Here is our HORROR story.
We agreed to sell all 3 of our villas to Oktay Guney along with his German girlfriend (soon to be his wife) Christiane Meisenburg - who we spoke to on the telephone - at our villas & at his Avokats' office. We were promised a £5000 Sennet (like a cheque here) as deposit PLUS he would do extensive work on the premises at his own cost. He had already started work on repainting the outsides of all 3 villas & the insides of 2 of them. Pool people came around & measured up to put the largest pool possible in the grounds. Kitchen fitters came measuring up as did landscape gardeners, carpenters, plumbers etc. etc.
The work was coming along nicely. We had made an appointment to see an Avokat (solicitor) but Oktay could not be found so we had to cancel that appointment. However he took us to his Avokat & we had papers drawn up. Oktay complained at the Avokat that he was spending out at least £20K doing up the villas so he didn't want to pay a Sennet too. His Avokat said as he was paying for all this work we were being unreasonable in expecting a Sennet too. We were greatly unhappy with this BUT we took the papers along to our Avokat who agreed with his Avokat - that we did not need a Sennet. We were still unhappy but both were insistent that because of the work already done & the work in progress it was obvious to them that he was 100% serious. Oktay wanted the key to the villa we live in BUT was told that NO WAY would he be given this key as we had LOADS of personal possessions - clothes, shoes, books, electrical etc. etc. Every time we come over we bring more possessions & we have been over many times. We don't need to bring many clothes as our wardrobes were bulging already.
Both Oktays' Avocat & ours said Oktay had no right to our keys & if we didn't want to give them to him - we didn't have to. There was no way we were letting him have the keys to our personal villa.
In the week that remained before we returned to the UK the work kept going ahead & Oktay showed us a detached villa that was our dream villa that was owned by the painter boss who was doing the work on our villas. We fell in love with this villa & Oktay told us & the painter that he would put down a £5,000 deposit & after speaking to Christiane they agreed they could come up with the cash for this villa & the remaining cash from our villas by the 15th October - this is why we are now in Calis.
We arrived at the villas - after a delay (FTC) at about 9am on 30th September. We were extremely tired as we'd flown from Manchester. We found the entrance gate lock had been changed & after shouting for Oktay a female emerged from the back villa & let us in the gate. We unlocked the door to the villa & found just about everything gone - all furnishings - fridge, cooker, washing machine, A/C units, water heaters etc. etc. even down to bedding, towels, crockery, cutlery, all our shoes, clothing even down to our underwear.
To say we were gob smacked is an understatement. We then found out that Oktay had even taken money to rent the 2 other villas out (bargain price too - 3000YTL for the two for 6 months on a 12month agreement!) - They said he had sold them some of our furnishings for 1000YTL & had taken 2 vanloads to Antalya. We cannot understand their so called contract as it is in Turkish & have seen NO receipt for any items bought. The person that took the goods to Antalya for Oktay was not paid for taking them & was told to help himself to whatever he wanted that remained. The tenants also told us that he had sold the 4 A/C units to someone else - who ripped them out damaging the freshly painted rooms.
Because of Bayram we were told that it was pointless going to the police until Friday. The only person who we could go with was Turkish but he speaks very good English (married to an English woman who has 18yr old twins & a baby of about 13 months) & also our illegal tenant.
As if all the above wasn't enough we were then introduced by the tenants to someone who wanted to buy all 3 properties BUT for 20K less than we'd agreed with Oktay. This man said he owned numerous business premises in Calis - which we later found out was an untruth. What the illegal tenants didn't tell us was that they had paid Oktay just 1500YTL cash the remaining 1500YTL was a Sennet that became payable on 23rd September. Oktay had given this man the Sennet as he's sold him a Mercedes Benz that the engine had blown up on. He then later passed this Sennet onto another person.
These 2 people had been hassling the tenants to pay the Sennet & had even threatened their 13 month old child - kidnapping or an accident - nice people - NOT!
Whilst we were at the Police station reporting the crimes the 1st of these people put the 2nd one into OUR villa. When we returned with the police for them to see the inside of the villa we were astounded to see someone's personal possessions in our villa - we thought Oktay had returned!
We had booked ourselves into the Dawn Beach Hotel BUT as we hadn't brought over money to stay in a hotel & eat out daily we decided that even though we would be camping out we should return to the villa after 5 days. Both Carl & I are diabetic & eating out - especially ‘tourist style' is NOT good for us. At least with kitchen surfaces we can prepare salads etc. IF we had the plates to put food on & the knives to cut food with! Grrrrrr!
We told the 1st person we wanted the 2nd one OUT immediately. He did remove him from our villa but then when we were from the villa about 11/2hrs later he promptly placed him in the villa across from us. Perhaps I should point out at this stage that we have electricity in this villa & mosquito nets (they LOVE me!) but Oktay or the tenant (you choose) has changed the water meters around between the villas as one meter the glass is cracked in & it spews water everywhere. It was in the villa opposite (no problem as no-one living there) but now it is at our villa - therefore we needed the 2 villas to have electricity and water. The rental family is all in the back villa - manly because they are afraid of the people coming back & fore pressuring them to pay the Sennet.
I LOST the plot when I found the 2nd gent? in the villa across the way & threw him out - there was NO WAY I was letting another person inhabit our villas, use our electricity etc. He then demanded 1500YTL from me. I told him in no uncertain terms to get lost so the esteemable gentleman told me that he would firebomb us. He said either now or later when we had gone back to Britain. This gent has a girlfriend from York that is flying over this week & meeting him in Istanbul with papers to get him into the UK. How would you all like him as a prospective neighbour? Do we want him away from Calis OR in the UK? Of course this could have been said in the heat of the moment as he has ignored us when he visited again at least 3 times since.
Our illegal tenants have no money to pay the Sennet, no employment & have furnishings on HP. They are scared to leave the premises. The electricity is in our name as is the water. This is despite the fact that Oktay signed the agreement that ALL services had to be immediately changed to his name. They think they don't have to pay anything - draw your own conclusions! They have now decided to sell all their belongings - those on HP & our items they SAID they bought from Oktay to pay the Sennet & safeguard their baby. Apparently 2 days after Oktay left for Antalya they had about 20 people at the door asking for Oktay as he owed them all thousands - these are probably the same people that assured us that Oktay was a high flying businessman who owned numerous call centers in Germany. Needless to say Oktay didn't pay for ANY of the work done at the villas.
We have to sort out the electricity and water, speak to the police again BUT we are frightened to leave the villa in case one of the 2 lovely gentlemen (NOT!) breaks in.
Is possession 9/10ths of the law in Britain but 10/10ths here? Isn't buying stolen goods illegal here? We know the tenants have a fair amount of OUR goods including cooker, fridge, washing machine, bedding, towels etc. Not that we'd want the towels etc back after seeing the filthy grey microfibre ones that used to be a pristine white! CAN they actually sell our things - stolen out of our personal villa (Not from the one they were in) - We haven't managed to get a straight answer from the police or Avokat. This is another reason we don't want to leave the villa. They can't afford to pay the Sennet BUT they could afford the paint to repaint a professionally newly painted villa graffiti style in red/black/white & also manage to get half of it on the floor. OMG - it has to be seen to be believed. I worked for an estate agency & ran my own accommodation bureau for many years & even I have not come across anything as bad as this! The ceiling tiles that someone painted black/white chequerboard design seems insignificant now compared to the total & utter mess they have made of our villas.
Just to get the illegal tenants out apparently will cost us 3,000YTL & take months. The Avokat told us that if we wanted her to represent us in our claim against Oktay that it would cost us £3,000 on 15K - that might be money down the drain. Actually they require 20% of any claim against Oktay & Christiane. I thought British Solicitors were expensive - Hmmm! Different Avokat - thanks to Olga & Cenk for all their help too.
Loz has been an absolute treasure helping us in all this - we probably would have gone totally doo-lally without her help. She's the one who told us to write everything down in chronological order before we went to the police. We did forget some things but the majority we did remember. We were at the Police station at 9am & they eventually left our villa about 4.30pm. We would have been there for 2 days solid if Loz hadn't imparted her knowledge on the way to do things to us! I hope she knows how much we REALLY appreciate her help, as we hope Cenk & Olga do. We also need to thank Osman from ilayda boutique near Mangals & his friend next door for allowing us to use his computer (ex Internet place) & recharging our phone free of charge PLUS trying to keep our spirits up. The people at Mangals have been great too. We KNOW there are some lovely people in Turkey BUT there are also some :: I shan't say any more!
The Police assured us that they would catch Oktay in 1-2 days if he was in Fethiye or 3-4 days if he is in Antalya - they wouldn't start looking until last Monday. We wait to see!
We don't have internet access at the villa so I would be eternally grateful if you lot could find some websites (especially in Antalya) & put out warnings that if you see this man could you contact the Gunlukbasi or Fethiye Police (don't have their numbers). If the websites are German - so much the better as most people Oktay knew were German & Christiane is German.
If someone would ask the Fethiye Times or Post to publicise this also we'd be grateful. I don't want to see anyone else caught by these low lives.
Update Friday - Loz has put us in touch with a Notary/Translator that is the first person that really seems to talk sense. Loz - we owe you SO much!! He is hoping we can go direct with him to the Public Prosecutor. We may have to go via a solicitor (OMG - obscene charges!) - he is checking. He says the tenants DO NOT have a right to our stolen goods. We cannot leave the villa as we know they have tried to sell them & we intend stopping anyone walking away with them.
The Notary/Translator has told us that the sales agreement was null & void as the Parcel number & grid references were incorrect. Apart from these minor details (OMG - can you believe it?) the contract is VERY badly written & doesn't protect us in any way. He said the Avokat Oktay used was NOT reputable & he would say this to his face as he'd come across many problems before with the same Avokat. We paid OUR Avokat £100 to thoroughly check this contract - some great checking he did! NOT! The contract also was NOT notarized - which apparently is a necessity. So much for some Avokats!
I will NOT put the names on here BUT you all know how to reach us by PM should you be in the situation where you need an Avokat.
Bloody hell - it gets worse. 1.30pm Friday -The Notary/Translator has just left after telling our illegal tenants that IF they try to sell any of our furnishings they will be arrested for theft. The tenant has just now informed us that the first gent who held the Sennet will arrive tonight & give them 3000YTL & move into our villa himself. (This is the guy that threatened to kidnap/kill their baby). Spoke to Notary who said to phone him IF it happens & he will send in the Gendarm who are supposed to protect everyone on Turkish soil.
I hope we are here to add further to this. Carl has already nearly collapsed twice & my blood pressure must be sky high. I can feel & hear my heart beating. I'd check it but Oktay stole our 2 BP monitors.
If any of you would like to add your support to us this evening we'd be grateful. Fireworks probably start early evening at 49 Yerguzlar off Baris Manco Blvd (77 & 79 on villas) Chocolate & cream coloured - 2 pairs of semis facing each other. Directly behind Assured Estates Office & opposite Melek (which was Buse) which is behind Aydin Pide - the 2nd roundabout up from the beach. We sure would be grateful if any of you out here would drop by & show your support.
We REALLY need moral support with this - Our telephone number is 0534 6872034 - I know it shouldn't be on here BUT please leave it here just for a while. We don't have internet access at the villa & we can't leave it.
