bobbi2

Does anyone have past experience of reputable solicitors on the island of St Lucia when it comes to puchasing a new home?

pgtips

Hi bobbi2, I have now use Claire Green a few times for property matters and she has come up trumps. She works at

Peter I. Foster & Associates
35 Jeremie St.
P. O. Box GM 763,
Castries, Saint Lucia
Phone: 1-758-453-1100

Scottylad

Bobbi2

Colin Foster is very experienced in new property purchases and is currently working on my behalf.

Contact [email protected] and mention my details and you may get a better deal.

3aces

Hi Scottylad,

Haven't seen you on here for a while. You in St Lucia over the Christmas period?

I'm over next week...yippee!!!

Scottylad

Hi 3aces

Been a bit busy with work and our property purchase which is not proceeding too well and just back from our two weeks in Daytona Beach. Orlando airport is yet another which does nothing to promote US friendliness and customer service to the rest of the world but more on that later.

After months of trying to find out what was happening to our development through the forum, and after having an initial owners association meeting which was well attended over the August bank holiday weekend to promote a united front of attack, our developer has only last month informed us that their lender stopped lending over 12 months ago, so any work done over several months has been funded from their own resources. Little wonder that progress has been almost non-existent.

Our forum took a lot of flak from the developer for spreading gossip and unfounded rumours, but strange how all the gossip and unfounded rumours turned out to be true after all At long last our aim of "keeping buyers informed" managed to achieve that, but not the most welcoming piece of information.

We have since been advised that attempts ro refinance are progressing well and a new agreement should be finalised very soon, although reports are that building won't be able to start again until February. Not quite sure whether I can wait for completion as it is just not an option for me to lose out on yet another peak season rental income and if I can't get guarantees that my plot will be finished by October 2010 at the latest I may just have to sue for my money back, plus damages and interest.

With the lack of progress we have no intention of visiting St Lucia again until our house is finished and we are now looking at Mauritius, Seychelles or Bali for a break in March. Got to visit some new places for a change.

You must be doing well having another holiday. How long for this time and renting in Cap Estate again? Will get to meet you out there some time in the future no doubt.

Have a great time for me.

3aces

Hi Scottylad,

Sorry to hear about the problems with the builder. I've heard a few murmurings myself regarding this. Also, heard a few other things as well which seem to affecting some the expats living there. A very big shame really as some peoples dreams seem to be turning into nightmares.

To be honest I wished I hadn't booked our tickets four months in advance (BA doesn't give refunds). I would have preferred to gone somewhere else. This time round we have opted for a villa in Rodney Bay. The Cap Estate is great but a bit too remote.

Hope the issues with the builder get resolved in the new year. Have a nice Christmas.

Scottylad

3aces

Thanks for your reply and hope you have a great Christmas and Happy New Year.

One of our members met the developer last week in Miami for a 2 hour chat about things and once he has sent his report to us I will make a decision on where we go from here. Part of me says to hang on as the end result will be worth it but the sensible part of me says if we can't get any guarantee of completion by next October I can't hang around and will have to pull out. I have no doubt that we would win a breach of contract case and if we have to then that's what we will do.

I am sure we could find something in St Lucia ready to move into now at a good price so that would be our alternative. To lose another £20000 possible rental income is just not an option if the build is delayed for a further 6 months or more.

It's all very well if they can get finance agreed but we would need guarantees on build time.

Will keep you informed.

pgtips

Scottylad, where have you got your rental projections from ? They seem a bit optamistic in this current economic climate.

Scottylad

pgtips

I'm talking about the period from November 2010 and (assuming we have a house to rent) being optimistic that by then the economy will be a bit more stable. Then 20 weeks at £1000 pw for a 3 bed villa seems not unreasonable.

One of our members has suggested that the economic crisis was late in hitting St Lucia. Would you agree with that?

pgtips

That is debatable. I know a lot of hotels offering special deals to lure the punters back, some have even had to lay off some staff due to the drop in visitor numbers. When the US sneezes the Caribbean catches a cold. The US has flu big time so you can imagine the knock on effect it has. Coupled with the downturn in the UK this ultimately has slowed things right down in St Lucia, hence projects put on hold due to less finance around. The two biggest spenders in St Lucia are the Americans and the Brits and both sets of purse strings are being strangled. Things are still happening but at a much slower and cautious pace.

Do you own the land in Bayview ? If not maybe the owners should be given a freehold option, so if the developers have got themselves in a muddle at least the plot owners can employ their own contractors and build at their leisure.

Scottylad

Pgtips

We don't own the land yet but that's one of the options our solicitor is aware of and we are looking at various legal steps we ned to take to try to safeguard our investment.

Our developer is confident that the development will be complete, albeit later than planned but not sure if I can believe what we are being told.