Pamella, in reply to your query - PDI (Platinum) are the agents (developer). The Seller is Kerry Ski Construction in our case. We have no direct dealings with the Seller - its all handled by Platinum. However, payments have been made directly into Kerry Ski's bank account.

Relocations
Cordwangle both Corolla and Fireblade have given you some excellent advice here. What people need to understand is that the market in Bansko has changed completely over the last 6 months. The situation in Bansko is not good for many investors and developers at present; the main problem is that there are NO MORTGAGES IN BULGARIA even Bulgarian’s can’t get them. This has bought the Off Plan market to a complete stand still especially in Bansko. I was in Bansko about 2 weeks ago and ALL of the Real Estate Agents are gone. The one that I did find open told me that ALL of their business nowadays re-sells and they are all cash sales. Most developers finance their developments through a percentage of their own funds, some borrowed from a bank, and the rest from the sale of off plan units. The collapse of the Off Plan market has meant that developers aren’t getting any income and without income they can’t complete their developments. Developers are now facing a financial crisis in that they don’t have the funds to complete their developments. However here are a small number of developments which are finished with Act 16 that are undersold. What does this mean for you? 1. Act 16 is CRITICAL without it you can’t use or rent your apartment. If you are looking at relocation then I personally would not consider anything that doesn’t already have Act 16 even if they are very close to it, because I just cannot see where the developer is going to get the funds from the complete the development. There are other developments in Bansko doing relocations who do have act 16 and probably offering a better deal. 2. Don’t trust anyone’s photos or information or advice go there and find out and look for yourself. Remember that developers and real estate agents are in the business of selling apartments and therefore cannot be trusted. This is why you should find yourself a good independent lawyer who will guide you through the buying process and make sure your interests are looked after.

The last post just proves my point. No cert 16, why? Platinium are saying apartments are fully finished but previous post from Coralla says just snagging left, which includes no kitchen fitted. I think thats a little bit more than snagging and why are they telling people that apartments are finished when there not. There either finished or there not and its not been negative all time, its been honest something which Platium have not been. I do agree that you do need to go over to see exactly what your getting. Also think about this, Whiteoaks was completely sold out and now Platinum are offering swaps to this development. So what happened to the orginal people that were buying? Well I was informed that these apartments became available because the orginal buyers couldnt make there last installments and Patinum told them they werent getting refunds because they broke the contract. And so they have 40-60 grand from previous people and yet when they break the contract they dont even give a discount? They are now getting more money for these apartments than would have 2 years ago and then they talk about recession. Now dont try and tell me Platinum are fair and are recieving hard criticism. What about the poor unfortunates who lost their money and apartment here!!!!!!!!!!!

Whiteoaks/ Summit Lodge
We will hopefully get out to Bansko in the next couple of weeks, flights aren't that plentiful and childcare is a nuisance ,(we have 4, 2 under 2), and they go back to school this week. Platinum have said that they will provide transfers and accommodation, we just have to get to Sofia. If we decide to transfer properties the remaining 40% will become due 3 weeks later. We've been told that act 15 is in place and act 16 will be granted at the end of October. We were/are buying in building B, Summit Lodge, which was originally due to be completed in Dec. 08. Rough construction has reached roof height and the stage 2 payment became due. After some thought we made this payment. We couldn't see the build being completed for quite a while so contacted Platinum which has led us to this point. Although I can understand peoples reluctance to make payments, surely if you don't make one you then break the contract and risk losing everything you've paid so far? I can't see the point in arguing that they haven't done this on time or haven't done that - they hold the aces, a nice chunk of our money. Once you/we break the agreement they may well re-sell our apartments. This may well be the case with the property we are currently being offered. Has anyone purchasing in Whiteoaks made the final payment? There are quite a few apartments so there must be a fair few of our potential neighbors about. With the current financial slow down I could see that people would be reluctant to make payments, which in turn makes matters worse. No-one wants to throw money away after all. Please feel free to pm us , I don't mind providing my telephone no. for a chat. In the end we'll make our own decision and not grizzle about the results however it pans out, we just want as much info and opinions as we can get first. Regards.

Whiteoaks apartments have become available because some purchasers have backed out. The contract, being broken goes to court and then you have a grey area - who wins is anyone's guess. There's a real risk that the purchaser will lose all his money as he has broken his contract. However, the developer did not meet the deadline date of completion. But, these preliminary contracts that we were presented with, were badly written. There's no mention of Act 16 - final payment is due on Act 15. Being naive, lots of us signed this contract without fully understanding what all this was about. We should have taken independent legal advice from the outset, but we didn't. Because the contract is so badly written its difficult to know how the courts will rule. Law is complex no matter what country you're in and winning is never guaranteed. Its very difficult to get money back from any company if you break the contract. I think its the legal teams involved here that are the winners - no-one else! Its true, there are apartments that Platinum need to sell and I suppose it makes better business sense to shift these, especially if purchasers are getting impatient with their Summit Lodge apartment. We don't as yet have a fitted kitchen - however, some apartments do. I'm sure it will be fitted, but its not the end of the world if we don't get this kitchen - it wouldn't cost that much to put one in - its going to be so basic anyway. The snagging is so minor, we could do the works ourselves. All the utilities are connected - water, sewerage, etc. Its true you can't use the apartment/rent it out without Act 16. I think Act 16 will be granted sooner rather than later - we were also told end October 2009. The biggest setback for the development is the road itself. Its not easily accessible but there are lots of developments affected by this. As already mentioned, the Asanitsa area has been ear-marked by the municipality - due to its proximity to the gondola, this also makes it more likely. We own our apartment - we signed the Deeds and there's no mortgage, liens, etc. over it. We did that through our solicitor and that was part of the deal before we made the final payment. It was the best security we could get, taking the whole situation into account. As its been said before, its really important to go out there and see for yourself. I know how difficult it is to travel with kids - yours are so young, its inadvisable to take them with you. If you can't travel as a couple, get a trusted friend to go with it - its always good to bounce ideas off each other rather than trying to think of everything yourself. Its true, all you have to do is get to Sofia, PDI will organise the return journey to Bansko and provide accommodation for a nominal fee - just ask them. Their reps. in Bansko are nice and co-operate with any queries, etc. Its strongly advised to make a list in advance, of all the questions/queries you want to ask. We didn't prepare that way ourselves and wish now that we had - it makes life much easier. I'm sure some people will think we were mad to proceed, but we had to make a decision - pull out and risk losing our money or move forward and take the gamble. Its still not finished and we're not out of the woods yet but I think we made the right decision. Time will tell. I know some people have backed out of there contracts because they got scared and all the negativity of comments, etc. can cloud your judgement. Its your money, your investment - get good, independent legal advice and make informed decisions. Hopefully we will all end up as winners out of this. We are hoping anyway! Best of luck!

"Its true, there are apartments that Platinum need to sell and I suppose it makes better business sense to shift these, especially if purchasers are getting impatient with their Summit Lodge apartment." Just to clarify on this statement, I am not getting impatient waiting on Summit Lodge, Ive waited 2 years and didnt really mind but now Im been bullied into taking an unfinished apartment because they cant fullfill there end of the contract. This is not my choice. Its either take it or leave it. If I wanted to buy in Whiteoaks I would have done it 2 years ago. You also say the contract is written badly. Ive have to disagree with you there. Platium wrote the contract very well, to suit themselves and they knew exactly what they were doing when they put in completion on Act15. Like you said people didnt realise but Platium did and its our fault for been so trusting. I do hope things work out but it is very hard to trust anything they say. I have had experience with them before and when I bought in Sunset resort on the coast it was over a year later after I paid my last payment did they get Act 16 and nearly a year later on from this till I got my deeds. And that was in the good times not like today. So thats why I am so weary of them.

When I said the contract was badly written I meant it from the point of view of purchasers. Of course this contract was written to favour the developer. Seemingly, its not uncommon for preliminary contracts to seek final payment after Act 15 - of course we know that's very unfair on the purchaser and many of us have learnt the hard way. I have to say I would never purchaser off-plan again - its too risky - the best and most secure method is to purchase a completely finished apartment - at least you can see what you're getting for your money and have it properly assessed by a surveyor, etc. Being too trusting of any of these business operations is a mistake. As I said, we're not out of the woods yet, we have to negotiate a maintenance contract now and its proving difficult. But we won't sign this until we are completely satisified that our interests are being catered for, the development is completely finished and Act 16 granted, etc. Independent legal advice is paramount but still its a minefield.

Again not been negative, but I have had problems with the maintenance contracts that Platinum put in place on a developments on the coast . Firstly they put in the contract that the maintenance fee would be 10 euro a sq metre guaranteed for the first 3 years and after that it would be rate of inflation. Well on the last year of the 3 years , they up it to 15euro a sq metre. Not only was it breaking the contract but a 50% rise would come nowhere near rate of inflation. They blamed the downturn on the rise which they always use to there advantage but they still took their guaranteed profit of 10%. There is a case against them at the moment for this so I cant say too much more. Just make sure your solicitor has a good look at it and gets them to put in amendments that suits you. Might be an idea to get this sorted before last payments are made. After all they are short of funds and once you have paid they can basically put what they want in. I know it was suppose to be 14 euro a sq metre but dont give them the opportunity to double that. Also do not take out a guaranteed rental contract with them as they have not paid out on these either and they charge you crazy prices to stay in your own apartment on your 2 weeks free use, ie 10 euro a day for electricity, TV plus clean up fee at end of stay which you have no choice but to pay even if it does not need cleaning. They just screw you any way they can. My advice would not to use the management company that Platinum puts in place for rentals. Do it yourself or get an independant company to do it for you. Sorry for going on, but I hate to see Platium getting away this stuff all the time.

Hi Fireblade, I appreciate your comments and will take on board, the advice, etc. you have given. We have made our final payment already - we had to do that to sign the Deeds - that's our security on the property. We haven't signed any maintenance contract - we have a solicitor dealing with it on our behalf, but we will not sign it until the development is 100% complete and legally available for use. We can understand why Platinum do certain things - they're not a charity and in the business of making money. However, we know we are dealing with sharks, they're all the same - its a case of proceeding very cautiously and with legal advice. Wish we had done this from the start but we, like many others, were too trusting, etc. Money is seriously in short supply for all of them - they're desperate to keep their heads above water and you can't blame them - they're a business. However, like I said already it can't be at the expense of screwing the purchasers! Thanks again for your advice and comments. Perhaps some of it I don't want to hear but I suppose it helps to keep my feet on the ground and not stay in the clouds too much!

Fireblade you seem to be doing a lot of moaning about platinum and summit lodge but what are you going to do????? If you are smart you can get out and get a relocation now and have an apartment with act 16 that you can use straight away, or you can continue moaning for the next 2 years and you still might not have an apartment.....

Actually Pamella, Im doing what most people are afraid to do and that is take them to court. I have 2 cases against them and have got assets frozen on them. There was no offers from Platinum for swaps for Developments with Act 16 up to recently so I find it hard to believe there are now. And its not moaning, its telling it like it is, something a lot of people dont seem to like to hear.

I apologise, Of course it’s not just moaning if you are actually doing something. Good to see it. You are right there are no offers for relocations with act 16 from Platinum. However there are plenty of other relocation opportunities out there. At present the market is very low and there are deals offering but as soon as mortgages are available again in Bulgaria the opportunity will be lost. If you have the cash to complete on the apartment that you were buying in Summit Lodge then you are in an extremely good position to get yourself a really good relocation a great apartment finished with act 16 that you can use immediately, and some of these developers are offering free furniture packages also. I know of at least 6 developers who are doing relocations. How much of your apartment in Summit Lodge have you paid for? PM me if you don’t want to publicise details.