[Anonymous]

I got some good news today – my lawyer tells me he has a bankers draft with my name on it being the refund of my deposits on an off-plan apartment at Los Lagos, Santa Maria. Yee Ha!

He has been good enough to email me a scanned copy of the draft which is drawn on Banco de Andalucia. Of course he won’t send it to me until I pay his fees – which is fair enough.

I don’t have a Spanish Bank account and my UK bank tells me it will take up to 6 weeks to clear!

Has anybody any advice on what to do with the draft that would enable me to get my hands on the cash sooner?

(I am not going to ask for an alternative form of payment – it’s taken a year to get to this point and I’d rather wait another 6 weeks than risk going back to the developer.)

[Anonymous]

First of all, “CONGRATULATIONS” Makems!! 😀

We had already opened a Halifax Account in Spain for our financial transactions when buying at Green Hills. When we got our money returned to us, our lawyer paid it into this account. We then transfered it to the Halifax account we had opened in the UK, FREE OF ANY CHARGEs My husband phoned and emailed them in Spain on a Monday morning. The money arrived into the UK a/c on Wednesday in sterling. We then moved it to our main bank a/c, HSBC, who charged us £25.00. All very easy and painless. We do keep a balance in the Spanish account for the time being until all of our affairs are finalised.

I am so pleased for you. It will give many others hope!

Claire.

[Anonymous]

Halifax is a good route or try HIFX. Of course the exchange rate is not in your favour at the moment>

[Anonymous]

You could always ‘park’ it in my bank account until you decide what to do with it 😆

Seriously, does your solicitor have your POA? If so, could he/she not open a bank account for you?

I opened my Spanish bank account from here in the UK. It took about 2 weeks and involved a few faxes, letter, etc. http://www.bancopopular.es/eng click on Personal Account

[Anonymous]

@AAA wrote:

http://www.bancopopular.es/eng click on Personal Account

😯 Makems will be giving them their money back!!!! Banco Popular is part af Banco de Andalucia.

[Anonymous]

That’s how they make their money Clair 😆

BTW, ’tis t’other way around. Banco de Andalucia is part of Banco Popular.

[Anonymous]

I have received a number of PMs asking me about my lawyer and how did I get to be so lucky. I thought it would be a good idea to put the details here and share it with the Board:
My lawyer is Spanish (Impeccable English), based in Marbella but isn’t one who is known to Mark. He was recommended to me by an EX Awful Estates salesperson who was using him personally.
He negotiated hard with the developers lawyer over a long period and I know he got a refund for another of his clients at Los Lagos.
He demanded a refund on the basis of breach of contract due to the development being more than 2 years late. He began this process in mid 2005 ie before the architect issued a certificate of completion.
However I do have to qualify any recommendation:
When I pushed and pushed to get a copy of my Bank Guarantee as I was encouraged to do by regular posters here, I found that it had expired! My lawyer said that it could not be renewed which is contrary to perceived wisdom on the Board.
I had become extremely worried in recent weeks about the security of my investment. My lawyer however kept saying the refund would come “Soon”.
And finally it did!

[Author]

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