I wonder if you are better off if you are on a agreement of sale. Having sale deeds means they cant be transferred, so impossible to sell. A sale agreement means you just need the builder to transfer the deeds if you have a buyer. What do others think?

yes, insist on doing things properly and you will almost certainly be worse off!

AndyD 8-)#

In the current climate More I would totally agree with you - provided your builder is a decent person.
Unfortunately for some their builders have recognised an opportunity for a quick buck and are demanding huge sums of money (15 lakh in some cases), when in fact a new agreement of sale can be drawn up for about 1000 rupees, and that includes the notary fee.

For those who do stay on agreement of sale, it is advisable to have your builder sign an agreement stating they will not take any further action until you request so. There have been some cases where deeds have been registered to other named persons, or fraudulently registered behind the buyers back.

Dread -x

Well we had an agreement of sale from 2005/6 and after all the problems we encountered we sold our small 1 bed apptmnt in a week March 09. The builder was excellent and all it cost us for him to cancel our sales agreement was 10,000 rupees. New one drawn up for new owner and job done.

I think I was lucky as the builder knew the advocate and all it took was a 5 minute visit to sort. Its amazing how fast things can be done here if you have the right people in your corner and they have a vested interest in the sale. So yes an agreement of sale can be good but only if you are not held to ransom by the builder.
Regards David

Agree with you, my heart wants to keep the apartment but my head says to get out - what to do! I know, I know, you all say GET OUT.

Without any shadow of a doubt.........

DJ. Did you get all of your money back then? I think that if we got back what we had spent then we would almost certainly cut our losses. If you lost money what percentage did you lose, or di you make anything? I would be interested to hear.

Interestingly we had 12 friends come out to see us while we were there last year, and this year it will be 10. If we stop going it is unlikely that any of them will go back to Goa again. Multiply this by a few hundred and that is a lot less money for the Goans.

Well we paid 5.2lacs in total between 05 and 06 as it was an appartment near Colva in a residential complex.No pool. Then add another 1 lac for air con,furniture etc. At the time the exchange rate was not in our favour so I think 1 lac was about £1350. So the apptmnt was a shade over £6k

Well after 3 full years with the apptmnt we sold it for 9 Lacs the exchange rate was okay at 74 and this equated to approx £12150. Basically we doubled our money. Not that we wanted to sell as it was for my retirement.
Fees for selling came to approx £1k and the bulk of this was for an estate agent type guy who found at least 5 prospective buyers within a day or so.

Very sad to sell and would still like to go back but we were badly let down by our accountant so that was it. Just couldnt risk the property being seized or whatever .

In a word - NO

sell without the deeds and get rid and get out.

Spoke to a Jock on Calingute Market this morning and he here for a break from Thailand where has property and he is experiencing the same problems as most of the people on this forum.However,he said that he and his wife are looking at Vietnam, where you can buy the Freehold and its legal beyond dispute !

Please - C a l a n g u t e - so many people spell this wrong on this forum including the mod Noni.

Who cares the place is a dump and nightmare.

in many circumstances no-onwould know what going to happen 10 years ago,when everyone of us bought proprties,i myself thought to have 5 years to compile with the rules when i will retire, by buying a property with tourist visa,by chance i never thought about to register my property,when the proprty problem occure 6 or 5 years ago i thought,the law will change one day not in our favor,i sold.moved to brasil,thank god for that.i would like to say,it was short period for deeds owners to sell ,before the government start the investigations(new rules),but,lot of you decide to hang on,to see if anything can be done,then it was too late.like i always said,from my bottom of my hearth,i wish you luck and this problem can be solved,at least if you can just sell and get your money out the country,because,most of us used pension ,or saving money to buy a propety,we don´t deserve that.we just been conned.

What - like were told by lawyers here in Goa - whatever

Will let you know as we are going for a holiday at the end of the season but will never buy anywhere else in Asia no matter what we are told.

Agree with your last sentiment totally. I would extend that even further - stick to what you know. i.e. UK property laws, and just come here or elsewhere & rent. Retirement dreams have not turned out to be what we had hoped for, but we only blame ourselves for getting carried away with the thought of owning a retirement property in Goa.