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My wife and I purchased a property at Gata de Gorgos, near Denia in April 2002. We paid a sum of £33,000 as the first stage payment but, as a result of continual delays in completion and our personal circumstances, we terminated the contract in November 2005. when a request was made for the roof stage payment. We had originally been informed that the property would be completed in October 2003 but to be best of my knowledge it has only been ready for occupation for the past few months. We are now being told that our first stage payment cannot be returned under Spanish law until such time as the developer has found a new buyer and, more recently, that if there is no sale within one year of the contract termination, the original contract defers back to us I have since heard that the lawyer in Spain who is acting for us also acts for the developer. What happens if the property does not sell? How will we know it has sold? How do we know efforts are being made to sell it? Can we recover our money now? Should we appoint an indepedent lawyer in the UK? Your help would be appreciated.
I assume you have a contract and so you should check what it says. If it is in Spanish and you don’t have someone you can trust to translate it then I would recommend you have it translated offically. I regularly use an excellent company for translations of German and Spanish documents and could let you know their details if you wish.
Regarding a UK lawyer I would suggest you look for a trustworthy Spanish legal office with English language fluancy. Contrary to what some people may think the majority of Spanish lawyers are trustworthy. I once knew an Englisshman who ran into problems with a property on Fuerteventura and he engaged a UK lawyer. This lawyer then instrucred a Spanish lawyer on Lanzarote (?) to help, thus just encountering double and unneccesary costs.
Good Luck whatever you do.
Terry English
Thank you Terry Helvetia. Our contract is in English and Spanish. Your comments are very helpful
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