Just a run of bad luck?
01.04.2007Two years ago, Gavin Tweedie decided to buy his first foreign property. "I fancied having cheap ski holidays," the London-based IT consultant admits. Like a growing number of British buyers overseas, Tweedie, 35, was persuaded by low prices to buy in Bulgaria rather than the Alps or Andorra. Today, however, he is among another growing band of Britons: those disgruntled because their first overseas home has failed to meet expectations.
Tweedie, who had enjoyed holidays in the Balkans as a teenager, did some research on the internet and, in early 2005, put down a deposit on a Ј51,000 two-bedroom flat in Pamporovo, which, along with Bansko, is one of the country's most popular resorts.
The flat is in the second block of Cedar Heights, a three-block complex built by a Bulgarian developer. Tweedie says he was attracted to the block by its luxurious original specification, which included a spa bath, a sauna and a games room. Indeed, he was so keen he later put down a Ј6,000 deposit to buy another flat in the scheme's third phase.
The completion of Cedar Heights 2 was delayed for several months because of flooding, but it was finished late last year. However, when Tweedie flew out in February for his first holiday there, he says he got a shock.
"A lot of the things that were promised in the original plans weren't there," he says. "There was no Jacuzzi or sauna opposite my flat, and no games room in the block. We were sold this development as a five-star complex, but since completion it has been rated with three and a half stars."
Tweedie is not the only purchaser unhappy about how the development has turned out. Kate Shingleton, 43, from Sheffield, bought a one-bedroom flat in Cedar Heights 2 for Ј42,000 two years ago. On a visit last month, her first since the block was finished, she, too, was dismayed to find that the promised spa bath, sauna and games room were not there. "I want the development built to the original plans," she says.
Other buyers have aired their grievances about Cedar Heights on www.mybulgaria.info, a website for people buying property and living in the country. Chris Northam, spokesman for the website, says such complaints "run from the banal ... to more serious allegations to do with changing the facilities, floor plans and apartment schedules from the time the purchasers first made their deposits. People are saying, hang on a minute, this is not what we paid for". Some owners also complain they have not made as much money renting out their properties as they had hoped.
Contacted last week by The Sunday Times, Robert Jenkin, managing director of Bulgarian Dreams, the British property company that sold Tweedie the flat on behalf of the developer, admitted the finished block did not exactly "match" the original floor plans, but insists that "the facilities now on site meet or exceed them". The agency says there is a spa bath and sauna in Cedar Heights 1, the bigger block of flats next door - which can be used by those in the second block - while Cedar Heights 2 has a more luxurious restaurant than planned. Although he conceded rental income for the first year was not as good as expected, he blamed poor snow, not just in Pamporovo but across Europe.
Jenkin also insists that people such as Shingleton and Tweedie, who invested in the development early on, got a good deal. Prices, which two years ago were Ј510-Ј545 per square metre, have reached Ј645-Ј680. "Everyone who bought here has made a profit," he says. "So I don't see what the problem is . . . 95% of buyers are happy."
Shingleton or Tweedie are among the other 5%, however. Tweedie has dropped his plans to buy a second flat in the complex - he says it took seven months of negotiations to get his deposit back - and lodged a complaint about Bulgarian Dreams's marketing of the project with the tradings standards office in the City of London. He wants the company to ensure the development is finished to the original specifications, or buy him out.
Ian Dobson, a trading standards officer, says that his investigation into Bulgarian Dreams's conduct in relation to the Cedar Heights 2 development is at an early stage. "It is possible that there is an offence under section 14 of the Trade Descriptions Act," he says, but adds that if the company acted in good faith initially and the changes were made through no fault of its own, then there may be no action to be taken. Buyers seeking advice should contact Consumer Direct, he says.
Foreign-property experts say that such disputes are increasingly common when people buy off-plan - paying upfront in instalments for houses or flats while they are still under construction. In the worst-case scenario, which is relatively rare, developers simply make off with buyers' deposits. More commonly, they may alter the specification or begin building before obtaining all the necessary planning consents.
Obtaining redress can often be difficult, however. John Howell, senior partner in the International Law Partnership and foreign-policy expert, describes Bulgaria, in particular, as "the Wild West" in terms of legislation to protect foreign buyers, and says the key is a properly drawn-up legal contract that includes adequate protection if something goes wrong.
"There is an element of risk to buying off-plan, which people should try to protect themselves against," Howell warns. "The more immature the market, the greater the risk."
