My wife and I wanted to invest in a holiday property with rental value. We decided it must have access to golf and spa facilities and off-plan looked like a good way to go since we were in no hurry.

We discussed with our agent, Andy Biggar of now defunct www.propertyfindinternational.co.uk, a number of possibilities and we eventually paid a reservation fee to Polaris World. Once we received the contract , however, it contained no clause stating the property had to be ready for habitation by a certain date. Polaris refused to give such a guarantee so we pulled out and our agent Andy arranged a full refund of our reservation fee.

With Andy we then looked at 3Molinos. A resort which met all our criteria, front line golf, spa, restaurants and that all important completion date guarantee. In fact the contract we signed contained 2 clauses which set out criteria whereby we would be fully reimbursed if certain deadlines were not met. Further, the whole thing was underwritten by Bank Guarantee.

They have now, by their own admission, broken both clauses of the contract, the first on 23rd April 2007 and the other 27th September 2009. Our solicitor advises us that the first delay was only 5 months and a Spanish court would not deem the contract invalid, even though it clearly says it is.

We tried to contact 3Molinos but the phone number on one of their websites, www.3molinos.com, doesn't accept incoming calls! However our Spanish solicitor supplied us with a phone number, 0034 600942712, so we called in November and spoke to one Hazel.

She was brilliant and whatever 3Molinos are paying her it isn't enough. She evaded every question as a practiced practitioner of her art.

• No, we won't refund your money.
• Yes, we have broken the contract but not by much so that was OK.
• No, we don't know when the apartments will be ready.
• No, you can't have a discount for the delay.
• No, we haven't applied for the Habitation License.
• ... and so on and so on.

We immediately instructed our solicitor to recover our money who advised us that the best course of action was to approach 3Molinos in the first instance, but with little hope of success, and then invoke the Bank Guarantee.

True to form 3Molinos weren't interested so we approached the Bank which is where it remains, with no indication that our claim will be successful or timescale for a decision.

We are thus in limbo. We still want to purchase a property but have lost all faith in 3Molinos, and I have to say in Spain generally who seemingly allow this kind of behaviour as normal business practice.

I'm not trying to give advice, just giving the facts as accurately as I can.

If anyone else is in a similar position then please email me your experiences (together with your contact details) and we'll add them to the website, (legal stuff not withstanding).

As our own developments unfold I'll continue to keep the website updated.

Peter & Lynn Dawson
info@3molinos.co.uk

We have now started proceedings against the solicitors BCP Law Firm. Further updates will be posted to www.bcplawfirm.co.uk.

Sorry to take so long posting an update but my position is fundamentally the same as it was in January. Though I have got the bottom of what happened, or strictly speaking what didn’t happen, to our money. Basically Juani Cavas of 3Molinos sent letter to our solicitor saying our deposit had been transferred From Santander to Valencia where our guarantee was. Our solicitor took his word for it but the transfer didn’t take place.

I am about to start negligence proceedings against our solicitor, BCP Law Firm, and I was wondering of anyone else has gone through a similar experience. I’ve been researching through the internet others that have worthless bank guarantees and I have been staggered by how many of us are out there. Please visit this site www.eyeonspain.com if you haven’t already.

There is a campaign to calculate how much of our money the Spanish banks are hanging on to. So, if you have ‘lost’ money on the 3Molinos development please let me know the amounts and I’ll add our voice to the campaign.

I’d be grateful for any stories, good or bad, regarding the development, bank guarantees, solicitors, banks and so on.

WE ARE NOT ALONE!!!

3Molinos have finally gone bankrupt, not unexpected in the current climate.

Our position is tenuous. Our solicitor, www.bcplawfirm.com, instructed us to deposit £22K into Banco Santander when our Bank Guarantee, in Spanish of course, was with Banco Valencia.

We've got our original £20K back from Valencia but it looks like we are in the hands of the administrators for the rest, and I don't hold much hope based on previous dealings with everything Spanish. (We holiday in Cyprus instead these days. Much nicer).

Our solicitor is going to the meeting on our behalf and I'll update this site when I have more information, but I'd like to hear from anyone else in a similar position to ours.

The latest news is that there is none!

The matter remains with our solicitors. The wheels of Spanish Law turn ever slower.

The only positive from this is that 3Molinos must still be in business, but for how long?

Our solicitor has sent a letter last week to 3Molinos informing them that they are responsible for depositing our money into an account not covered by our bank guarantee and asking them to refund it.

After 7 days we have not received a reply so today I am instructing our solicitors to recover our money through the courts.

Why anyone would consider 3Molinos is beyond me. (Perhaps Hazel knows?)

Hoorah!!! Banco Valencia released our £20K which, after adding interest and the favourable exchange rate then deducting fees and so on, came to £21,400. Not a great return after 4 years but at least we are on the way to recovering our investment.

We are now looking to get the remainder of our money back from 3Molinos. They took £22K of our money but didn't deposit it into Banco Valencia where our guarantee was registered. I don't know the legal position but I hope they accept their responsibilities and refund our money without too much delay. (I'm joking of course!!!).

Has anyone else been successful with 3Molinos?

I got a phone call from Hilary of 3Molinos. Not happy about the website but then I'm not happy that they've still got £42K of our money. She did agree however that I wasn't telling any lies. She also agreed that the contract was broken by them in April 2009 but under Spanish law there has to be a 3 month delay before the contract can be dissolved.

Regardless, they aren't offering to reimburse us. Hilary says I should do it through our solicitor.

She informs me that "she", whoever "she" is, will be starting to build again soon with an expected completion date of November. I asked when they would start but she says she doesn't know.

Does anyone have news of this?

I'm currently trying to recover our money from Banco Valencia but I'm not sure the Bank Guarantee applies in circumstances where the developer is still trading.

Our solicitor says we'll have to take the bank to court but if 3Molinos are still trading I should surely look to them for reimbursement since they've broken the contract between us.

Never again!!!

Banco Valencia are using delaying tactics. They want a notarised certificate stating that the building works at 3Molinos are not finished before releasing the funds paid into their bank account.

This will cost me 350 euros.

Has anyone managed to get a refund from Valencia?

If so I'd appreciate details. I'm loathe to throw yet more money at this unless I absolutely have to.

The latest news is that there is no news!

Our efforts to invoke the Bank Guarantee remain in limbo.

The latest news from our solicitor is that the issue has been passed to the chief of the legal department at Banco Valencia who is dealing with this in person!

We have been thwarted yet again by 3Molinos. Our efforts to invoke the Bank Guarantee have reached an impasse.

We paid 3 instalments to 3Molinos them of £2K, £20K and £20K. One £20K was paid by 3Molinos in to the Banco Valencia who are responsible for the Bank Guarantee. The other two payments were paid into Banco Santander, as instructed by our Spanish solicitors. At this moment in time they appear not to have been transferred to Banco Valencia.

Hence the Bank Guarantee only applies to £20K of our money, the remainder appears to be inside the black hole that is 3Molinos.

I'll keep you all posted.