We put a deposit down of nearly £50,000 and another 6,000 Euros initially for a 2 Bed/ 2Bath apartment on a new development in Arroyo de la Miel in Benalmedena, on the Costa del Sol, called Arenal Golf.

Our British agent seemed honest and reliable at that time.  They took us around the site and after seeing their Solicitor we parted with 6,000 Euros and were told to send the 30 percent in a month’s time which we did.

The show flat was impressive and we were told what we saw would be what we would get.  We made several visits to the site as the apartment would take 2 years which suited us fine.

Sadly every time we visited the site we were not allowed anywhere near the apartment.  After 2 years of this treatment we put our foot down and reluctantly we saw our apartment.  We got the shock of our lives.  The apartment was nothing like the show flat in design, layout or size.

We made a stink and the Spanish solicitor ran around getting us to obtain an affidavit for her as this was not done in the past.  She tried to help by saying pick another flat but each time the asking prices were too high and no way near our original price we had settled for.  We returned to the UK with a promise Phase 4 was to be completed a year later and that that development would definitely suit us.

February of that year came, not an email or response from either Solicitor or the developer.   We then had to engage a British Solicitor in the UK and decided to cancel the contract and ask for our money back.   This also dragged on for months and we suddenly found out that the Directors of Arenal Golf 2000 along with 20 Town Hall officials were arrested and jailed for embezzlement .

This took another few months of worries and anxiety .  Finally our UK solicitors got a document saying the Caja Bank has taken over and could we be patient as they were in the progress of employing new builders/ selling agents etc.  We were then informed that as we were not happy, the new company would refund all our monies.  Our solicitor has this in writing.  He waited several months [nearly a year] and finally we took the developers to court for sign of dragging their feet.

To our amazement when we finally got the verdict the Judge favoured the Developer saying that Arenal had informed us and confirmed the property was complete with all the required licences/ local authority stamps of completion etc.  No thought or mention why we took them to court in the first place; we had been promised our money back but no mention of that .

We were so gutted, frustrated and disappointed and now pretty broke.  We are now Pensioners and all of our savings have gone on solicitors and court fees etc .  We have appealed against the Judge’s decision in May 2009 but so far nothing.  We don’t know what to do now.  We have joined 900 other Brits that are in the same position.

A hard working Lady called Suzanne  (www.spanishpropertyscandalpetition.co.uk) has taken her case and that of the others to Downing Street/Brussells and we are hoping the two Governments could hopefully come to our rescue.

If there are any Eye of Spain retired solicitors/legal advisors that can come forward with ideas or help please do so you will be making a lot of people happy including us two foolish/inexperienced Codgers.

We can be contacted on zen63891@zen.co.uk. We are just ordinary hard working happy people looking for a wee bit of sunshine in our retirement which has been taken away from us.