- This topic has 11 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 17 years, 2 months ago by
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I heard something today that made me very angry.
A friend is trying to get a mortgage on her house to take some equity out. This has been going on for quite a while now. The house is over 4 years old and is on an urbanisation between Nerja and Frigiliana.
The builder had been a bit slow in finishing off the pavements etc. but I understand they are now finished. However, he owes several thousands of euros to Frigiliana town hall and these debts have been put on the escrituras of those properties finished in the last four or five years.
So on her nota simple are debts totalling about 58,000 euros. Actually the figure is shown as greater, but only a percentage of the figure has been shown as owing on her escritura. His total debt is 51,000,000 pesetas, I haven’t worked out the Euros.
The bank won’t therefore lend her the money. The town hall has an agreement with the builder that he will pay back the money in cash “as and when”. This could go on for years.
How can this situation arise? She can’t get a mortgage. She can’t afford to stay there without raising some equity, and she can’t sell the house without paying off the builder’s debts.
I don’t understand how the builder can get away with putting the debts on her house and on those of a few other people on the urbanisation.
I think I can name the urbanisation – Las Lomas de Frigiliana. The builder’s son has an office in Nerja and has a few other projects in the pipeline. I wouldn’t recommend him.
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That is the most outrageous thing I have ever heard!!
same old story, builder owes money to whoever , be it council, town hall
or however and they expect the innocent home owner to pay . Why do they just not do the thing they should do in the first instance… bring him to court like every other normal person ( well normal in our world anyway) and let the judge decide if he has not paid what he owes to put a freeze on his assets. You can be sure if the likes of you or I owed money in spain that they would have a freeze on our bank accounts in quick time .. Imagine putting a lien on the property of someone who has nothing whatsoever got to do with what the builder owes. Where is it going to end ?? -
If it was me, I would first try and locate as many as possible of the other owners who are involved (bet none of them are Spanish).
Together, hire yourselves one good lawyer who should – as a first step – go to the Town Hall and demand to see all documents relating to this to see if you can find the name of the council official who authorised this so-called ‘agreement’. Personally, all I can see are very fat brown envelopes being involved.Do I gather this all only came to light when the bank made enquiries re. the mortgage, and that prior to this nothing was known by the owner?
Would be very interested to hear an opinion as to the legality of what has happened from our ‘legal eagle’ contributors.
P.S. The builder’s son’s office needs some super-glued A4 notices stuck all over his windows one night stating:
“We reserve the right to use your property as collateral for our debts”. -
arabrab.
I know of Las Lomas. FAB properties! There have been some problems there with the builder and if I remember correctly, someone posted on the forum about it.
We have very good friends in Frigiliana who know several owners from Las Lomas. We have met them at various times too. I could phone our friends and relay the situation, Perhaps he could find out if these owners are aware of the situation. Let me know what you think. -
It could be that the developer had a mortgage on the properties whenshe bought and this was not cancelled when she purchased. Has she spoken with the Lawyer who did the transaction? If not could it be similar to Estepona Golf where owners have had an infrastructure charge placed on their property.
I know someone (many years ago) who bought a house here. After 2 years the developer (who was still building another phase) went bankrupt. He had a large mortgage on ALL the properties. This person was faced with having to buy 75% of his house again! I thought the law had been tightened up now but who knows 😡
Just another tip, taking equity out of your home is a risk in Spain. There are some very dodgy companies here and they are advertsing very dodgy schemes!
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Thanks for your replies.
Claire I will speak with my friend today. She didn’t use a lawyer in Frigiliana.
I think there was a problem with the habitation licences but this is/has (I am not sure) been resolved. I think her property and the properties sold after hers, around 2003 onwards, are the ones involved. I think the builder was fined by the town hall for not sticking to the original plans and this could be the money he owes.
I will post more when I have further details.
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I have just been reading on another Forum about some apartments sold through Atlas in the UK. They are on the costa Blanca. The purchasers have all found out that the developers bank has put an embargo on their Nota simple’s. So it seems it DOES still happen. Maybe they used the developers Lawyers or the Atlas one.
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Although this story is very spectacular, I am pretty sure there is a way to reconduct this situation.
If you friend bought the house 4 years ago, I presume the title deed is in their own name and, therefore, no charge can remain there unless the buyer accepted so.
It could happen that the charge is reflected in the Registry but there is no debt. I.e. someone forgot to register the document that cancels the preexisting mortgage. This sounds stupid, but happens very often.
I would recommend to send a legal letter to the bank to get information from them about the situation of the charge and to confirm if there is any debt outstanding. -
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