I am a victim of an apartment renting scam and I need help!

[Help me !]

Hey everyone !

I will try to make my story short. Im from Russia and a few years ago I've bought two apartments in Atalaya Court. Ive registered them on my mother's name because she is a citizen of EU and its easier for her to travel there. Ive made some repairs there, one of the aprartments was really high-class with good furniture, 46" flat-screen, PS3, AC, etc.

After a summer that Ive spent there - I decided to rent them out to someone. My mother was a friend of our neighbour who was a woman from Ukraine and spoke russian language. She gave us a contact of two sisters who work as attorneys - Brigida Osle Pascual and her sister Berta. She told us that they can help us with renting out the aparments and taking care of communidad and land payments.

Ive never met them myself, my mother handled everything and I trusted her judgement, but it was a mistake :( Somehow my mother was convinced that there is no way to pay communidad and land payments via bank account and it should be done with cash money. So every month this Brigida woman took money from the people who rented the apartments, took her 10% and put the money on communidad, and the whats left - on my bank account.

I thought everything is going great and I also transfered all the yearly land payments to her so she can pay for it. Please dont think Im stupid - Im a businessman and I dont have time to mess around with all this stuff, I thought my mother (who is not old and perfectly sane) found the right person for the job. She even sent us all the renting agreements in spanish language of course.

So the conclusion of this story is very tragic. This Brigida person vanished on December 2011. My mother took a plane there a few weeks ago and it turned out that our debt for the land payment is now around 2000 euro and for communidad - 4500 euro. So basically now I owe 6500 euro out of the blue.

Also all the things from the apartments were stolen, and the worst thing is that the communidad boss had changed and there are new people running this Atalaya Court place and they dont have a bank account where people should pay, so they give them cash money.

My mother went to police, been there for numerous days, but police only told that we should not trust anyone on this island and that there is no way we can legally fight with this Brigida person, because courts on Tenerife is a pain in the ass especially for foreigners.

This russian-speaking neighbor doesnt live there anymore, her aparment was taken by the bank. So no contacts left :(

So longs story short - my investment in this island was a big mistake :( I really dont know what to do now cause the euro currency is lower than it was and selling those apartments now means losing money. On top of that I really dont know where I should pay for the communidad and the land now because of all these scamers around.

If anyone here has some kind of law education or is an attorney or can help for money or for free - please tell me. My mother will fly there in April to fix the situation so I need to know if someone can help her with that for payment if needed.

Really need your help guys, I dont trust anyone on this island, Im so annoyed now that I have to lose so much nerves and time and money to fix this **** :(

Please help me !!!

Thank you, please reply or pm me !

Added after 4 minutes:

She also made my mother sign some kind of paper, can anyone translate please:

Yo, (my mom's name) con NIE Y-********. autonizo a Brigida Cristina Osle Pascual con DNI ********* a actuar en mi nombre en el ayuntamiento de Adeje y recoger las cartas de pago de lbi y Basura que se adeudan en mi propiedad en Atalaya Court, Adeje.

Can you tell me what does it mean please ?

[YOUNG GOLFER]

Click on my link and send me a email i will be able to help....i will give you details of a guy i use and he is very good at his job.
Could i just add google is the best source of infomation if you want to know what it means then google translate is quick and easy.
By the way he is not free but he is very good.

[SuzyQ]

I hope you can sort everything out. The paper your Mother signed merely authorises Brigid to act on her behalf in the Ayuntameinto of Arona, and take out letters regarding debts for IBI (rates) and basura bills. Good luck.

[Bhamannette]

Good luck from me too, Im so sorry to read this, I really hope you are able to sort things out.

[Mia]

This is a terrible thing to have happened to you. I too hope you are able to sort things out.

[bainzy]

Priviet,

What a horrible story, from what I have discovered on this island so far regarding long lets and management companies is that most take the law for granted, squeeze landlords and tenants out of as much money as possible and fail to inform landlords of their liabilities.

I would recommend that you speak to an accountant or lawyer or both so you know who and where to pay and how, then find a long term letting company that works on your behalf including pays you tax for you from your rental amounts and guarantees that you comply with the increasing amount of laws being passed for apartment holders.

When you invested in the island I expect times were better, it's grit your teeth time now, the next few years will weed out those that first don't comply with Canarian property tax laws and secondly those that are too far financially stretched.

I hope you find a solution...

Pukka

[Help me !]

Thank you for the support ! Ive sent email to you, YOUNG GOLFER, waiting for the reply !

I would appreciate if someone recommends me a good long-term letting company that can take care of the tax from my rental amounts, like bainzy said.

But to be honest - I am very nervous about all this renting/letting stuff. I would rather sell them now so I dont have any problems later. Im still thinking what to do :( Since I have no real friends and persons I can trust on the island - its very risky now to continue to rent them out.

Maybe its better to sell them ? What do you think ?

Oh and Im still looking for the english-speaking lawyer or accountant or both, so they can help with the tax and communidad issue.

Thank you !

[bainzy]

Priviet again,

You want an English speaking lawyer/accountant that knows about property law, here is one that i am familiar with:

MARCOS CABRERA S.L.
Cl. Los Sabandeños, 6, 1º, P.O.Box 208
38650 Los Cristianos, Tenerife
Tel: 922-79-43-13 Fax: 922-78-70-00
E-Mail: m.cabrera@marcoscabrera.net

He is a nice guy, very professional and reasonably priced, best of all he was born on the island and is very familiar with which laws MUST be adhered to and the best way to go about it.

Pukka

[Mia]

We have been advised to use Marcos Cabrera to sort out our tax return by more than one person, so he must be okay as bainzy says.

We have not seen him in person yet. We have an appointment for next month but I can say that the help we got from Mandy at his office was excellent.

[YOUNG GOLFER]

Ok help is on it's way by email details of the guys i use.....also details if you want to sell the properties have also been sent.

As for looking for long-term lettings i find at the moment there are a good amount of properties out there and you will find the properties up huge hills over the other side of the motorway or a bit out of resort are harder to find Tenants for.
Price are low at the moment and we have some in resort just a few mins walk to the beach starting at 400€ for a 1 bedroom.... people looking for a place to stay have a good choice these days.
So you have a lot to think about but PLEASE don't make the same mistake again picking the wrong people.

This week a few people have been in my office looking for a rental firm not far from me who owe them money and sad to say they seem to have vanished into thin air and these poor people are left with outstanding money, laundry, and keys....it's not a nice position to be in.
Stay on the forum keep asking for advice we are all here to help and will all try and make sure this does not happen to you or others again.
If anyone PMs you and you are unsure about them just ask on here.
Good luck.

[Help me !]

Thank you for your replies, its been a great help !

I guess the letting business is really crowded right now :( I had my aparments rented for 450 and 400 euro for the first and second respectively with first being in very good condition.

Maybe its a good idea to sell, but Ive heard the market is going up soon so it might be wiser to wait. Or maybe the EU ecenomy will go worse and it will be even harder to sell it for good price. I dont know :( I wish I never bought them to be honest, cause for myself its very expensive to go the island for a vacation, since a plane ticket here costs around 700 euro for one person. Plus I have to make visa and all this stuff. I wish I lived in EU :(

[CIM]

Maybe its a good idea to sell, but Ive heard the market is going up soon so it might be wiser to wait.

There is no light at the end of the tunnel I´m afraid. Prices still falling across the board and will continue to do so fro some time yet.

[Christine12]

My dear girl, I am so sorry to hear of this and feel it just leaves a nasty taste with people that are honest and all
above board out there.

I have my own apartments which I look after and also deal with Marcos Cabrera as he has come highly recommended.
Young Golfer will also help you out and you can trust him.

Good luck hun!!

[timmylish]

Think the O/p may be a gentleman!

[Help me !]

Oh Im definitely a gentleman ! :)

[tonypub]

sell..............

[binoculardoctor]

In the interests of economy, the light at the end of the tunnel will remain switched off until further notice.

[terrapin]

Keep hold of them and rent through a god company, sorry to hear of your plight but there are a lt of good people on this island. Marcos Cabrera being one of them, very pleasant man, in fact the whole office are great. Good luck,