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Hello

Posted: 25 Jul 2011 18:40
by Mart
New to the forum and looking for some information or advice from anyone that may have experienced the situation that we currently find ourselves in with a developer, which is, in summary:

Deposit paid to buy a property off plan in April last year with a completion date October 2011.

Property isn’t started and the developer now accepts that there is no way the property will be ready as promised and it is now unlikely that the build will ever take place.

Contract of sale registered for specific performance and developer has agreed to cancel the contract and refund the money that we have paid.

The problem is that although the developer is prepared to do this they have no money to repay us. We’ve been in touch with the developer who has some assets, although all heavily mortgaged but they can’t give any reassurance or timescale as to when or how they can repay us. Our Solicitor isn’t too forthcoming with help or information about our options they have drafted a cancellation document and say it is up to us to provide instructions to them but don’t seem to be prepared to tell us what our options are. Very frustrating.

Wondered if anyone had any such experiences or if anyone knew what our options would be if we were to pursue this through the courts.

Re: Hello

Posted: 25 Jul 2011 21:47
by Pantheman
Mart wrote:New to the forum and looking for some information or advice from anyone that may have experienced the situation that we currently find ourselves in with a developer, which is, in summary:

Deposit paid to buy a property off plan in April last year with a completion date October 2011.

Property isn’t started and the developer now accepts that there is no way the property will be ready as promised and it is now unlikely that the build will ever take place.

Contract of sale registered for specific performance and developer has agreed to cancel the contract and refund the money that we have paid.

The problem is that although the developer is prepared to do this they have no money to repay us. We’ve been in touch with the developer who has some assets, although all heavily mortgaged but they can’t give any reassurance or timescale as to when or how they can repay us. Our Solicitor isn’t too forthcoming with help or information about our options they have drafted a cancellation document and say it is up to us to provide instructions to them but don’t seem to be prepared to tell us what our options are. Very frustrating.

Wondered if anyone had any such experiences or if anyone knew what our options would be if we were to pursue this through the courts.
Hello Mart and welcome to the forum.
Sorry to hear of your problem, but there is not a great deal you can do if he doesn't have the money to pay.
Your only hope is to sue him for a decision of the court and place a memo on his assets. This way he cannot sell without first paying you. You may not know when you will get paid, but for as long as the memo stands, he cannot dispose of any assests either.

I can't think of any other method to get blood out of a stone.

Good luck. Oh and if your solicitor is shite, change him.

Re: Hello

Posted: 26 Jul 2011 12:21
by Nigel Howarth
Hello Mart and welcome to the forum.

I guess from what you say that you are/were a cash buyer and did not take out a mortgage to buy the property?

One of the problems you face is that if the developer goes into liquidation, there is a strong possibility that you will not be able to recover your deposit. This is because you will be treated as an unsecured creditor and the secured creditors, such as the bank, suppliers and sub-contractors, will take precedence when it comes to distributing whatever the liquidator manages to salvage by disposing of the companies assets.

I believe that one way you can try to avoid this situation is to lodge a claim against the property for your deposit (and legal expenses) in the form of a memo. This will require you to bring an action against the developer. If successful, you could (if you wish) force the developer into receivership - or you could sit back and wait to see how the situation develops.

From what you say - I agree with Pan (your lawyer is sh*t*). He/she should be advising you of your options and costs in this matter.

The British High Commission in Nicosia publishes a list of English-speaking lawyers who may be able to help at http://ukincyprus.fco.gov.uk/en/help-fo ... al-lawyers.

If you decide to change your lawyer, you need to discharge the present incumbent before a 'new' lawyer can represent you. But having said that I suggest you speak to one or more lawyers on the list who may be willing to give you information.

Regards,

Re: Hello

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 12:18
by Mart
Hello Pan & Nigel

Many thanks for your information. We are/were cash buyers so there is no mortgage involved.

Interesting that we will be treated as unsecured creditors even though we have a contract of sale registered for specific performance, which is worrying and you both seem to lean towards taking legal action, although I hope to only use legal action as a last resort.

I’m still trying to work something out with the developer and have offered him the option of trying to arrange a monthly payment schedule, which may be a lesser burden on his cash flow if he repays us over say 12 months. Direct communication with him is difficult though as we are in the UK and it can be weeks before he responds to my telephone calls or e-mail, however, we will be in Cyprus early August and will no doubt meet with him then and at that time I think we will know whether or not legal action is our only hope.

Thanks for the link to the list of lawyers on the British High commission website, there are a couple that have offices in Paphos, which is what we need, and these may be suitable should we change.

I’ll keep you posted with any future developments.

Regards

Mart

Re: Hello

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 12:33
by Pantheman
Well, by the shear fact that you do have it registered, is your evidence of interest, otherwise you would have had nothing to go on.

Do not make the mistake of cancelling your contract at the LR before you are paid, otherwise you would have lost your leverage.

Good luck.

Does he have an expensive car you could take as exchange???

Re: Hello

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 13:32
by Nigel Howarth
Hi Mart,

To re-enforce what Pan has said, under no circumstances should you remove your Contract of Sale from the Land Registry until payment has been made and the cheque has cleared.

There are 'secured creditors' (also known as preferred or preferential creditors) who receive a preferential right to payment on the debtor's bankruptcy. As an 'unsecured creditor' you would have to wait until the secured creditors have taken their bite out of the liquidated assets before getting your share.

I should also point out that Louise Zambartas (the last entry on the British High Commission's list now has an office in Paphos - details on their website).

Regards,

Re: Hello

Posted: 12 Jan 2015 19:39
by Bhai
The problem is that although the developer is prepared to do this they have no money to repay us. We’ve been in touch with the developer who has some assets, although all heavily mortgaged but they can’t give any reassurance or timescale as to when or how they can repay us. Our Solicitor isn’t too forthcoming with help or information about our options they have drafted a cancellation document and say it is up to us to provide instructions to them but don’t seem to be prepared to tell us what our options are. Very frustrating.

Re: Hello

Posted: 13 Jan 2015 13:10
by Pantheman
Bhai wrote:The problem is that although the developer is prepared to do this they have no money to repay us. We’ve been in touch with the developer who has some assets, although all heavily mortgaged but they can’t give any reassurance or timescale as to when or how they can repay us. Our Solicitor isn’t too forthcoming with help or information about our options they have drafted a cancellation document and say it is up to us to provide instructions to them but don’t seem to be prepared to tell us what our options are. Very frustrating.
Are you the same member as the person above 'Mart'? If not, you don't give any info about your case, so you cannot possibly expect any advice on what to do.