Spokesperson: Marian Stokes
Minutes: Sheila Vango
Marian opened the meeting by thanking everyone for attending the meeting today, especially as it was a Friday afternoon. She thanked the Pia Bella for once again opening its doors to us to hold the meeting and their wonderful staff for looking after us so well.
She went on to ask how many people were attending for the first time, of which there were a dozen or so, and then asked who has been coming from the beginning, there were about the same number of those! She pointed out that the group were not quick fix merchants, that we could not cure all, but by standing together and sharing our experiences and keeping the pressure and spotlight on the unprofessional aspects of the property industry here, that things will improve.
The reason for holding the meeting today was that March had been a busy month for the property sector with the amnesties offered to pre-January 2008 purchasers to lodge their sales contracts with the District Land Registry Offices (DLRO). This was due to close on the 08 April 2008, but has been extended to the 30 April 2008 as it became clear the DLRO could not cope with the volume of work entailed. The HBPG has worked tirelessly for this wonderful advancement in the security of your purchase here and I hope all of you have taken advantage of the opportunity. At the moment we expect the amnesty of a 0.05 payment on your Stamp Duty/Contract Tax to finish on the 31 March 2008, we are still trying to get this date extended so do check the HBPG board for any change to that deadline.
Now, sadly as with all advancements, some of you will have found that you now have a property problem that you never knew existed in the shape of a mortgage against your land and property that you have paid for in full. This is another reason the meeting has been called today so that those of you impacted in this way can let of some steam and we can try and suggest what you do from here.
Today we asked you to bring along your sales agreement, this was because the last meeting was well attended by yourselves, but also by lawyers representatives and estate agents and we know that is a barrier to many of you talking openly. Now in some respects it is nice that the professionals are interested enough in our activities to come along and hear for themselves the ‘mood’ of their customers, but we felt this one should be for buyers only!
On your tables you will find question forms and we thought the most productive way to use our time was to get you to write your questions down and we will do our best to answer them. Please understand that although we have gained a lot of knowledge over the past 2 – 3 years, we still cannot give 100% accurate answers on all issues. You all know how difficult it is to get answers to questions here, but we will try to tell you what we do know or suggest a way to get to the answer, maybe! Part of the problem is that the older we get as a group and the older the groups individual problems are that come to the fore, the more complex they seem to be. Also, again sadly as one of our objectives is prevent more problems, our numbers just keep growing.
Having looked at this we have decided that it may be helpful to you if we started holding clinics, so that instead of you grabbing Sheila or myself at the end of a meeting, you could pop along to the clinic, carrying all your evidence and sit and talk your problem through. It is very difficult for me to get a good handle on a complex problem in a five minute chat. We have lots of people who may have solved the very problem you have, no one knows more about Kibtek than Kim Pavey for example. So we intend to hold these clinics on a Tuesday, at the Pia Bella between 12-4 pm, you do not have to be a HBPG member to attend, you can attend if you want to know more about buying, or if you have bought and now have a problem.
Another reason for trying this avenue is that my phone can ring constantly, I do not mind that as such, but at times I need to concentrate on the bigger issues, like the Builders Union proposal to ease the Estate Agents Law (EAL) whereas I think it needs to be strengthened. I want to keep lobbying about the Permission to Buy (PTBuy) and get that speeded up, I want to see how much progress is been made by the Property Information Office (PIO), I want to keep the pressure up in all areas and I do have a good team of people who are willing to help out by being available for the clinics, so let’s give it a whirl. Also a weekly clinic may be of great help to our non resident members or as we say to those thinking of investing in the TRNC, we can help them to do it safely by only using a registered estate agent and a registered builder.
As many of you are aware we are trying to get more regulation within the building industry and have been assisting the Construction Union by telling them of any illegal sites we know off, this is important work and must continue.
Also we have now started a drive to ascertain which members of the legal profession are letting down, not only their clients, but the rest of the legal profession by acting in a thoroughly unprofessional manner. The Lawyers Assessment Form is now on the website, I would urge those of you with internet access to complete the form – good and bad – we need to know who to trust. The more responses we get the more accurate our findings will be. There are some hard copy forms available today, so if you need to take one to complete, please do so. They can be returned to us on the clinic days or to the reception, in an envelope marked for me and I will pick them up.
People are always asking us to recommend a lawyer and how can we. We can tell you who we use personally, but would not state that as a recommendation. We need your information and once we have it, maybe we will be able to publish a list of those who have been praised, or if complained about, the number complaining is less than 1-2% of the whole survey. If it appears that any lawyer is totally negligent, coming top of the poll so to speak, we will report our findings to the relevant authorities here and wait for them to respond. But not forever, if our results are not treated with the respect they deserve we will look to taking legal action against these rogues – at least that way everyone will know who they are and other innocent buyers will not fall into their honey traps.
I want to speak, yet again about the PIO! For all those people who ask – ‘what have you achieved?’ I always answer the PIO. It was no small achievement – it is a centralised point for all sorts of property issues. It is under the auspices of the Prime Minister. Never again can the government – any government – of the TRNC say that there are no problems or that they did not know of the problems. Have they had a headline grabbing successes – No, not yet, I am the first to admit that. Is it just a PR exercise? – I truly believe not, the Prime Minister has a lot on his plate, but he finds time to talk to me and other members of the group. He gets regular updates concerning the nature of the problems that are being reported and I know, like the girls in the office at the front line, he is horrified at the diversity and complexity of many of them.
As a nation, we Brits are not the most patient of people, but to be effective in a lot of these cases, laws have to be changed or loopholes closed, or processes speeded up. We have seen too much evidence of ill thought out laws, or processes – hence the mess many of us find ourselves in today. Do I want you to use the office – of course I do, bombard them with your issues, every time something new crops up – like a mortgage on your land – tell them.
As many of you are aware there is a splinter website which has taken it upon itself to chart the progress of the PIO – these people have not worked tirelessly for this office to be available to you, instead they foster the opinion that you are wasting your time going to them, that it is just a sop to shut you up for a while. Maybe they are right and I am wrong, but I don’t think so – most of us are in this mess because we believed the words of others – the PIO is your only opportunity to tell your story to the government, make an appointment, and tell your story. Every experience adds to the bigger picture of what is happening in the real world of corruption, greed and incompetence that has resulted in many of us being forced to live in conditions that are at times less than basic, having invested our life savings to do so. We have got to get that message out to the only people who can make a difference, because sadly that is not any of us. There are some genuine, decent people out there who want to help us, let’s not allow others to knock our confidence in them.
We had a meeting with the Prime Minister, two weeks ago yesterday, when we gave him a prepared list with a lot of questions on it – it does not cover all the issues – we would have needed a lot more time for that – he took them away to research fully the answers to them. My understanding these answers are now ready, but that the Prime Minster has them at the moment, because he wanted to ensure we were getting proper answers and to add his own comments if relevant. As soon as I get those they will be published on the website. As usually happens, those answers will raise more questions, so at our next meeting which I hope will be in early April, we shall put those to him as well. We have made the decision that we will only deal with the Prime Minister directly now as he has stated, more than once, that these matters must be resolved and I believe he is the man to do it!
We thought it might be quite informative to do a sort of straw poll today of where those of you present find yourselves today. We have about 80 people here, with a good representation of our die hards, some new people and those of you who have been following our progress, so let’s give it a go. Attendees Survey
Thank you, a bit of fun and very informative as a indicator of what we all have experienced.
I am going to ask Sheila to tell you a little bit about going to court here, Sheila and her husband Don are taking their builder to court and the trial started last month. Sheila volunteered to tell you a little bit about what to expect, so over to her.
SV: I don’t know how many of you will have any idea of court procedures, I certainly do not as I have never had cause to be in court in the UK or in other parts of the world that I have lived, and I never imagined when I came here to retire that I would spend three and a half years preparing to go to court to fight for what I paid for! It takes the shine of what should have been wonderful retirement years for my husband and I.
I am not going to mention my builders name, my solicitors name or anything like that, my solicitor is good for me and I am happy – you may have used them and feel differently, likewise you may have used my builder and have no complaints, so please don’t ask me. I am not sitting in judgement on how things are done here, I am just reporting my experience and in time I hope to tell you the outcome of our case.
Firstly may I say it is very stressful, we have had three and a half years of constant worries and delay since starting legal action and prior to that we had a year of upset deciding if legal action was the route to go. It puts tremendous strain on a marriage at a time when you are in a strange country with all the feelings of homesickness and adjustment to your new life to cope with, however you have a choice to make – be s**t on, or do something about it and we knew we could not live with the former. Many would say we were fools, we should have painted the house and sold it on, maybe they are right, but at the end of the day, you have to live with yourself and we decided that was not the correct action for us either. So we have placed our trust in the courts in our adopted home.
The court room is intimidating, if you have not been in one before, however, everyone has tried to put me at my ease and explained the procedure. The language of the court is Turkish as you would expect, and I have given my evidence with the aid of interpreter. I have not had to stand in the witness box, but stand at a lectern with the interpreter at my side. Although you are given a time to be heard, the court has other matters that also need to be attended to, so don’t mistake the time given as being the time you will be heard! We usually arrived for a 1015am hearing, but rarely started at that time.
The first thing you need to know is that the interpreter has to be paid for. The gentleman concerned came every day from Lefkosia and would then hang around with us until our case could be heard. Depending on what time we started and the commitments of the judges, we usually only had a morning session, sometimes these would be for 20 minutes, other times over an hour. Regardless of the actual time, the interpreter earned 100ytl a session, which we paid him daily. On the one occasion we resumed in the afternoon, it was 135ytl.
On top of that we have paid for our expert witnesses’ time, we had reports to be prepared by the TRNC Chamber of Architects and Engineers and the TRNC Chamber of Electricians which went into evidence. The cost of these experts attending court was 700ytl in total, this was in addition for paying for the reports to be done some years ago.
If you have any British witnesses, you will need to pay for the interpreter for these also.
We do not get an interpreter when the witnesses are speaking in Turkish, I do not know if this is good or bad, as we cannot understand what is being said. However, I do understand the logistics of it, it took 9 sessions to go through my testimony and for the cross examination to be completed. This was obviously drawn out by having to have everything translated. I did ask the interpreter if he could translate when our witness are in the stand and of course, our builder. He said it would take special permission from the judge and would elongate the case considerably. He could sit with us, but as he explained, he cannot talk in the court and would miss what was being said if he did, so the best he could do would be to take notes and tell us after what had been said – and my solicitor can do this without incurring an extra charge.
The reason for me talking to you today, is not only to pass on my experience but to offer my help if you are going the litigation route. I have had almost 5 years to prepare for our case, we have kept expenditure, we have taken photos, and we have videoed meetings with our builder. We found out the right witnesses to call, we have been as diligent as we can be, we have got a copy of our building permission, we have our Green Project File, we went to Companies House and got the builders information, we monitor his website, we checked to see if he was a registered builder and is now a registered estate agent. We have listened to our lawyer, but at the same time we have lobbied where we can and been proactive within the group, not asking for interference in our case, but highlighting how things have gone wrong. Please if you want help, just ask, we are here to help each other when we can.
Finally, I want to let you know about a good friend of ours, Hasan Yilmaz Isik who is the President of the TRNC Consumer Association, and TRNC Human Rights Association. He wants to hear about your complaints as a consumer; he has helped people either get refunds, or a replacement item. So if you have a job done, or buy electrical equipment that does not work properly, call on him. You will need to write a short request for the Associations help, with a brief outline of the problem, which can be in English. The Association works on donations, the usual charge is 50ytl. I think his success comes from telling people that he will name and shame them, on the association’s website if they do not take responsibility for the goods they have sold! The office is in Lefkosia – again if you want a helping hand, I am more than willing to go with you, although we will put the details on our website to find the office. His contact details are as follows
E mail: tukder@superonline.com
Web: www.tuketicilerdemegi.org
Mobile: 0533 864 5555
Office: 0392 228 9520
Address: 9 Alsanjak Sokak, PK 354 Lefkosia
It is best to phone first and get an appointment. I shall leave his card on the table, please help yourself.
Any questions?
Q: Can you tell us what you expect this court case to cost you?
A: No, not really, it is up to each individual to negotiate a rate with their solicitor. I hear all sorts of things from flat rates agreed up front, to a flat fee plus a percentage, or percentage of win obtained only and these percentage rates can vary. I think the important thing is to discuss this issue in depth with your chosen advocate, you must consider your chances of winning, the sum in dispute and the financial position of the person you are suing. It goes without saying that a win that is exhausted by the cost of bringing a case is a fool hardy thing to pursue. Likewise, if the defendant has no assets, what is the point? One of the things we have been trying to ascertain as a group is the cost chargeable by advocates for the services they provide, but as yet have not been able to obtain this advice. The only thing I can tell you is that the courts fees can be offset, not in total, but the solicitor can apply to the courts for relief, but as our case is not ended yet I do not know exactly how this works.
Any more questions? No, ok thanks for listening and as I said please do not hesitate to contact me if you should decide to look at this route as a solution to your problem.
Thank you, Sheila; we shall be interested to hear how things progress for you. Five minutes break and then we can move onto the open forum.
Open Forum
Before we start may I say that we will do our best to tell you what we believe to be correct, if anyone knows different please speak up. If we do not know how to help, we can suggest where to go, or questions to ask. We are all volunteers here who band together to share information and to provide a network of support, we would never knowingly mislead you, but we are not experts either! So to the questions....
Q1: Can you give information about the process of registering to DLRO with a purchase contract?
a) Is it necessary?
b) Is there a deadline?
c) Is there a penalty for late registration?
A1: Yes, if you are living here or are visiting, this is something you can do for yourself. You will need
· The original contract which has the tax office stamp upon it, proving that your stamp duty is paid and a copy of same
· A copy of the Koçan
· A copy of the district site plan
· A copy of your passport (for each person named on the contract)
· Completed DLRO forms
· The registration fee, which is 44.50ytl for the first Koçan on your contract and 13.50ytl for each additional one.
SV 1 We believe it is very necessary, it is the most important thing you can do for yourself. You need to understand exactly what this means; I will try to explain in terms you understand. In the UK when we purchase property our ownership is lodged with the Land Registry, most of us will find another entry on the Land Registry against our property, the value of our mortgage and who our mortgage company is. This is so the mortgage company are always paid first when we sell our properties. By registering your contract at the DLRO here, you are effectively saying the same thing – at the moment I do not legally own this plot or/and house but I have paid £xxxx for it.
If the property is currently free of any other mortgages, then you have first claim on that property, so if your landowner dies, the plot may be counted as part of his estate (as it is still legally his asset), but you have your claim firmly documented and that claim comes before any other claim. Likewise, if your land owner goes bankrupt, his creditors can gain access to his assets to regain their losses – but not your share of that particular asset. It is not 100% protection as the value of the land and/or house you have paid for has risen but it is your money back at least.
If there are mortgages on the land and/or plot and house, still add yours to the list, again if the worst comes to pass and the landowner goes bankrupt, the bank may get their share first of any sale proceeds but you will get second bite.
For those of us, caught up in this mess, this is the most valuable gift you have been given, not to use it would be very foolish indeed. If you cannot get here to do it yourself, then bite the bullet and pay your solicitor. It is the difference between losing £300 to get them to do it, or possibly losing everything you have invested here.
I know some of you are up in arms about being asked to pay your solicitor to do this job for you, I understand that you feel that all this work should have been done when you paid your monies to begin with, and I agree with you that the stamp duty element should have been completed in the first month following the contract being signed, however the registration of your contract was not possible until the EAL came into effect in January 2008.
MS1b: The deadline has been expanded until 30 April 2008
MS1c No there is no penalty for not registering your contract, but please take on board the comments made earlier about the importance of doing so.
Q2: The government has passed no law that ‘forces’ the owner of the property to transfer title on final payment. Another ‘retrospective‘ law on this issue would resolve many of the problems we are encountering today if this was passed.
MS: I totally agree and I did ask the government almost a year ago if they had any plans to do so, the answer was no. This is disgraceful - we use the example of a car to illustrate this issue, you pay for a car, you maintain the car and use it – but you cannot have the registration documents. No one will accept this situation when paying for a car, but we, as aliens, are expected to pay thousands of pounds, and in many cases relocate to our adopted country without this security! We are still working on this one, we will not give up.
Q3: What advice do you give to people (like us) who have just been refused permission because our property is on Turkish Title land? Our application was dated July 2005.
MS: We are working on refusals at the moment, it is something we have raised with the Prime Minister. We have a list of some 21 known refusals, that’s all, I am sure there are more, but many people may as yet be unaware that they have been refused. He has requested these files from the ministry and we are awaiting further information from him. I would ask that if you are caught up in this issue and I do not know about it, drop me a e-mail with your PTP number, this is going to be an ongoing matter for some time I think. The refusals are not all connected with Turkish title deed, but we need to know the true reason for any refusal as the whole thing is something else shrouded in mystery. If we know the reason for refusal, we might be able to do something about it and reapply.
Q4: Do you know of anyone (purchaser) who is in litigation with their builder, and has won their case?
MS: No. We do not know of anyone who has gone to trial, Sheila and Don are going through this process at the moment, so maybe we can give a definitive answer soon! We obviously know of people, who have won against a builder, but it is unclear whether a trail has taken place, many issues are settled outside of court, but in court, if you know what I mean, without every reaching trial. However, any win is only as good as the judgement being enforced, but that is another issue we are tackling.
Q5: Our builder/developer refuses to partition the plot. What action if any can be taken? By the way, they are lawyers!
MS: Have you reported this issue to the PIO? Yes, well then we shall have to wait and see, it is a very common problem – a bit like getting your car log book for a mini when you paid for a Rolls Royce! There are too many people in this situation, we know it is to do with the cost of separation and the time delay from starting the build to having a finished site; this is why it is so much easier to do first. It all boils down to money; these companies have not employed prudent accounting and set your money aside to pay for these things. I know of one site where the builder has not paid for the building permits, they are ready for collection, but need to be paid for – without the building permit been seen by Kibtek, the electric cannot be supplied, it is crazy – we suffer for others money mismanagement. Instead he says, I have no money, you give me the money to get my building permits and you will get your electric. But please bear in mind, this is not blackmail, this is known as giving a gift in gratitude for getting the job done! Yeah right, report him.
Q6: Do all mortgages/encumbrances have to be registered with the PIO?
MS: No, but we would like you to. The more information that is gathered about the immoral practices that have being taking place in the property sector the better. There are two things here; you now have the protection offered by registering your contract and knowing that your purchase is safe. Or you are finding out that your purchase has been compromised by the actions of others. Complain, somebody, somewhere has to look into this disgrace. I have heard of some people who have found mortgages issued on their property in 2008, it is almost as if the landowners knew the gate was being shut on their ‘golden goose’ and got in under the wire, securing mortgages before you got a chance to register your contracts. Yes, please register your complaint with the PIO.
Q7: If there is a mortgage in the land and mortgagees foreclose on the borrower, would your property be taken by the mortgagees?
MS: Possibly, yes. We have outlined the issues earlier, but we are fighting the old ways of doing things, as why should you be the ones to suffer? You are the innocent victim here of a government allowed scam, a scam we have been protesting about for the past 2 and a half years. The land can go to auction and be sold out from under you, but you are sitting tenants and as such have some rights, I guess we shall have to wait and see one of these situations reach that point to know for sure what will happen.
Q8: I am told there are no electric meters on the island for 2-3 months and I must pay £50 a month to the municipalities. Is this correct?
MS: No, there are no meters. If you have been asked to pay £50 a month that is reasonable.
SV: My last month’s electric bill, on regular charge, was just over 100ytl, so it is comparable.
Q9: My builder will not parcelise and pay his taxes on my site of 7 houses. He offers a shared Koçan, both the solicitor and estate agent advice to me is to accept, what do you think? Also, some people on site have accepted this option and the pressure is being applied to make me conform.
MS: A shared Koçan does offer a certain amount of protection, but so does registering your sales contract. Why should you pay his taxes and accept something that you did not contract to have. I know it sounds like I just say no, but how will these things ever change or be enforced if we allow ourselves to be walked over. By registering your sales contract, your interest in the property is lodged, without having to hand over shed loads of cash to a man who is blackmailing you. It is a shame when there are so many people involved and they can’t agree on one course of action, but you have to follow your own path. There are some issues with shared Koçans, but I do not fully understand them, something else to add to my To Do list. I vaguely know that if a share is offered it has to be advertised in the paper at the valuation price to the other owners who may take up the option of buying at cost I think – like I said vague and I need to find out more. Again report this man to the PIO. I know you are all desperate to have your Koçans – but at what price, understand what you are accepting at least – and when you understand it – tell me!
Q10a: My problem is not the parcalisation as such, but the fact that it is being done and we have now lost 20 meters off our land for the road and pavement on both sides as I am on a corner and now I am worried that the land left is too small for the size of my property. Why aren’t the regulations better presented and in a timely fashion?
Q10b: We also have found a mortgage on our land, the builder says no problem, he will pay them in six months, but what if he does not, who will pay off these loans?
MSa: There are so many boundary issues of all descriptions, mine for instance. However, I can understand your worry, what does the builder say about it, maybe it is not a problem as it has passed the parcalisation project. As to the changing rules, well it is par for the course here, this country is only 40+ years old, they are still trying to find the best way forward and what was suitable for horse and cart is not suitable for mega Jeeps! Likewise, by building wide pavements the entire infrastructure can be placed underground, something that many countries are adopting, so maybe it is good.
MSb: As to the loans, I know of your particular builder and he seems to be straight, so hopeful what he says will come to pass. If not that is a difficult one, but by registering your issue regarding the mortgage with the PIO, the extent of this problem can be gauged, if it i , as I suspect, widespread, then the government will have to give due attention to it and find a way of satisfying both the lender and the innocent victim.
Q11a: What is a ‘Final Inspection Certificate’?
Q11b What is ‘Property registered on the Koçan’? – a fee of £500 has been mentioned to us.
MS11a:Has anyone ever seen a Final Inspection Certificate, I have not! It should be in the project file.
SV: I think this is one of those things we have to seek clarification on – when is it issued, if it signs the build off, who has a copy and who should get a copy? Maybe it is held by the Belediyesi, maybe we should ask them? I also want to know if the Final Approval is the same as what the land office gives you when coming to value – or are they different processes for different things? And does the land office do valuations anymore, now that the taxes are calculated on the contract price, the goalposts have moved and we do not know the implications!
MS11b:True, we will find out. As to the property being on the Koçan. When you get your title deed it is for the land only. You have to make another application to the DLRO to place your house on the plot. I understand this used to be a simple process, requiring many copies of Koçan and site plans, but is relatively easy and cheap to do, under 50ytl – might take a time to get it back mind. Go and ask the procedure at the DLRO, find out for yourself.
Q12: What is valuation based on – contract price or current market price?
MS: We were told that as of the 2nd January 2008, that the taxes are calculated on the contract price. We are now awaiting confirmation of this in writing – we will not pass on any definite news, such as this, unless we have it in writing.
Q13: We have found out from the DLRO that our villa, which we have lived in for the past year, is mortgaged. Can we force the builder, Santa Fe to remove the mortgage?
MS: Sadly, no. The best you can hope for is that they meet the payments on the loan.
Q14: Our apartment is complete, but we have found out that the site is on temporary electric and temporary water and the site is mortgaged. The builder Santa Fe is asking for all final payments. Also there is no access road. What do I do?
MS: Don’t pay. Go to the PIO – they are very aware of Santa Fe. I know that sounds like a contradiction in terms – if they know- why don’t they sort them out? But you know it does not work like that here, all we can do is monitor their activities and bring all their past actions to the attention of the authorities. We would also ask you to alert us to any new company that are Santa Fe in another guise, because that is what they do, start a new mess.
Q15: Do you know of a Solicitor /Advocate who will take another Advocate to court?
MS: No, and you would have to have an exceptional case I think.
Q16: Can you make your own will?
MS: I don’t know – anybody?
Yes (member) I did my own. It is written in English, I got a Noter to sign it and took a copy and registered my will with the DLRO, for a minimal fee. MS- I do know that the first place they look for a will is the DLRO, so now you know.
Q17a: Why does the builder want £10,000 for the title deeds?
Q17b: Why does the DLRO want to keep my original contract until I provide the deeds?
MSa: Silly question, because he thinks you might pay it! Joking aside if your contract states that a payment is made on deed exchange – fine, otherwise NO.
MSb: They don’t – normally, have they taken yours? Yes, they wanted a copy of my title deeds and I did not have it as the builder wants £10000 to give it to me. MS – go ask for it back, they should keep the copy, I think we need to talk about this further when we close – is that ok?
Q18: I know you have recently made contact with the Chief Justice, could he be approached regarding our dilemma? We bought land from partners who fell out and there has been a case, held last October and the Judge’s ruling has not been announced yet, so we do not know who legally owns our land?
MS: We can certainly mention it to him, this is the sort of thing he has asked we tell him about.
Q19: We have come out from England expecting Hz Omer (Gary Robb, Catalkoy site) to have works being carried out, but it appears the builder expects the buyers to try to get the investigation on him and his company lifted and now does not want to deal with any of us! What can we do?
MS: You have a very good committee working on this one, people who live on the site. It is very frustrating being on any committee and trying to find a solution to anything here, we do make progress but it is so small at times it is hard to see any improvement. This is another one of those cases where things go ok for a bit and then everything stops again, sorry. Dealing with Mr Robb for a start.
Lastly a couple of suggestions
Would it not help consumer confidence if Baro issued a press statement to the effect that any lawyers failing to carry out their duties ethically, and to the letter of the law, will be severely dealt with?
MS: I am sure it would, but it is not that simple, what are their duties regarding a purchase? What is the punishment set out in the lawyer’s charter – if one exists – nothing is ever that simple. We would welcome the industry being policed from within, as that is the most effective way to raise standards, but we can only lobby for such things to happen. Baro has to care about its own reputation before anything will change.
Can lawyers be compelled to issue a written report on the property concerned with particular reference to searches?
MS: The new EAL states that each property has searches done prior to marketing and any encumbrances on it must be stated. It has become the responsibility of the Estate Agents to verify these facts. So this requirement is now met, but not by the lawyers.
There being no further question , the meeting closed at 4.30pm.
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