Advice needed - Page 3

We have a house on rustic land (lied to by developer, we were promised it would be legalised 3 months after we moved in, that was nearly 17 years ago!). If the house is very, very much below market price it may be worth the risk but my advice would be not to purchase. Lawyers in Spain don’t always tell you the whole truth check that the property has mains sewerage, an electric contract with Iberdrola and proper water (not agricultural as we have). There are many bargains to be had at the moment that are fully legal. Good luck.

Actually that is not true! Until a contract has been agreed and signed between both parties, there is no legal contract between you. Any monies that have been paid as a holding deposit should have been lodged with the solicitor who works for you or in some cases, the agent (although estate agents should not take deposits as they rarely have insurance to cover any losses and rarely have premises  secure enough to keep any large sums of money in.). It's normal for any contract that is drawn up, to state that both parties agree to buy/sell the property at the price stated and with the completion date on or before such-and-such a date. The contract should always state that the deposit has been paid as a holding deposit until the necessary documents are shown to be in order and correct and if they are shown not to be legal, then the deposit must be returned to the potential buyer. If your estate agent did not inform you that the property did not have the relevant paper work, he/she doesn't appear to be very professional as that is his/her job and one of the first things that a good agent asks the seller! Plus, if it is so easy to get the correct documents, then why hasn't the seller already done this? Sounds like he was conned and is trying to offload the house onto someone else. Be very, very careful!

Run now we are one of over 350,000 buyers in Andalucia (believe me this happens all over Spain) who bought a Villa proven now to be illegal and now are completely stuck we cannot sell.  The building licence was agreed then 3 years later revoked by the Supreme Court, the land has never been paid for by the developer. the solicitors, Notaire's and legal reps are all in it together and they all lied.  Do not believe a word they say..... if we ever manage to sell we will not buy in Spain ever again.  We have suffered under threat of demolition and now  the latest debacle is the Junta have started making property "regularised" but the Central government in Madrid are looking to overturn this, so again this can happen to anyone and any kind of property.  DO NOT BUY RUN.  Do not believe a word you are told by Solicitors difficult to find a genuine one.  Sorry but you do not want to go through the stress and agony and it can happen to any kind of property, new and old. 

It is so sad this is happening. We got everything arranged through A Place in the Sun TV programme and just assume it should be ok. Our lawyers are Sun lawyers.

Kiki , I feel your pain , its the worst thing in 50years of marriage we,ve ever done. It caused arguments as "I" bought this house, not "we" and how we,ve sufferred. I had a heart atrack and now have heart failure with all the stress we,ve gone through so I empathise with the stress you must be going through, it must be horrendous. You are at least one of many so hoping that gives you some comfort and leverage to get more international publicity on this subject. We too will have difficulties selling but told not impossible if you literally give it away. Huh, no way. We plan to keep our spanish property till death then cancer research can sort it. I am hoping you have been able to put this at the back of your mind and dont let it fester into spoiling your life. I wish you well in the future

Kind regards

Pauline.

Thanks for you advice. We met the estate agent in the place in the sun road show. The estate agent who found us the property is sunworld estates. 

 All estate agents don't care the only thing they want is their commission so again just walk away you will never see all the right documentation as they will come back wanting more paperwork or more money.  it is a nightmare buying over here.suggestion just rent.

Thank you for your kind words and thoughts Pauline, I am able to manage the situation better than my husband he is just fed up with it all and gets very annoyed and frustrated as indeed do so many ex pats in our situation.  it won't change and as we have left our Villa to my son he will have the problem but as he is a business man taking after me as I have run my own business for over 40 years he will cope just fine.  A very good idea you have willed to Cancer research but still a shame none of us can sell up and move on.  Good luck to you aswell and have a happy life.

Does anyone know how I can contact the town planning in Fortuna please?

Ideally by email or phone 

Thank you in advance 

If you do get in touch be wary about what you may be told. There are too many instances of a vendor's second cousin working in the ayuntamiento etc...

If you are given any assurances get them in writing, with the funcionario's name and DNI.

It does look as if you are too keen on this place, so be careful.