Warning!! Beware Spanish Developers!!
Having had a bad experience related when buying an apartment in Spain, my wife and I would like others to benefit from our experience. We waited 3.5 years for the apartment to be built and, after moving in, a further 15 months hoping to have a problem with the bathroom corrected. It has not been done and we are left with the consequence.
Early in 2001 my wife took a flight organised by estate agent Ocean Estates and put down a payment for an apartment in Riviera, near Marbella (Costa del Sol). The apartment, one of 44, was built by Tosegon 2000, also called ‘the developer’. On finally buying the apartment in August 2004, there were many, many snags. Some were put right (taking 1 year!) and some were not (eventually we had to put them right ourselves!). The major problem which remained was with our bath. It had not been installed properly and was not level. Water ran down the shower screen, onto the flat bath top and on to the floor. After 7 months Ocean Estates Aftersales was, helpfully, able to have confirmed independently the fact that the bath was not level.
Tosegon 2000, the developer, at first admitted responsibility to our lawyer (Vicente & Otaolaurruchi Abogados, Marbella). After many unfulfilled verbal promises to do the work and countless e-mails, Tosegon 2000 finally told our lawyer it had no intention of fulfilling its legal obligation. The lawyer told us that we may have to pay more to take Tosegon 2000 to court than the cost of doing the re-installation of the bath ourselves and gave up trying on our behalf. The estate agent has admitted to us in writing that it is powerless to do anything. We had read much about Spanish developers legally having to correct property faults within the first six months and, further, that if the developer does not carry out the work, you can do it yourself and claim the cost from the developer, but we are misled. We have now bitten the bullet and paid for a solution to our problem. Our advice to any potential buyer is beware! Avoid unscrupulous developers/builders who behave in such a cavalier manner and pick your lawyer carefully.
For a more detailed account of our many unbelievable experiences e-mail:
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