For those of you who are selling, or planing to sell, your villa or apartment be aware of a SCAM by individuals posing to be Estate Agents.
A friend recently sold her house to a viewer who, as far as she was aware had come as a result of a For Sale note on her gate, received a threatening letter (translated into perfect English) from an "agent" the same day as the sale was completed, demanding payment of 3% of the sales value for "marketing" her property. She had had no contact with this "agent" prior to the sale of her villa and this is very obvious by the fact that they addressed the letter to her as “Dear householder”.
As far as she was concerned, the buyer had come directly to see her house, viewed the house alone, and negotiated the price privately. A Turkish friend spoke to the "agent", and confirmed that the agent had had no previous contact at all with the seller, and there was absolutely no obligation to pay anything to them. The "agent" apologised stating that there had been an error in the translation!!!!
This "agent" will obviously try this scam again and again - preying on individuals who will just pay because of the threats made in the letter - so if you do receive such a threat contact the Jandarme immediately.