[Anonymous]

Hi,
We have a problem with an apartment we are buying from the aifos developers in almeria
Our last interim payment before completion was due to be paid on the 25th october 05.Due to a mistake by our uk bank the funds did not arrive in our spanish account until one day after ( 26th october) this meant the payment was not made.We immediately contacted our solicitor to ask how we could make the payment,they emailed aifos a number of times but never got a reply.
Now aifos have told us they will take back the apartment unless we make the payment (ok) but also say we have to pay 10,000 euro more because the apartments have increased in value.Funny they could not telephone us in october to arrange payment but somehow found time to contact us for an extra 10,000 euro.
They also told us if they take back the property we will have to wait until it is resold to get our money back (38,814 euro) and they will deduct the agents selling fees and legal cost.
We are waiting for a response from our solicitor ,he was contacting aifos today.
I emailed aifos today and told them we are NOT going to ba another aifos victim and asked why they have never tried to contact us or responded to emails.
Has any members had this problem ? what should we expect to happen ?
Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone offer Kim any advice?

Think Drakan is familiar with their tactics.

[Anonymous]

Well they cannot possibly ask for 10.000 additional Euros, that’s the whole point of buying off-plan, the value of the property goes up. It would be illegal. I’m surprised your lawyer hasn’t mentioned this.

Problem is you failed the payment on the specified deadline. That’s serious. The contract normally has clauses regarding this case. Can you get your bank to put down on writing it was their mistake ?

I would procede to pay the remaining amount ASAP by means of a “consignación judicial” If necessary. You must pay immediately the remaining amount despite them refusing to accept it. You place the money in a specific account of a Court suitable for this purpose so there is no doubt you’ve paid and fulfilled your duties. The longer you delay this you will be breaching the contract and they can resolve the contract and keep a % of your money as per stated in the contract’s clauses.

I dislike them and their shabby tactics. I would avoid them at all costs. Their owners are now in prisión prevntiva IIRC and their personal assets have been seized/frozen by a court ruling.

[Anonymous]

Drakan, thanks for the reply.

It is a favourite tactic of Aifos to use any excuse or slight breach in contract to demand a further 12000 euros.

[Anonymous]

Draken,thanks for your advice,I wanted to pay the due payment immediately but could not find out how to do this,aifos did not reply to our solicitors emails.I hear they sometimes do not try to get the payments so they can pull these tricks.
My concern now is if we part with this due payment of 11,000 euro will we be waiting a couple of years for aifos to resell to get that back along with the 38,000 we have already paid.

Dorothy,thanks for your support.

[Anonymous]

Kim,

Aifos very rarely communicate with their clients, customer care is unheard of.

If you want any communication with this company try going through Julie Patterson at the Manchester office 0161 827 7900.

Don’t be shocked if you receive a notorised document cancelling due to breach of contract!!

Good luck

[Anonymous]

Thanks dorothy,i have contacted someone on the uk freephone number who told me today that the director is dealing with it.I will also call manchester,the more the better.
Pity i did not know there were uk contact numbers a while ago,this might have been avoided.
Thanks again.

[Author]

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