They deposited between 80,000 and 90,000 euros as an advance. They should have been enjoying their home since August 2006. But they were never given the keys. They were never able to enjoy their apartments and now the "Siglo XXI" building, located in El Reducto, has been put up for public auction. The first bid will take place on April 3 and that day may end up breaking all the dreams of the 120 families who acquired a supposedly quality and luxury apartment in this property.
The buyers are aware that the future awardee of the property "will not have any kind of commitment to the owners". "Since he has no commitments, he is free to do whatever he wants," says Juan Manuel Sosa, one of those affected. He is confident that it will be the Banesto bank, which a few months ago executed the mortgage that had been contracted with the Masar real estate company, that will be awarded the property and have "ethical behavior" with the buyers.
"We want them to deduct the amounts we contributed in their day and thus we can continue with the purchase of the apartments. If they do not respect the amounts, I, like many others, am not going to repurchase the apartment, because we are fed up with all this," he says.
For the moment, those affected have paid around 3 million euros, among all of them, as an advance after signing the contract to purchase these homes. This, according to the owners, represents 30 percent of the value of the property. "This is a real estate scam worse than Operation 'Unión'," warns Sosa.
The buyers still do not understand why they cannot enter their homes, why they cannot enjoy their homes, despite the fact that the building has been finished "for a long time". "There are many people who still want to continue with the purchase. The building is finished, we have the certificate of occupancy, why can't we move in?", this affected person asks with desperation.
"I don't have much hope of living in this building"
And it is that the buyers have been waiting up to nine years to be able to live in these houses. For example, Juan Manuel Sosa bought a house in the "Siglo XXI" building in 2005. It cost him his money, because "it was not cheap at all". And right now he doesn't even trust that he will be able to sit on the sofa in his house in the future. "I don't have much hope of living in this building," he confesses.
That is why some buyers, according to Sosa, are "so fed up" that they only want to recover their money because "they are fed up with this building". "They want to say goodbye very well," he says. In addition, the building could have construction flaws that would become evident within a time. "The parking lots were flooded and apparently there are some construction problems that may come out in the future," says Juan Manuel Sosa, who assures that "many people" left in these houses "the savings of a lifetime."
"Many people have not been able to buy another apartment, because we invested all the money in the 'Siglo XXI'. Others are paying rent for an apartment, having another one bought. In addition, many owners have been affected by the crisis and are no longer in the same situation as when they signed the purchase contract," he says.
"We have not had the possibility of entering our house with our key. They have shown it to us as if we were not buyers," complains Sosa, who assures that also many owners "changed several things in the house, such as the bathroom or the kitchen, and spent an extra."
For Sosa, after a long process, the owners have been left "with their asses in the air." "From the beginning we have felt an attempt by the company to deceive us. The contract we signed did not meet the legal requirements, but we realized it later. How were we going to think about it if the project was backed by a bank like Banesto! We believed that this was going to be a serious issue and we trusted," he laments.
