MORE INJUSTICE IN THE WORLD OF PROPERTY BUYING
“I will not take this lying down. I will fight this tooth and nail...they can carry me out of this apartment kicking and screaming. My whole life is invested in this property.” The words of Roy Owens whose story will send shockwaves and shivers down the spines of many expats who bought property from scrupulous developers only to find out they could be kicked out for outstanding mortgages taken out against their properties.
Roy and his late wife bought their home in La Zenia through Atlas International in 2002. In September 2004 all monies had been paid and the paperwork signed and they keys handed over with the necessary dealings being carried our through the real estate company's recommended solicitor Aroca.
Several months went by before the couple went to the notary to receive the deeds for their property but a representative from Technologia never showed up. Expecting a new date to be set, they happily settled in to life in sunny Spain but not before Roy had ended his dealings with Aroca claiming they had not acted in the way he wished or carried out what they should have. However, he was refunded the 4000€ he paid up front for their services.
It was not until a few years later that Roy instructed his new solicitors to chase up the missing deeds. With full details and information confirming Roy had paid in full for the property and the money had been received by Technologia his solicitor attended the courts last month and found out some devastating news for Roy and other owners in the Trianna II urbanisation. It was revealed that the CAM bank had started legal proceedings to repossess not only Roy's apartment but also eight others in the block. It transpired that Technologia had taken out a mortgage on the land in which the apartments were built and with monies still outstanding against the properties, CAM were seeking to repossess the properties to claim their money back.
“You do everything that you can to be legal,” commented Roy, “and then it comes to bite you on the backside.” The solicitor has given Roy a copy of the legal petition made by CAM which is dated April 2010. All the properties are affected. “Many other properties will probably be in the same boat.” He added: “It is only by chance that I got to find out about the legal proceedings by CAM, so I suspect that many people will not even know about this.” He added, “This is gross negligence on the part of the estate agents and the solicitors as far as I am concerned. They should have been aware of the mortgage and should have done all the searches beforehand.”
“There must be dozens and dozens of people affected and if there are sufficient people who are affected, we can organise an action group. I have been told that going against Technologia is pointless as they are dead and buried, but the majority of people who bought from them, must have used the same solicitors and estate agents and therefore, they are equally to blame. They are responsible for negligence and you have to say that if they knowingly did this, they must also be guilty of fraud.”
Roy intends to appeal and continue his fight. “Who was protecting my human rights? When you are buying a property, you rely on the integrity of the people with whom you are dealing with and in this case, each and every one of them has let me down. I have nothing to lose and will fight this to the death. The injustice and unfairness of it all really angers me. How can this be legal? I do know that there are lots of people who will be in this position and not even know about it yet. I want to bring this to their attention and get the situation in the public eye, so that the appropriate action can be taken.”
If anyone does find themselves in a similar position Roy would like to hear from you and can be contacted on 966 760 284.