Costa Luz Lawyers lead the way in communicating with their clients

Kelju, I became particularly interested in this thread because of the comments about agents hiding assets. However this is not really relevant to the thread either. I can see that you are getting very irritated by this, but as you say you have got everything you need from this thread I suggest you stop being so possessive about it. I know you started it, but you could check out of it and let others ask their questions and express their views. Not intending to be rude, but thinking of your stress levels. Dave.

Monthly reports will be sent out before the 20th this month and, hopefully, the online autoupdate system very soon too. Believe me, we are working intensively in this right now and the difficulties have been almost overcome.

Again, thanks for your patience and be sure we are doing our best and are almost there.

Maria,

Can you advise re the costs involved in taking action against the Bank for non provision of BG, as well as action against the developer where breach of contract has occured. Are the legal costs doubled as this could prove cost prohibitive for clients?

We do not double the costs and charge just one initial provision of funds for all the required work, but... every lawyer can have his/her own rules, being respectful to the minimums of the Bar Association.

Best,

Maria

I asked this same question to Maria on 5th April on the thread "Legal advice please" where Maria was advising this course of action to Verona.

I said for the purpose of the excercise let's say the deposit paid was EUR75k.

I wanted a ballpark rather than it depends on scale fees and/or bar association.

You could also try asking Irwin Mitchell in their new blog Irwin Mitchell Launches New Spanish Property Blog

our replies crossed - better answer this time thanks

Thank you Maria.

Hi a question for Maria, regarding the execution of a bank guarantee, if the judges sentance comes back in the consumers favour, i would like to know overall how compliant are the devolopers and banks at acknowledging this sentance? I ask this as with an earlier post by M11, they have found they clearly dont have to be compliant! is this common? also what is the average timescale they take to send the deposit to the court. Surely its in their best interest to do this asap as interest will be mounting up.

Thanks

Put the question back up as you may of missed it.

Thanks

Banks usually acknowledge these Sentences right away. Some of them appeal though. Developerd have nothing to acknowledge if.the caqse is for the execution of a Bank Guarantee,

Hope this helps,

Best regards,

Maria

Maria,

You say that Banks usually respond straight away but what if the deposit is backed by an insurance policy not a bank? 

Does the Insurance company usually respond and pay the deposit money back? 

Is the money just as safe with the Insurance company as with the banks?

Our Insurance company is ASEFA and so far they have not paid back monies to clients even after their case has been won in the courts!!

Is this a reputable insurance company and what can be done to speed up the procedure?

Many thanks

It depends on companies. If not paying, start an enforcing procedure against the Insurance entity

Maria,

How long would that procedure take?  Why would the insurance company not pay if they have given the developer the insurance against cancellation etc.. and if the courts find in favour of the purchaser surely they need to pay immediately.

One other question where exactly does the money we pay as deposit/stage payments go?  Does the developer use this money and if so why is the developer able to use our funds and then we have to take the insurance company to court who subsequently fail to pay back our deposits. 

Is it not the case that the funds should be held in a safe account and only released to the developer on completion of the project?

Thank you

Answers below in bold green:

 Maria,

How long would that procedure take? It depends on Insurance company´s reaction and assets.  Why would the insurance company not pay if they have given the developer the insurance against cancellation etc.. and if the courts find in favour of the purchaser surely they need to pay immediately. Possibly due to finantial difficulties.

One other question where exactly does the money we pay as deposit/stage payments go?  Does the developer use this money and if so why is the developer able to use our funds and then we have to take the insurance company to court who subsequently fail to pay back our deposits. The developer can use that money just for building purposes. That´s why the money needs to be deposited into a Bank or Saving Bank´s account and needs to be monitorised by these institutions. That´s why one of the obligations of Banks in off-plan building procesess is to secure that  the Bank Guarantees, for the refund either if the development is not started or ended on time, exists. Banks and Saving Banks were entrusted as guardians of these deposits by Law 57/68 and are under obligation to respond if the said Guarantees do not exist.  

Is it not the case that the funds should be held in a safe account and only released to the developer on completion of the project? Just to be released for building purposes.

Thank you

Maria,

Thank you for answering my questions.

Kind regards

Maria,

Has this Law been tested against the Banks/Savings Banks in this regard  (for return of deposited monies) under the circumstances that you described below where a BG had not been provided?

Has any precedent been set as yet?

Might this be considered a test case at this stage and not legally proven as yet?

How confident are you of success for return of monies against a Bank where deposited monies were placed, and a successful first instance judgement was reached based on breach of contract due to late completion, but no legal BG was provided by the developer? Would costs and interest from both legal actions  be recoverable from the Bank?

Maria,

Sorry to repeat but could you answer the questions immediately below please as I am sure that there are many people out there who would be grateful for some clarification on this.

Many thanks.

The questions are as follows:

Has this Law been tested against the Banks/Savings Banks in this regard  (for return of deposited monies) under the circumstances that you described below where a BG had not been provided?

Has any precedent been set as yet?

Might this be considered a test case at this stage and not legally proven as yet?

How confident are you of success for return of monies against a Bank where deposited monies were placed, and a successful first instance judgement was reached based on breach of contract due to late completion, but no legal BG was provided by the developer? Would costs and interest from both legal actions  be recoverable from the Bank?

For those interested Maria answered my query from the last posting below within the rough justice yet again thread.

Thanks Maria.

Maria

I would like to ask whether the long awaited monthly report that was supposed to be available to your clients on 20.4.2010 is still being e:mailed to us or is there still a delay? 

Kind regards Chrissie1

Hi Maria

Can you tell me, if Htl go into liquidation, would purchases still have a claim against SJ's assets, or would

they only have a claim against the assets of Htl?    The question refers to SADM(JUMILLA)

ANNJOE

 I would need to see the specifics of your case: if there was Bank Guarantee or not and some other details of the contract.