Marin dor off plan in Tamesna morocco

I wonder if any body out there can advice me on the legal position regarding my investement in Morocco.I bought 4 off plan apartments from marina dor in oxford street london in 2007.In the sales pitch they said they would have letting office in tamesna ,morocco who would take care of letting for the buyers.They also promised things to individual investers like flat screen tvs,marble flooring or partial furnishing.However I was swayed by the letting office as this was investment only and the area was not suitable for holiday  home.They promised area will be developed with shopping malls ,hotels hospital and university.I payed my deposit and also introduced friend to purchase one apartmet.

However soon after ward the staff I was dealing with were dismissed one by one until no on of the old staff were left who were on the initial sales night.I asked in writing if the letting office was going to be there and when the new staff came in they said no letting office and no one would give a straight answer in writing. I had meetings in london office with their director from spain and he said no letting office ,then I decided not to go ahead and invest anymore and asked for my deposit back . we have reached a point where they said they are terminating the contract and will keep the deposit.

Is there any point in taking them to court or just say good bye to my money(£13000).I would like to hear from other investers who bought in the tamesna development  in Morocco.Their lond oxford street office is closed and sold .Please advice if what i should do.

many thanks 

 I see you never got an answer to this post.  I am currently at Marina D'or (Spain) staying in my apartment here but no-one here seems to have info on Morocco.  I have just been contacted by Melanie in Morocco saying my apartment is complete and I need to come to Morocco to sign the deeds.  I don't know what to do.

I have not heard one iota about how this development was progressing since I signed and paid a deposit at a property show in Manchester some years ago.  The sales blurb at the time said they were building a brand new town for the king of Morocco as his people had run out of space and they were creating new places for the natives to live.  These would not be holiday homes but the local people would buy them on completion.  We would cash in a profit at that point.

There has been no further communication until now when they appear to want me to buy the property.  That is ridiculous!  What do I want with an apartment in Morocco?  Where would I get the money in this climate?  I have no idea what to do next and Marina D'or as a company are as ever useless.  Here in Spain we got nothing we were promised and the "Todo el ano" resort has no amenities and is largely closed most of the year.  Without the campsites we would have nowhere to go and eat.  And we live near an airport that cost 150 million euros, opened in March yet has no flights.

All in all MD Group seem experts at enticing people to invest in useless places with unfulfilled promises.  Did you find anywhere else to help you with MD MAroc?

Hi

I live in Morocco. Tamesna city is a real estate project launched years ago. It faced some problems that slowed it down. But it's currently in progress. The program is called "Tamesna city" and there is " Jerdins de Tamesna". It's all about a new city with social housing. Nothing for holidays. I have never heard about the Marina de Tamesna.

Can you find out any information related to the company in Morocco. Do you have an adress of the project? Please send me some details , and I will be happy to check directly here in Morocco. May be a visit there or a phone call can help. Who knows????

alia

 Hi Alia

Thanks for responding.  I won't be able to get you more details until I get back to the UK later this week.  However I can tell you that Grupo Marina D'or said they were the developers for Jardines de Tamesna and they sold me the deal.  However I am staying in an apartment in Spain at the moment that they sold me off-plan in 2004 and little of what they promised then has ever been delivered.  So I don't trust them.

I'll get back to you within the week.  Thanks again

Brian

 Hello again Alia

I have now found the folder with all the information about my purchase in Les Jardins de Tamesna.  The apartment block is called Les Palmiers 1.  The company is Grupo Marina D'or Maroc.  They are a Spanish company so the information that I have is in Spanish but a covering e-mail in English (from a German employee of Marina D'or!) says  I have No.85 on the first floor. It was priced at MDH 448.130.30.

The price has two full stops.  Is that normal?  Do you know if that is a good price?  Do you know if these apartments are or will be popular with the community?

Sorry for all the questions.  I cannot get a mortgage to fund the balance myself (I would assume based on my UK credit record) so I wanted to know if I could flip it on to a local.  Actually I don't really know what to think.  If I was wealthy, or still credit worthy, I guess I would come out and have a look and talk to people about it.  And try and get a mortgage if rental prospects were good.  Any perspective you can give me would be most helpful.  Or anyone else for that matter.

Thanks again

Brian

Hi

My colleagues and I have a similar experience with Marin dor and our off plan purchase of apartment in Tamesna. We were promised a letting office, deals on furnishing, town infrastructure, and that they would complete the apartments, at the latest, by December 2009; two years ago! We have all paid 20% deposits. When the build deadline was passed we all asked for our deposits back as Marin dor were in breach of contract. Since then,in nearly two years, they haven't replied to our emails or  registered letters. We have persisted in trying to make contact. The other week we tried to set up a meeting at their London office, but they kept changing their arrival day and in the end we gave up trying to set up a meeting. We also asked for a telephone conference if they couldn't make a meeting, but you guessed, they were unavailable . However, this week two of my colleagues have been contacted andwere  told that their apartments are ready and if they do not pay the balance they will lose their deposits. We are not convinced that they have been built or that the infrastructure is in place. We are considering legal action but would prefer to join a group of Marin dor customers in an similar position for a 'class action'.

Westerly

It has also now come to a head for me.  I have been in contact by e-mail with Sonia in Oxford Street and expressed my views, but she is a junior who has no clout.  I have also e-mailed Melanie in Morroco (who I know from the Oropesa del Mar office in Spain) and told her this was sold to me as an investment to "flip" as this was a town being bought for the locals and they would buy them on completion.  Melanie did not reply and the web pages that should load from the appropriate links give a 404 error.

Melanie is, at the end of the day, a servant of Snr Ger charged with handling the deeds, and posted to Morocco for her fluency in Spanish, English and French (being a Canadian).

Yesterday I received a letter from Morocco in broken English telling me my appointment at the notary is on 15th November!  They're just pressing on with the protocols regardless.  I haven't got any money but I would certainly lend my support to any group who had a chance of getting my deposit back (as that would pay any fees).

Regards

Brian Smart

** EDITED - Under review **

One of the Spanish Government 'approved' Real Estate companies who exhibited on the Spanish Government 'Invest in Spain' stand at OPP Live in October was:


Marina D`Or
Not sure if they are the same company you are all discussing below.

Kind regards

Keith

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Hi all

I have hust seen this forum/post relating to tamesna.

I must say that I have had the same sentiments re the tamesna devopment and the way marin dor have handled the whole situation. They have also reneged on a whole host of promises.

Are people still finding this to be the case? Irecently went to the Ox St office to meet Sonia. I was looking over the figures and I was being asked to arrange a loan to complete on the property amounting to way more than was initially agreed (about £10k more). Has anyone gone over to morocco and completed. Do you have any advice.

I have said to Sonia that if I do not get clear answers and a breakdown of all costs, then I will not be going to morocco to complete. Please advice. Also, if people are having problems, then maybe we can form a collective to form our points.

Kind regards all.

Waz

 The key factor of this issue is where and according to which regulation did you signed the contract. This will may add extra cost and make longer the process to recover the money depending on where are you living now.

After that, balance the cost of the whole process (money with lawyers and time) and your expectations to recover the money.

Sorry, not to be able a better solution.

Suntrap Property

 Apparently they made a second notary appointment for me, which was on Tuesday (two days ago) in Morocco.  I am in Spain and have been for a while.  The previous notary appointment was sent to me while I was in Bulgaria, each time they only give less than a week's notice, almost as if they don't want me to come.

I guess the advice given here is good.  A few thousand pound lost is unrecoverable unless I have money to fund a legal attack, which I don't.  I signed at a property show in Manchester and paid by stage payments.  Completion is now a few years late, there has been no ongoing information just requests for money.  I have never been to Morocco and know nothing about it.  This was supposed to be an off-plan investment to flip but they now want me to arrange a mortgage.  I am un-mortgageable (if that's a word).

I await their next move....

Brian

Hi

having had no contact for such a long time with Marina D'or and then only the odd phone, 1 in 2010 and 2 this year, I was finally told I had to complete in July 2011. I refused. I then agreed that I would go in Dec and agreed week beginning Dec 5th.

Well, when it came to the final figues, Marina Dor were asking for an extra 10k to complete. This meant I would be buying the property for £33k instrad of £22k.

After failing to get back to me with the breakdown of costs I told Sonia that I will not be completing and that I would like my deposit monies back. I also spoke to the agent in Morocco who asked me to email him with the details why I was not proceeding (this was in mid November and I have not heard anything as yet).  However, I still made a trip to morocco last week. I visited the development. I can say that there are definitely a few apartments completed.....thats it. Also I do not believe that Marina Dor are the sole developers on this project. In 4 years, I would have expected a lot more. There is hardly any infrastructure and no sign of a school (other than just a small one which I had no idea where abouts it was). Construction on Mall, University, Hosital, Hotels... nothing. Whilst  understand that it will take more than 4 years to complete, to only see a concrete jungle of apartments is very disappointing.

I have decided not to proceed with this apartments and will look to get my money back from Marina Dor. For me, it will take another 5 years atleast to realise anything worthwhile from this project.

Thanks

Waseem

Thank you Waseem for the post. 

At least you have been there and confirmed my suspicions.  This is just like Marina D'or in Spain then.  At Oropesa del mar there are thousands and thousands of apartments supposedly located in a thriving all year round resort.  I was sold it on this basis in September / October 2004.  There is still no resort, most of trhe commercial units are empty and the planned watere park still isn't built and a mini golf development was cancelled.  A limited selection of amenities are open in July and August for the traditional Spanish holidays but it is certainly no resort.  Most nearby towns offer more wining, dining and entertainment as a matter of course with no claim to be resorts.  We mainly eat at nearby campsites and they really are "todo el ano".

So it shouldn't be a surprise that Tasmena "city" isn't actually built.  On experience of Spain it probably never will be.

The next question is what are our rights?  Is it satisfactory that they have built some apartments and we were contracted to buy them?  I bet the contract doesn't specify whether they will be in a thriving town or in the middle of the desert!

Brian

Hi Brian

Brian. Thanks for the feedback on spain... it shows how we were misold by the selling agents re Tamesna. If this is Mis-representation of facts, does this not make the contract void.

I have looked at the contracts re Tamesna and it clearly stated (and I quote) ' the maxium delivery for the Project is Dec 2009'.

there are no contigencies in the Contract for delays.

Also according to the terms of VEFA (moroccan rules for developers) we should have been in receipt of certain docs such as confirmation of planning permission prior to them asking for our deposits. I have gone through my paper and have no such paperwork. Apparantly this itself akes the contract Null and Void.

I have written to Marina Dor about this. Have a look at your contracts and make sure you have the same. If a lot of us are having the same problem than we also might have a case.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers

Waseem

Hi All

I am so glad I discovered this forum via a very good friend of mine.  I thought I was the only one who got himself into this mess by buying 2 properties in Tamesna via Marina Dor. Like you all I sufferred furstration when unable to get a response from Mairna Dor and finally decided enough is enoughand started legal proceedings through a spanish lawayer based in the UK. I have been told I have a good case and should win. However being Spain it will take time. My case once filed should take at least a year to get to the Spanish Courts. I did say they are slow. However I am optomistic about winning.

I think what would be a very good idea is if we all who have bough in Tamesna from Marina Dor band together and get one solicitor to repesent us all. Together with more people doing this we will get noticed by Marina Dor and the cost should come down for all and we should win the case. If we do win we get all our deposits back and our legal fees back too. I am not wiling to do nothing and allow Marina Dor to keep my deposit and push me around. Together we will have one voice and a very load one too. We have all tried individually and got nowhere.

If you would like more details of the solicitors I am using and costs please let me know. Also please note I am NOT a solicitor and I am not doing this to drum up more business for them. I am genuine person who has been messed around like all of you by Marina Dor and have decided to fight back and recover my money.

Hi

Good idea to form an action group of affected purchasers to file a joint Lawsuit against Marina D'or.

Marina D'or were one of the Spanish Government 'approved' Real Estate companies who exhibited on the Spanish Government 'Invest in Spain' stand at OPP Live in October 2011.

Kind regards

Keith

 Hi I am also having a problem with marina dor, The only difference is i have paid in full in the office in 2007.

I have had someone check the apartment in Morroco which is complete.Now after a 2 year delay they want me to pay 20% tax which is around £7000. I have been by Melanie at marina dor that if i dont pay this amount i will lose the apartment which i paid £28000 for

IS THERE ANYTHING WE CAN DO?

I've heard from a friend of mine that there is already a group action in Morocco...

May be it's worth finding out who's running it and see if it's worth joining.

Anything that sorts these money grabbers out would be a good idea!

I'll do some digging for you!!

Sal