ONCE again in today’s article, we want to inform our readers of a new court success, which will give hope to those who purchased an off plan property from the developer Construcciones Monte Puchol S.L.
This company, like many others, became involved several years ago in the construction of new properties, selling, off plan which never were finished and in many cases were not even started in the area of the Costa Blanca, Alicante, at the Marina Alta, mainly in the municipality of Lliber.
In addition, this developer was involved in a scandal that affected its legal representative and a person that used to be the mayor, as well as the municipal architect of the municipality of Lliber.
Following an investigation it was concluded that this developer obtained building licences from the Town Hall, in exchange for bribes and payments in cash, which ended in criminal proceedings against those involved.
Many of these licences, which were actually to build new houses, and sometimes also for the construction of small developments with several buildings, were granted by the municipality supposedly for the reconstruction of ruined property, when in reality the works that were executed and being allowed by the Town Hall, as already exposed in the media, were actually much larger and more expensive constructions.
Although this developer was declared insolvent, meaning that it was not possible to recover payments made by prospective purchasers, our firm was able to recover the money paid by our client, Mr. J., an expatriate who made an advance payment of €28,000 into the account that the developer had with the bank, Bankinter.
Therefore, despite the insolvency of Construcciones Monte Puchol SL, Bankinter has been instructed by the court of first instance of Denia nº 2, in its ruling of 7/9/2018, to return the money delivered by my clients, because the bank knew that the developer sold properties off plan and received payments on account to the developer’s account in this bank.
According to the applicable law 57/68, the bank should have opened a special account and checked that all money paid by the buyers into said bank account was used only for the construction work and not for any other uses.
Likewise, it had to make sure, according to the aforementioned law, that all the money paid by the buyers, like our client, was protected by way of a bank guarantee or an insurance policy, in case the developer, as actually happened, could not finish the work.
Since the bank did not fulfil these obligations, now, it has been told by the court to refund to our client the money paid by them, together with interest as well as the costs and expenses of the court process.
If you have lost money in the purchase of a property off plan with this developer or any other, contact us and we will help you. We are experts who will only charge you if you win and get your money refunded.
The information provided in this article is not intended to be legal advice, but merely conveys general information related to legal issues.
Carlos Baos (Lawyer)
White & Baos
Tel:+34 966 426 185
E-mail: info@white-baos.com
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