New Developments in Spain not ready on time

I have just come back from a trip to the Costa del Sol in Spain. Over the last days I have been speaking to many unhappy customers and property buyers, who have numerous problems with their new properties in Spain. See rants below:”The development was supposed to be finished in September 2005 and we are still not in today. The latest is we will be in by June 2006…”

This seems to be the trend at present certainly on the Costa del Sol. Many developments have got delayed due to bad weather, developers not paying their workforce (people just walking off site!) and unrealistic time scales.

So what does this mean for the buyer?

Many Spanish Property contracts have built in clauses that deal with the issues of delays.
So it may say “6% late charge back to you the client, if the project is not completed within 2 years with delays of no more than 6 months” However READ THE SMALLPRINT, as many clauses state from “when we break ground”. So you may sign and the developers don’t break ground until a year later thus giving them the right to 2 years and 6 months build time from that point! Many people have got caught up in this and are just having to wait. In an extreme case I know of a couple who had moved lock stock from the US over here in August last year and were due to move in, in September 2005 and are still renting with all their furniture in storage today, with no firm dates of completion.

I am sure this goes on all over and frankly there is little you can do, just be aware of time scales as your plans may change as time passes.