Don Juan the Offender
Originally conceived by Tirso de Molina in the 17th century and made internationally famous by Lord Byron, Don Juan Tenorio is today considered a master or charm and the archetype of the heartless and remorseless Spanish seducer.
Developers at Don Juan Phases II and III, Arrohabitatge S.A., have, conversely, managed to master no charm but all the wrong arts of client relationship management and enraged, only in our office, 20 or so of our clients, 3 lawyers, 4 paralegals and 1 secretary, all the while showing no heart nor remorse.
The latest episode, or I would say three, can be succinctly explained:
- British client visits the offices of Arrohabitatge and the developer convinces him to sign a letter, in Spanish, where he undertakes to close on their sale before the 1st of September 2009. As the second purchaser on the contract (wife of the signatory) is not present, the developer introduces the name of a lawyer of our firm and confirms his representation on behalf of her, of course without him even knowing his name is being used. No mention is made to licenses and to the fact that these clients already cancelled their contract and attempted to enforce their bank guarantee to recover their deposit.
- Roberto, a Spanish lawyer originally from Argentina representing approximately ten clients at Don Juan, sends a strong letter to the developer in respect of a legal issue. Ana, a female Doberman employed by the developer, picks the phone up and asks Roberto if he is at all familiar with the laws of Spain and questions his qualifications while reminding him that “we’re not in Argentine you know, so change the tone and content of your faxes”.
- Javier, another lawyer working with us attends completion of a sale at the Notary Office. The development director turns up and finds the branch manager of Caixa Galicia, the savings bank in charge of guaranteeing the buyers’ down payments and who incidentally had accepted the execution of a few of them. She confronts him and censures his decision to pay back deposits, and without prior notice starts screaming at him.
The above is an example of what we have gone through in the last four years although this is, by far, not over. It has now been discovered that there is a criminal court case going on against a Town Hall official for allegedly granting a construction license in exchange for a favour, and yet the license of habitation has now been granted (4 August 2009) although one year after when it should have been issued.
Our clients hearts’, understandably, are no longer with the development and want to pull out of what they once considered a dream. A dream shattered by delays, court cases with the Town Hall and the Railway Company and, not the least, by an appalling treatment by Arrohabitatge.
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