ANYONE HELP WITH OUR NIGHTMARE?

[dragonrouge]

Again their 'law team' will look at things!  This by implication suggests lawyers are at work and thus even if you work for such a company amd  you are a Solicitor you must appear on the Roll of Solicitors.  Did you rely in part on the statement 'law team' what did you understand by this statement.

This is complicated and someone has caught a cold and we are all so very sorry.

But the starting point UK wise is the UK company and perhaps you could kindly pm with their name and will ensure that enquiries are made as to their standing.

Whatever the contract for sale was in France with the Notaire fact of life and quite simple.  Notaires are Govt Officials and do not read them as Solicitors or the like.

Like someone else if I was told that a ZA was next door I too would run a million miles and not do the deal.  However hindsight and all of that and of course when signing with the Notaire he would have mentioned to you that once you sign you are buying the house and the surrounds as is.

Another thing just get on to Companies House in Cardiff and for just a few pounds you can get the accounts (if a limited company) by email of the UK based company and then you can see their worth and decide whether they are worth suing.  I am taking a huge leap in the dark here but I would think they are no more than a shell type organisation.

[dr orloff]

See if you can get hold of a back copy of the Mail On Sunday 13th January 2008.  There is a journalist who might be interested in your story - especially if you have the fob off reply in writing about the mairie being under no obligation to respond.

[Boiling a frog]

I would suspect by their use of the word law team that none of their law team are solicitors.why say

""our in-house language and law team ""     if in fact they have qualified solicitors and/or notaires working for them.

[Russethouse]

[quote user="dr orloff"]See if you can get hold of a back copy of the Mail On Sunday 13th January 2008.  There is a journalist who might be interested in your story - especially if you have the fob off reply in writing about the mairie being under no obligation to respond.[/quote]

Was that the article that was reported to the Press Complaints commision ?

Guys, I know that we all want the best outcome for Grasscutter but just a friendly reminder about the no name and shame part of the Code of Conduct......(before we need it !).[:)] Thanks....

[dr orloff]

Yes it was.  In that instance I can see both points of view.  And the complaint was dealt with by publishing the reply.  Seems fair.  In this instance, however, I really sympathise with the OP (based on what has been posted here).  I really think the reply to the lack of planning enquiry is a dereliction of reponsibility - probably not from a contractual viewpoint, but from a professional and sheer human decency persepective.  I don't know who the company in this instance is but as the journalist has an interest in companies of this nature then I would personally speak with them, especially as has been pointed out, there may be no recourse to a regulator.   And it is clearly, as a means of getting a straight answer, very effective forensically. 

[PaulT]

Perhaps prospective buyers should learn from Grasscutters experience.

Do not accept just this type of companies T&Cs but stipulate fully what is required of them and get them to sign that they accept your T&Cs.

Paul

[grasscutters]

Thank you to all those people who took the time to reply - it is much appreciated.

In retrospect I feel we may have been naive enough to take the company at face value and believed that they would fulfil exactly what they said they would do for us.  We thought that by paying the fee and bearing in mind we were still in the UK at the time, we would ensure a trouble free purchase.

Whilst aware that we were moving beside a ZA we had looked into this aspect and to all intents and purposes it is a fairly large area and most of the buildings were a long way away from our property.  What we did not expect was the huge earthworks that seem entirely out of scale to the rest of the area.  We live in a very small village close to the Lot River which attracts holidaymakers and we do feel that this operation is out of keeping with the small commune we live in.

We will certainly take on board all the things you have written - once again many thanks!

 

[mint]

grasscutters, have you thought of asking them for the name of their professional indemnity company?  From my own experience, the very fact of you threatening to make a claim means that they will have the claim registered by their professional indemnity company regardless of whether your claim has any grounds to back it.

Plus, it might well put up their premium for next year even if your claim were unsuccessful.

Might be worth rattling the sabre in this instance?

[Poppy]

Good point Sweet. Thinking back to our similar problem the Company ignored all our correspondence until we wrote along the lines we would refer the case to their trade association. We then received a very prompt reply.