Contracts are they worth it

[Kas in Spain]

please can you help us. We entered into a contract to purchase a property in Kosharitza in September 2005. The property has been built for some time but the site in which it is built on has not had an ACT 16 in place. We have been bullied by the builder to make the payments on this property. Now we do not want to complete on this property because now November 2008 having visited the site can see for ourselves that it is still far from complete. the builders on site said about another year. We are now considering sueing the builders for breach of contract and loss of income on lost rentals. I have enclosed a copy of the contract and would like to know if we have a case for sueing these builders and the likely costs, also the chances of success in our claim.

We look forward to hearing from you.

 

[Sumarokov-Elston]

Yes, you definitely have a case and I would advise you to go ahead and sue. This will cause problems for the builders and rightly so. Re loss of income, be sure to calculate this if a Bulgarian national were renting from you - if the figure is too inflated or in foreign currency, that will put the judge against you from the start. For suing re breach of contract, choose the sum you think is fair - and double it! In the Bulgarian legal system, the judge does not choose A or B. He looks at what one side claims and then hacks away at it as he sees fit - usually by 50%. Re success, I am not optimistic. But if you sue and get a good lawyer to issue all sorts of threats and injuctions, this will cause problems for the other side, which is what might lead to some sort of settlement with you, out of court. But I warn you - it will take MUCH ENERGY and MUCH TIME. I am sorry, but we are talking years and not months. That is the way things work in Bulgaria, I am afraid.