suiging

Britons pay the price on Costa del Scam

By Fiona Govan

(Filed: 26/08/2006)

A short drive from the centre of the glitzy resort of Marbella on the edge of a banana plantation with views over the Mediterranean, the newly built beach front apartment seemed too good an opportunity to miss for Jack and Yvonne Burditt.

The Devonshire couple were looking to invest their life savings on a home to spend their retirement in so they handed over more than €250,000 (£170,000) and moved in right away.

Three years later they are still there but instead of enjoying sunsets from their terrace they are keeping a watchful eye out for the bulldozers they fear will come to demolish their home.

The Burditts are among the many victims of an alleged property fraud that has rocked the town of Marbella on the Costa del Sol and landed more than 50 people including the mayor, councillors, developers, estate agents and lawyers in prison, pending trial for fraud, embezzlement and other charges.

In April the Madrid government took the unprecedented step of dismissing the entire town council after an investigation, dubbed Operation Malaya, claimed that it was embroiled in a network of bribes and corruption, siphoning cash from the huge construction boom of Spain's southern coast.

It is alleged that under the chief of urban planning, Juan Antonio Roca, the town hall accepted bribes for, among other things, granting building permits on land not designated for construction.

It is thought that about 30,000 of the 80,000 Marbella properties built in the past decade have been constructed illegally, and at least 4,500 of these face court decisions on whether they should be demolished or legalised.

Those in most danger of being flattened are buildings constructed too close to the sea or on public parkland such as the Burditts' home at Banana Beach.

''It came as such a shock to us to hear that our building is on what is essentially green belt land and shouldn't be here," said Mrs Burditt, 83, who was assured by a local lawyer that everything was above board when she and her husband made the purchase.

''Our block was listed on the local news as one of those likely to be demolished but we have heard nothing official. It's torture not knowing what is going to happen."

That sentiment is shared by scores of other British investors left in limbo as to the fate of their properties. Christopher Winter, a music producer from Rangeworthy, near Bristol, and his wife have £40,000 invested in a rural property in the hills above Marbella that they had hoped to rent out as a holiday home before reselling at a profit.

''We paid the deposit in March 2003 and were due to take possession last spring but before we paid the final £100,000 we found out that the land was not designated for this type of building and it was therefore illegal," he said.

''The decision we have to make now is do we pay the rest and possibly throw good money after bad in the hope that the building is approved or do we pull out, lose the £40,000 and hope for compensation?"

It is not only foreign purchasers who are suffering. Thousands of locals have also been affected. Antonio Banderas, the Spanish actor, made headlines when it emerged that one of his properties could also face demolition for not having the proper authorisation.

Gwilym Rhys-Jones, an adviser and investigator at the Costa del Sol Action Group, which helps expatriates in the region to fight fraud, estimates that it could cost almost £4.5 billion to compensate those caught up in the swindle. ''That's the minimum figure officials say it will cost them to indemnify innocent parties caught up in Marbella's building scandal," he said.

''It's a nightmare for everyone involved as there is no way the council can afford that.

''As we now know, the town's coffers have been drained by all the embezzlement and Marbella has been left poor."

The true extent of the scandal is not yet known but is thought to run into billions. Initial raids as part of the ongoing Operation Malaya seized large amounts of hidden cash along with 200 fighting bulls, 103 thoroughbred horses, 275 works of art, a helicopter and four Porsches.

According to one local lawyer it was only a matter of time before such things were discovered.

"Of course everyone knew to some extent what was going on but there was so much corruption on all levels that it was impossible to fight it," said Rafael Berdaguer Abogados, a property law expert.

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from todays daily telegraph

these scams can occur anywhere , not only here.

i lived on koh samui for a couple of years recently and the stench of greed and avarice as a result of the property price boom there hung in the air around the island like a cloud of poisonous gas infecting almost everyone who breathed it.

am i the only one who thinks that 99.99% of land developers , lawyers , agents and all the other associated bottom feeding selfish parasites involved in that business are among the greediest and most immoral spineless scum on the planet.

Scared of dentists myself

Different strokes for............................etc. It's the East side for me. The air is fine, the golf courses are on your doorstep as are the International schools. There are some great restaurants which rarely if ever are crowded. Easy access to the M-Ways ( both to Bk and the better beaches Rayong way ) without traffic, another plus point. However, poor public transport a problem, so a few beers with your pals downtown is a tad risky ( take a cab ). I love it.

in the states, you have title companies which work with you on the sale of property. these companies insure the buyer and the seller that there are no debts or such outstanding on the property to be sold.

Is it not available or simply not necessary? Wikipedia states "Title insurance exists in the US in great part because of a comparative deficiency in the US land records laws. Most of the industrialized world uses land registration systems for the transfer of land titles or interests in them." Maybe an escrow service was what was needed, but I guess that's pretty rare here, too.

In the states, you can usually go to city hall or wherever and poke around through the deeds (really quite interesting if you've never done it) where everything gets recorded. Do Thai land offices let people dig around in their records?

I think the set of circumstances outlined by the OP have occured just about everywhere in the world. I have been ripped of in Birmingham for God's sake and the tales of forced repossessions in Spain are horrific. There are many rip off artists in the LOS and the legal process a minefield at best. However, once you find the right official here and your checks are carried out by a lawer you can trust ( based on more than one recommendation for good work ) things don't tend to creep up and bite you in the bum quite as much as in Mickey Euroland. The trusted lawer by the way does not have to have a wall full of tin plates, but he must be " In the Know " with the right people in the area you wish to deal with. Who they know, often more important than what an arm full of qualifications suggest they should know.

After the land, wall/garden and kitchen are in, house around 9 mill all told. Market value? Ask the Interior Minister if he would kindly extract didgit and sort out property ownership.

Progress in Pong

I have said this on here before...but what the hel_l.

My wife is Chinese. It took me two years to get her to come to Patters because of the sleeze. However, she loves good food, is a fanatical golfer and has always wanted a garden of her own to grow fresh produce in retirement. If any of her needs sound about right for you ?try Pattaya. Not the center of town, leave that to the cradle snatchers and the chavs, but head inland a tad ( or a little way up the coast ) and the place is fantastic. All the facilities you would ever need on your doorstep, and I swear on my dear old Mum, four years later, the wife loves it and she has never felt the need to walk down walkin street, not a once. Funny that, all the bashers on here are fixated by the sleeze and seem to have never set foot in the fine countryside, mmmmm perhaps they are in reality an integral part of the cradle snatcher brigade, without the balls to admit it, wracked by guilt and self pity.

Anyone figure why hiring a PI is the last resort ?

A PI's view should be objective, friends of either party will certainly not be. Having shared the problem with the whole of the TV community, one more guy in a mac should not be a problem.

Pattaya is changing, since the stage coach connection fromBKK has arrived and the new Parish church at the Dolphin opened. The local Sherrif is very good and the ban on leaving your horse unteathered in walking street has helped.

The hanging noose left at the entrance to Walking Street has been move to Soi6 which gives a better impression of the town.

After last weekend shootings guns are being taken off of shoppers going into BIG MAC

The local council have decided to stop any more development putting waste into the sea and instead are digging a big hole in the beach area of Soi 8.

Can't understand why you don't like the place!!!!!

EDwood

This little piggy went to market and certainly this little piggy has been smoking stuff his mommy will spank him for.

Must be enough folk in the lovely " Pong " to justify the odd cab or two ?

Some local copper has gone into the airship business

TIT

Calling the local copper names will only get you into trouble.

" I'm Nud.........fly me "

( 10cc I think ? )

how is the progress, Suiqinq, is it moving on with your house build.??

would love to see something from the inside....

Hi, just got back today. Windows etc to be fitted by next week, I will post the progress.

I think you'll find the Disney fantasy was started as a joke in the " Butterfly " by a well known welshman. It now seems to have a life of it's own.

A number of senior law firms in BK have come up with company schemes involving holding companies which are one step removed from the company which owns the land, thus in law, the land is owned by Thai's and a Thai controlled ie over 50 % holding company. The holding company has a preferencial share structure to give you the real owner, voting/company control, security. This is a more expensive method but appears to be fully compliant with existing law. Sunbelt, I believe will have a route in similar fashion ironed out in the near future.

Strange.

This method was put to me by a Bangkok lawyer over 3 years ago, when I was buying a house in BKK - so its certainly not a new idea. They also suggested setting up a company with 100% Thai shareholding, and changing the shareholding after land transfer. This has also been recently mooted, but presumably wouldn't work if they start to investigate all companies with farang shareholding - not just those that bought land.

I'm trying to think this holding company thing through. Even though a farang only has shares in the holding company, the holding company will still be investigated to establish if there are any nominee Thai shareholders? Surely the name of the game is to establish the source of the money which was ultimately used to buy the property? The holding company idea may get around the Farang land ownership loophole, but not necessarily around the farang - nominee shareholders issue. Surely the Shin corp set up is a case in point?

True

I'm off to the airport as we speak and should be in lovely Pong by this evening ( off to see your kids, mid week ) I will be asking similar questions on this trip. I didn't say the schemes would work, just that these methods are being proposed.

Lucky boy realy. It's a wonder daddy wasn't sent little bits of him home in the mail.

One last comment. We are now in a period of political posturing before the next election. Going after the Farang who owns his one retirement home may sound good now, but in reality the effect on the economy of killing the grey retirement market will be horrific. I certainy enjoy watching my hopefully soon to be completed retirement home being built, but I didn't construct the bugger. Teams of locals built it, local shops sell me the materials and I will employ locals in the future to help maintain it. Multiply this influx of overseas funds into the economy by the number of crusty old Farang doing the same, and I think post election a more pragmatic approach will prevail.

Companies violating the rules would face dissolution. Complicit shareholders also could face fines of up to one million baht and/or jail terms of up to three years.

In the future, the Business Development Department plans to examine existing registered companies with foreign shareholders to determine whether they breach the new rules or not.

Ms Orajit admitted that mistakes had been made in the past, in part due to department policies aimed at facilitating the establishment of new companies.

It's the bold part which should make you help the decission to go the lease way!

Thanks for all that Monty and TukTUkMIke,

It's very interesting. At the risk of re-gurgiating all the stuff in earlier threads, what aon earth is this going to do to the housing market, as far as farangs are concerned? Seems to be the nail in the coffin for farangs buying land.

Looks like we have Thaksin and those criminals in Samui to thank for it.

I still find it very difficult to believe they will make serious attempts to investigate existing companies - I wonder what they will do about Shin? I mean, there must be thousands of companies with nominee shareholders - they just don't have the man power. To say nothing of the farang outcry -but they probably couldn't give a shit about that.

Anyway, regardless of what they may do, I have concluded that nominee shareholders may work in the short term, but what happens 5 or 10 years down the line? Could get messy. The best thing is to change to the lease route.

I'm thinking of contacting Sunbelt in Bangkok - can't use my existing lawyer who also supplied the shareholders. Anyone have any views on this?

A number of senior law firms in BK have come up with company schemes involving holding companies which are one step removed from the company which owns the land, thus in law, the land is owned by Thai's and a Thai controlled ie over 50 % holding company. The holding company has a preferencial share structure to give you the real owner, voting/company control, security. This is a more expensive method but appears to be fully compliant with existing law. Sunbelt, I believe will have a route in similar fashion ironed out in the near future.

The Iranian could well have followed him from BK to do the biz. That amount of bling and the team effort to rob him, always did look like a set up, rather than a poor tourist having a bad day !!

They are not called " Ladies " in LOS for nothing. Some are as hard as nails, but all see it as a business and little else. When they retire, they can retire, and mix within a local community with little or no social stigma. Try being an ex-pro in Burnley and see what happens to your application to join the women's institute.

I’ve lived on Phuket now for many years and it’s a safe place in my opinion, of course, like anywhere it’s got its bad spots. However on the odd occasion that I’ve stayed in Pattaya, I’ve noticed many house owners seem to find in necessary to put high walls around their property, topped with barb wire or broken glass – and I’m not talking about mansions here, just normal townhouses and bungalows. There’s no smoke without fire as the old saying goes.

Must admit I find that interesting myself. Folk in general pay considerably more for their des res in Phuckit, so one would imagine rich pickings inside for the jolly neds ? Perhaps they can't read or the bus fare to Patters is cheaper.

Sadly a glance at the Samui forum in particular, will show you the rise in crime is indicative across the LOS. There is a great deal of hired help from the poor parts of the land in Patters right now working on the never ending building boom, (same as Samui). Some of the guys when paid off stay, or perhaps worse, tell their pals from the sticks that the streets are pathed with gold. Sadly when they find this not to be true, a number are turning to the darker side of life. This said, no matter what the bashers tell you, if you don't look for trouble down the town the place is fine and investing in a visible security system seems to do the trick, as the yobs , like all yobs are lazy and will go for the easy targets first. Much better off in Patters than any large UK city, but sadly not as at peace as you once were ten years ago.

If he was drinking up the North end, the Russians wouldn't have taken four hours before nailing the silly sod.

Pattaya: The place narrow minded bigots enjoy slagging off from afar and the place they all enjoyed visiting before taking up bigatory as a profession

" Better than where you live "

or

" Try doing this at home !!!! "

I have an account with Siam Comm. My pal with exactly the same circumstances as me, ie non-resident, had his application turned down same branch one month later. Have ago and don't give up !!