufficient for wary clients. Let's see if those of us involved in the market can all raise the bar by transparency, market intelligence and integrity. Demand seems to be returning and it gives us an opportutnity to get it right. 

Best of luck with your endeavours.

Regards,

Mark

I agree with you Mark and in a way dealing with banks anywhere is always ' buyer beware'!!......they only look after themselves!