Costa Luz Lawyers lead the way in communicating with their clients

Hello Maria, I hope you had a happy Easter.  I am not unhappy about the electronic communication at the moment as it will not be a magic fix, it will only be as good as the news is that you send us. If there is no good news then an electronic communication will only tell us to be patient, or will it only tell us if there is something to report. 

We have waited over 12 months now since the judge passed sentence in our favour but we are still waiting to hear if the refund of deposit, interest and costs can be taken from his account or assets. Could you tell us what the expected timescale is for this or does it just depend on the judge.  You mentioned in one of your blogs, that if the due dilegence of your court workers is having no effect that there was a procedure you could go through to hurry things up. Could you explain what this procedure is and what is a 'reasonable timescale'  to wait before you enforce the procedure. Thank you RG

For those cases, where the developer does not honour the Court decission amicably and we need to go through long and unadvantageous execution proceedings, we are starting simultaneous actions against the Bank you paid your depoist to for negligence in the securing of the existence of the Bank Guarantees.

We honestly think it is the best way ahead.

Best regards,

Maria

Hi M11 block, ur post has hit a nerve with me! just when i thought i could be near the end of my process of the execution of my bank guarantee and ready to get on with my life with my deposit back. Your post to say the least has not made my day! You say that after the judge passed his sentance in your favour your still WAITING for your money after a year! Nightmare. I executed my bank guarantee back in september 2007, the judge found in my favour in october 2008, the developer appealed (obviously), then i attended court in march 2009, the judge is suppose to pass a sentance within 20 working days of the court date, i am still waiting for a sentance on my case more then a year after! If that was not bad enough, i actually thought (stupid me) once sentance was passed, which HOPEFULLY will be in my favour, that i may have my deposit in my bank account within a month! But now i have read your post im gutted (again) to think i could still be waiting in a years time, this is unthinkable. Ill need a few drinks tonight. All i can hope for is that every case is different, which of course it is, but ive been hoping for alot of things and been very dissapointed. The length of time for things to happen in Spain is beyond belief, its not fair and causes so much stress. The EOS website is such a good place to find out things, but unfortunatly there are posts that tell the whole truth and give you a timely reality check.

Hi Simone sorry if my message upset you but we are devastated and finding it more than frustrating, as you say you think once the judge has passed sentence the money would be back in your account. We were so excited when we got the email that said we had won our case but Spain is not like England, where if companies don't pay up the bailiffs move in.  We didn't know this until we were told about the second Judge's sentence needed to access his assets. as he would not co-operate.  Again we were told it will come but you need to be patient, but after Maria's reply last night it looks like the second judgement could be years down the line and yet another procedure needs to be carried out  We don't know anything about this, what it will involve or again how long it will take.  Lawyers must also be totally frustrated with this system as surely they need to be able to access the finances to be able to claim back their costs and fees etc.

I also had an email last night from someone living on Sierra Golf to say that on the 1st of April the Habitation Certificates  for our building block M11 were ready for handing over, but there is some problem with the builders/developers which may mean further court cases. 

The Spanish legal system is so complicated, slow and sometimes unjust to the point of giving criminals an unfair advantage, we just can't believe it. If developers and builders can just totally ignore the courts, not reply to any correspondence or sentences, then just sit back knowing that the judge hasn't got time to pass the sentence to access their assets then they know full well they can just get away with cheating the buyers.  And if in the years between people putting their deposit on a property and waiting for the judges sentence; the developers goes into liquidation, then they have totally won.  They can just change their names start up again and they are pounds (euros) in pocket.  But whatever happens I am sure they will never be able to sell our house as we have paid 40% so technically 40% is ours until they pay up what we have paid plus all the costs involved.

Good luck, and as you say all cases are different so hopefully you will get that email or phone call soon to say your cheque is ready. RG

M11 Block,

Is your claim against a Bank Guarantee or the Developer?

I Too have received notification that we have won our case but this is against the Bank Guarantee which in this case is an Insurance based gurantee.

I also got very excited when told we had won and thought that the repayment of our money would be in a matter of weeks, we even dared to start looking at property again and have made a few enquiries on the strength of receiving our money.

Looks like we have got all excited prematurely, hope a Bank Guarantee pays out as per the guarnatee and we are not waiting forever.

Yours Despondant,

Kelju

Hi Maria, I am sorry but I am confused by your reply about simultaneous actions against the bank that we paid our deposit to.  I thought we paid our initial deposit to the Agent and the rest of the deposit 40% to the Builder and not a bank. We had no bank guarantee, so the only bank we were involved with was the one that the agents took us to to open a bank account.  Therefore, is it the builder and not the developer or the bank, that we paid our deposit to that you take the action out against.  

I am not sure if it isbecause of the electronic communication being held up, but we have not had any communication regarding the simultaneous action that needs to be taken. RG

You are all making valid cases for exposing the knock on effects of court delays on the Spanish Judicial system which I and several other people within EOS have been trying to bring to everyone's attention for ages now. PLEASE all of you write to your MEP's and as many Spanish MEP's as you can, (as per the thread titled Spanish Property Scandal) to bring the matter of court delays and the dire effect they are having on the administration of Justice in Spain to the attention of the EU. It's a scandal in itself let alone all the other abuses that are continuing as we speak.

Hi, M11block,

Hope I'm not giving you even more bad news but when you say the developer won't be able to sell your property because you've paid 40% deposit I think that you'll find that if you have refused to complete on the purchase and the deadline for completion has passed then he will have every right to sell.  I don't know which development you're on but I'm assuming the property is finished and has a LFO.

Hi Dougie, the property should have been finished in March 07, there is still no Habitation Certificate and we have not cancelled the contract, the builder has because he has broken the contract.  The Development is Sierra Golf.

Maria

I am sure you will be enjoying the Easter celebrations but I would appreciate an up date as soon as you can.  I have sent you an e:mail and we have receieved a letter from our builder asking for us to vote during next week (12th-16th). I would appreciate your advice. 

Many thanks Chrissie1

How long is the Easter break in Spain?

When can we expect the promised updates?

Frustrated

Kelju

Kelju

Ive seen at least 4 easter breaks since my builder went into administration and there is always something critical that happens. I think they get back to work next week.  Its always furstrating just hang in there hopefully Maria and her team will help us next week.

As frustrated as you.

Regards Chrissie1

Thanks Chrissie.

Hopefully we will hear somehting next week.

Kelju

 Back from Easter celebrations: all yours.

M

Maria

Thank you.  I have PM'd you.

Regards Chrissie1

 I dislike giving negative news BUT ! Has anyone advised any of the desperate property purchasers of the possible out come of winning against the promoter after years of costs and stress to find that the developer has either 1. Gone totally bankrupt 2. Hidden his assets which is common in Spain. Also ask your lawyers if the debt can be what is known in Spain as prescrito, which means after x amount of years the debt is not payable.

Myra

I agree with you and I have said many times litigation lawyers are failing to advise clients correctly as to possible outcomes and costs/timeframe etc.

Sometimes I believe buyers might be better off trying to communicate directly with bank or developer and trying to make the best of a bad deal.

Spain is an incredibly procedural environment and that can also lead to increased cost ...........

Also if the developer is on the verge of collapse and has no money then why litigate and get caught in the crossfire when developer does go into liquidation.

I personally believe there are as many bad outcomes as positive (meaning cash back etc) but the positives are used to drum up business and some law firms are making more now as litigators than they did from cenveyancing in the boom days!

But part of the problem is desperate property purchasers want to believe the person who says I can get your money back for you.

Myra rightly identifies

"Hidden his assets which is common in Spain. "

What, if anything, is being done to tackle illegal asset stripping by developers in their endeavour to avoid their debts (transference of assets, post enforcement orders)? I would like to know if group action might be a possibility to tackle this abuse head on (to limit the costs of such legal action). Has anyone had any success against this form of abuse Maria and can this be classed as criminal action?

It becomes obvious to many that the significant court delays are giving developers time and opportunity to transfer their assets, so where do clients stand with regard to the law if this is the case, Maria? Are they protected by law  from the outset of instigating court action, or are they protected once they win their case, or are they protected when they issue a provisional enforcement order, or are they not protected at all?

Sadly " hidden'' assets are a problem in all countries. A lot of the time they are not " hidden'' just in other names, be that company or persons.

I had recently a debt of £29k, after a judgement in my favour he went bankrupt. Surprise, surprise all his assets were in the name of his family members. As he was a sole trader not a limited company not even 10p in the pound. I had done business with this guy for 8 years! He still has a 500k house and drives a rather nice Audi convertible

So what chances there are of tackling this who knows?