My mum and dad have bought an apartment in turkey this year with a view to moving out here permenantly when they retire at the end of september.As I live out here and have turkish citizenship the apartment was purchased in my name to make it a little easier and to be able to deal with things in their absence.
They paid a deposit and contracts signed and arranged for the final money to be paid at end of july on completion of all the work.This was all done through an english estate agent out here with a turkish partner.
A week before final money due, the engish partner spoke to me and said he had made a mistake with the cost of the appt and that it should have been 3.000 pounds more.He said he hadnt told my parents as he was too embarrassed.I said id speak to her but they would probably say 'tough'.He said if I didnt mind and even if she could pay half it would help as otherwise he would have to pay it.He said not to say anything to anyone.
I told my parents and they did say 'tough' but thought it was beginning to sound dodgy.İnstead of paying the remainder of the money into the agents bank they sent it to mine and I was to go with them to pay the builder and give them their commission.
When I told him this change of plan he was furious with me.I didnt tell him why just that my mum had to send me some money as well so sent it all together.We ended up having a big argument and when I challenged him about the extra money he said ıt wasnt his mistake but the builders.They had been asking him but hed manged to sort it out now.At this stage the turkish partner left the agency as he couldnt stand to work with the english guy anymore.
Anyway the transaction went through and I have the tapu.However, since then I found out that the builders never asked for more money, the price was always the same.Also the english agent told me that the work had been finished before I handed the money over but when I finally managed to go and check it none of it was finished.No fault of builder as ı found out the agents hadnt been in contact with him until the day the final payment was being made.
Sorry to be so longwinded but I couldnt find a shorter way to put ıt.It has left me feeling so angry.They have just taken the money and left everything for me to sort out.No aftersales service or any kind of professionalism .Does it sound like it to you that he was trying to rip us off for more money?
I need your opinion before I confront him again.Am I right to feel angry?
Many thanks
sunflossie
For what it's worth I think you're absolutely right to feel angry. I'm sure I would in your position.
It certainly sounds as though he was trying to rip you off for more money. well done for not falling for it, but I wonder how many others have! I bet this is exactly why his partner left!!
Having said all that, I'm not sure what confronting him again will acheive apart from letting you get it off your chest.
Even if he said he'd sort everything out for you, would you trust him? Would you want him involved from now on. I'd think about what I wanted most right now, getting even or getting the apartment finished properly
I know that in theory he should do it but maybe you'd be better forging a good relationship directly with the Builder. your common ground will probably be dislike and distrust of the Agent!!
Whatever happens, Good Luck and I hope you sort it out.
Jan
It certainly sounds as though he was trying to rip you off for more money. well done for not falling for it, but I wonder how many others have! I bet this is exactly why his partner left!!
Having said all that, I'm not sure what confronting him again will acheive apart from letting you get it off your chest.
Even if he said he'd sort everything out for you, would you trust him? Would you want him involved from now on. I'd think about what I wanted most right now, getting even or getting the apartment finished properly
I know that in theory he should do it but maybe you'd be better forging a good relationship directly with the Builder. your common ground will probably be dislike and distrust of the Agent!!
Whatever happens, Good Luck and I hope you sort it out.
Jan
Thanks so much for your reply.I though I might have been overreacting a little bit, so reassuring to know that you would feel the same.
Yes, you are right in saying that I just want to get it off my chest.I was so angry initially.I want everything to be ok for my parents.They are getting on a bit and can do without any hassles.They have invested a lot of their savings into the apartment.
I will take your advice and liase with the builder to finish the work. I have spoken to him this morning and he will get things done by the end of the week.He too is fed up with the agent and will not work with him again.
As for the agent I will not confront him, as much as ı would like to.Like you say there would be no real gain from it.Lesson learned !
Thanks again
Yes, you are right in saying that I just want to get it off my chest.I was so angry initially.I want everything to be ok for my parents.They are getting on a bit and can do without any hassles.They have invested a lot of their savings into the apartment.
I will take your advice and liase with the builder to finish the work. I have spoken to him this morning and he will get things done by the end of the week.He too is fed up with the agent and will not work with him again.
As for the agent I will not confront him, as much as ı would like to.Like you say there would be no real gain from it.Lesson learned !
Thanks again
You could always tell your story to anyone who'll listen, especially locally. that will help you to get it off your chest, warn others and when he hears about it, really **ss him off!!!
Name and shame on this forum this is the sort of thing some of us are trying to stop out here.
As Bryn says, name and shame.
Its the only way that you can stop this kind of bad practice.
Its the only way that you can stop this kind of bad practice.
Ahh I missed that! PM me sunflossie, I'm really curious now!
Hi jan400
Was nothing exciting Im afraid.Just the name and location of the estate agent in question.
Will resort to warning anyone and everyone in kas.
Thanks for your advice
sunflossie
Was nothing exciting Im afraid.Just the name and location of the estate agent in question.
Will resort to warning anyone and everyone in kas.
Thanks for your advice
sunflossie
Well Good Luck with the apartment, I'm sure when it's all sorted and you're all having a drink on the terrace in the sun, this won't seem as important!!
Perhaps anyone thinking of buying in your area could PM you for details of who to avoid?
Perhaps anyone thinking of buying in your area could PM you for details of who to avoid?
Sunflossie,
I know exactly how you feel. When we bought our apartment last year, we were nearly ripped off by an English person, pretending he was representing a solicitor, and providing our legal services. You go all that way, very nervous about handing over money to people in a country you know relatively little about, and it turns out in the whole deal the person you should be avoiding is English! All the Turkish people who we have dealt with in connection with our apartment have helped us. It seems there are too many English people jumping on the bandwagon, exploiting the fact that we feel more comfortable dealing with someone from our own country. We tried to warn as many people as we could at the time about this person, but now a year down the line I expect he is spinning the same stories to new purchasers, and maybe getting away with it. Its very annoying but you have to put it behind you. I hope your parents will get as much pleasure from their apartment evenutally, as we have from ours, and in a years time all this will be history!
I know exactly how you feel. When we bought our apartment last year, we were nearly ripped off by an English person, pretending he was representing a solicitor, and providing our legal services. You go all that way, very nervous about handing over money to people in a country you know relatively little about, and it turns out in the whole deal the person you should be avoiding is English! All the Turkish people who we have dealt with in connection with our apartment have helped us. It seems there are too many English people jumping on the bandwagon, exploiting the fact that we feel more comfortable dealing with someone from our own country. We tried to warn as many people as we could at the time about this person, but now a year down the line I expect he is spinning the same stories to new purchasers, and maybe getting away with it. Its very annoying but you have to put it behind you. I hope your parents will get as much pleasure from their apartment evenutally, as we have from ours, and in a years time all this will be history!
First of all, well done for standing your ground with this obvious conman. It is not very nice when you have to confront people but once you have ( which you have successfully) then you do feel better, rather than feel terrible for giving in to these people.
I am afraid that as posted by others, it does appear that the British already in these places do take advantage of us going over for the first time. The problem is we leave our senses at home and think " great" English, they will look after us!! They rarely do.
You have learnt a valuable lesson which it appears, you have come out of fairly lightly so give yourself a pat on the back for that. Forge a good friendship with the builder and you will see a totally different side to this unfortunate saga.
The agent will get what he deserves because what goes around comes around as they say. So sit back and relax, let him get on with his sad life, whilst you make your parents new life a joy.
Good luck and keep smiling
I am afraid that as posted by others, it does appear that the British already in these places do take advantage of us going over for the first time. The problem is we leave our senses at home and think " great" English, they will look after us!! They rarely do.
You have learnt a valuable lesson which it appears, you have come out of fairly lightly so give yourself a pat on the back for that. Forge a good friendship with the builder and you will see a totally different side to this unfortunate saga.
The agent will get what he deserves because what goes around comes around as they say. So sit back and relax, let him get on with his sad life, whilst you make your parents new life a joy.
Good luck and keep smiling
Thank you jan400,alfie and danacurtz for your recent replies.I have found them very reassuring and I do feel that we have got off quite lightly really.
I didnt want to trouble my parents at the moment with all the hassles with the apt as they would start to get worried etc.Also hearing it all would take the edge off the excitement for them.
Sorry to hear about your experience alfie. My parents I think ,fell into that false sense of security whereby if they were dealing with english people then they would be honest and trustworthy!! Not always the case it would seem.However I too believe in' what goes around comes around' so we will see....
Great that youve managed to put it behind you now which is what we fully intend to do.
Looking forward now to drinks on the terrace when the folks come out in september.
sunflossie x
I didnt want to trouble my parents at the moment with all the hassles with the apt as they would start to get worried etc.Also hearing it all would take the edge off the excitement for them.
Sorry to hear about your experience alfie. My parents I think ,fell into that false sense of security whereby if they were dealing with english people then they would be honest and trustworthy!! Not always the case it would seem.However I too believe in' what goes around comes around' so we will see....
Great that youve managed to put it behind you now which is what we fully intend to do.
Looking forward now to drinks on the terrace when the folks come out in september.
sunflossie x
Sunflossie and Alfie not all Brit agents are bad out here and İ am sorry that you managed to find the bad ones but if you look through all of post on this forum you will be able to work out that some of us are actually trying to protect people. We despise the bad ones as well as they do none of us any good, thats why Mibut and İ immediately said to name and shame them. İ hope that you can put this behind you and enjoy your new homes and also glad that you dıdnt actually get had.
Yes Bryn, I understand there's good and bad everywhere. It just seemed ironic to us, that it was an English person, who tried to rip us of. He did leave us out of pocket we threatened him with legal action, and he refunded some of our money, and we also had to make an unplanned trip to Turkey to do some legal business that he hadn't done for us. Still, as I say, that is all in the past now, and we are getting a great deal of pleasure from our apartment!
As alfie says there are good and bad everywhere, it was just unfortunate that this one turned out to be one of the bad ones.I only wish my parents had been lucky enough to have found someone like you ,Bryn.
I agree that one of the ways to expose the bad ones ( whatever the nationality) is to name and shame them on this site.I tried to but it seems its not permitted.
However ,if people are thinking to buy property in the kas /kalkan area of turkey they can always pm me for the details.
I agree that one of the ways to expose the bad ones ( whatever the nationality) is to name and shame them on this site.I tried to but it seems its not permitted.
However ,if people are thinking to buy property in the kas /kalkan area of turkey they can always pm me for the details.
where is the solicitor in all this,he should be dealing with it ,we were asked for more cash when we bought our ap,but our solicitor said tuff,be very very careful,you are going to loose out ,he must not be left to get away with it,take it asfar as you can,show that you are not going to be stolen from because thats what he,s doing,if you have money to give away i,m sure we will all like to have some
Rebel I note from your web link that you are in Spain, sadly thing here arent the same, some of the solicitors are little better than the bad agents and developers. I usually write the draft contract for my clients then we go to a solictor who we know to be good a he tidies up the details, I have seen contracts here that are little more than one pargraph long with no protection for the buying client, who is the person that needs the protection as is the one who is in the foriegn country and in a lot of cases investing not only thier life savings but an awfully large emotional investment as well. I implore people to do some research before they come and to keep their wits about them when they are here, but this doesent always happen, and even if the client is switched on some of them can still get these demands for more because there are elements here, and everywhere for that matter, who think they can get away with it, the answer is to refuse point blank any demands for extra cash. The good agents out here are protecting their clients from this sort of nonsense.
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