Socribo Houses, La Alfoquia

Over the past few weeks I have become aware of the nasty situation which the buyers of houses from the above named builder in the village of La Alfoquia are in.

Basically this builder built about 21 houses just up the road from the back of the garage in La Alfoquia. He sold them through private contracts (not in front of a notary) and it subsequently transpired that he kept the money although the banks had granted mortgages on all the houses. In effect it means that the occupants have been living for up to four years in houses which, although they had paid for them, actually had 100% mortgages on which were accruing interest charges. The situation now being that the bank wants €3-4,000 euros per house and another €500 per month until licences of 1st Occupation are obtained.Then they will need the mortgages paying off eg for a second time! To be able do that they need to have electric. To get the electric they have had to pay €45,000 for a transformer but it is the usual case of chicken and egg because they cannot get licence without electric and vice versa.

I spoke with the Town Hall this morning and discovered that the builder Socribo had applied in November 2006 for the licences of 1st occupation/. This was refused at that time by the Town Hall because there was no water or electric and the houses were full of rubbish. So the Town Hall were trying to ensure that the builder got his act together before granting the licences. They have assured me that if the electric company apply, for permission to dig up the road to run the supply in, that will be granted and when done they say they will issue the licences within 48 of people applying.

I nightmare of a situation which I hope can be resolved without people having to lose too much money.