Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Calis Beach Forum => Calis Beach Questions and Information => Topic started by: russbear16 on July 09, 2012, 21:20:31 PM
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Once upon a time we were very happy, obliviously unaware that our builders “A1” formerly of Fethiye had left a mortgage on our Tapu.
When we purchased our lovely villa in 2003 we bought off plan and contracted to pay by three instalments. After we had made the second payment the Tapu was transferred into our names. A day later the builder put a mortgage on the Tapu equal to the final payment still outstanding (the original date on our Tapu was altered by a day by someone, in black ink, so the date the Tapu was transferred into our names appeared to be the same as the date the mortgage was placed on our Tapu).
At the time of purchasing our villa we made the fatal mistake of not employing a decent lawyer to handle our purchase, however, having had many problems with “A1” we found ourselves an honest Lawyer who agreed to act on our behalf. We eventually came to an agreement with the builder and via our Lawyer made the final payment to him on condition he signed a legal document stating that he had received all the money due to him and that he no longer had a financial interest in our villa and would remove the mortgage with immediate effect.
4 years later when our Tapu was checked it came to light that the mortgage had never been removed and so began 2 ½ years of hell to get it removed. The Lawyer who acted on our behalf previously agreed to act for us again and contacted the builder who flatly refused to remove the debt. In fact he transferred the rights of the mortgage to a third party who set the debt collection process in motion enabling him to have our villa auctioned to recover the non existent debt. Fortunately our Lawyer got an injunction to stop the process until the matter had been settled in Court. First we went to the Fethiye Court which after 15 months found in our favour. The builder and the third party then took us to High Court on appeal but we won there as well and the decision in our favour was upheld.
Nearly three years on (having dealt with the stress of the Court cases, me being diagnosed with breast cancer and my husband being made redundant) the mortgage has been removed. Happy joy!!!!!
I just wanted to share our good news and to say sometimes there is a silver lining and PLEASE learn from our mistake and employ a DECENT, HONEST lawyer and a GOOD agent who have been recommended by someone you trust and have a proven track record (and who are not in cahoots with your builder!) cos it will save so much heartache in the long run. :)
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great outcome and I wish you all the best with you health russbear16
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Ali I am (as you know) on holiday but had to post to say thank you for telling your story. It shows an important point, that the law is there to help and isn't always an obstacle.
Delighted for you.
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Thanks you for your good wishes Patrice and enjoy your hols Scunner
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What a horrible time you have had, hearty congratulations on your success at last! Wonderful news for you.
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Many congratulations - I cannot imagine the stress involved.
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Its good to see that the courts saw right from wrong. Well done!
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Really pleased for you 8)
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Well done Ali for sticking it out you must be over the moon!
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What a horror of a story. I am so glad you got things sorted in the end. As a matter of interest, did this scumbag have to pay your costs, seeing as he was found to be in the wrong?
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Fantastic news. Well done for not giving up. Enjoy your villa now stress free.
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What a great outcome after such a horrific ordeal! Well done for fighting and not giving in to these crooks!
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You have been to hell and back by the sounds of it.
Hopefully you can start living your life now, have fun.
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Well done Russbear16. Hope life just keeps getting better for you now. ;)
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Admire you stamina and endurance, well done for seeing it thru and hope you have many happy times ahead and wish you good health
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great outcome! why hasn't the lawyers name been mentioned? :)
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Thank you for sharing. A big lesson to us all. Fighting is hard but good to hear of a positive result. Best wishes with the health issues and enjoy your future. Alan & Pauline
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i went cold reading your story ,so very very pleased at the outcome,must be one hell of a relief..... good luck for the future, and hope everything works out well for you both .
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Thank you for posting your wonderful news Russbear :) that's the first seriously positive result I've heard come out of the courts there for a foreigner. I can only imagine the relief you must feel, wishing you well in your future health & happiness.
You mention finding a good lawyer, sadly, that's easier said than done, can you tell us who your lawyer is/was please.
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Hi Rindaloo - Yes costs were awarded against the builder and the 3rd party but not holding our breath that we will see the money back from them!
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That would be the icing on the cake, eh. Best wishes to you both for a happy and healthy future, now you have this behind you. And WELL DONE! :)
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What an horrendous story but a terrific ending. You must both be feeling euphoric. We wish you both health and happiness to enjoy your villa.
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What a nightmare to have experienced. So pleased for you both to have a positive outcome and I wish you good health and all the very best for the future.
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A1 were also the builder for the couple who appeared on ITV's Holiday Homes From Hell who also posted on CBF. Their apartment is owned by someone else now, even though they paid all the money to A1 as agreed in the contract. There are many victims of this company, sadly.
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I am really pleased to read that you finally had a successful outcome on your villa; it really sounds like a total nightmare.
There is just one thing and I don't intend to come across as being snippy but its been bugging me since I read your post last night that surely the lawyer should have ensured the first time around that the mortgage was actually removed from your property and this would have saved you from the ongoing trauma over another few years...
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Hence the point that a good agent is also important I think. Large developers often cause a conflict of interest for lawyers in Turkey. They can act for you for your one purchase but they can act for a developer for dozens...
I'm not naive enough to believe agents don't have a similar conflict of interest - sell a resale for 3% or a new project for 12-15%..? You need to trust your lawyer/agent to act entirely in your interests and sadly that isn't automatic there. That is why I say one main thing - do your research - the very reason I set up CBF.
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Congratulation, very well done. I hope that you can now sit back, relax and enjoy your villa. Best wishes.
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I can't thank everyone enough for their good wishes. It makes us realise that although we don't know many of you personally the members of CBF are a fantastic community! :)
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Would this be the same A1 that we viewed with in 2003 or a different company? We didn't buy from them in the end.
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Well done,hope you can see the end of this now.
All the best.
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Really pleased for you that your perseverance finally paid off and I hope this is the start of an upward trend for you healthwise included.
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i am made up you have won
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wow breast cancer and redundancy, what a tough time you've had, and still had the stength to win, good for you and shame on A1, good luck with your future health ;0)
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Hi Tinkerman - sorry for the delay in getting back to you but I wanted to check with our lawyer that it was ok to post his details before I did it. His name is Oguz Gokhan Guzel (known as Gokhan) and he is based in Fethiye. We have known Gokhan for over 8 years and know of others who have won in court thanks to him.