[Anonymous]

I would be very grateful if anyone has any advice or experiences which will help our situation. I should say from the outset that we have a Spanish solicitor.

We have a contract which was signed by ourselves and our builder (who is English) to construct a new house near Gandia. The contract should have been completed over a year ago. The contract contains a penalty clause of a daily amount of 50 euros. The penalty for breaking the contract is another 46,000 euros equivalent to one 10% payment. The payments to the builder are made after the architect certifies that the house has reached each 10% percent complete.

Clearly the builder has not completed the project within the time specified in the contract which was 10 months from the signing of the contract. We believe that the builder is running short of money and has probably underestimated the costs in building the house. All the figures in the contract were provided by the builder.

1. We assume that the builder is in breach of the contract by non-compliance to the agreed completion date.

2. If we sue him for breach of contract will this take a long time in Spain and will it cost a lot of money. It may not be worth spending money on court action if he does not have any money.

3. Can we sue him against his personal assets rather than the money in the SL company. Some deception has been made on his part which could be proven.

4. At the very least we need to get rid of him and finish the house or at least make it secure. Is their any interim action we can take against him?

Many thanks for your help – it is appreciated.[/b]

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