HOUSE RENTAL SCAM?

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THIS IS WHAT HAPPEND NEXT:
WE MET UP WITH AN AGENT AND MET AN OWNER FOR A HOUSE AND DECIDED WE WANTED IT. THE HOUSE WAS AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY SO WE AGREED TO MEET THE NEXT DAY TO SIGN A LEASE AND PAY DEPOSIT. PAID AND SIGNED, HAPPY TO MOVE IN WE WENT TO THE SHOPS. WHEN WE GOT BACK FROM THE SHOPS A MAN WAS WAITING OUTSIDE THE HOUSE CLAIMING TO BE FROM THE BANK. HE SAID THE HOUSE BELONGED TO A MAN WE HAD NEVER HEARD OF AND WAS DUE TO BE REPOSSESSED.

WE CALLED THE AGENT AND THE SO CALLED OWNER AND ONLY GOT HOLD OF THE AGENT. HE EVENTUALLY GOT HOLD OF THE SO CALLED OWNER WHO SAID HE WOULD BRING PROOF THAT THE HOUSE IS HIS NOW. SO WHAT DO WE DO? WE JUST PAID ?6300 EUROS FOR THIS HOUSE AND NOT SURE IF THIS IS A SCAM OR NOT...
BANK SAID IF THE 8 MONTHS ARREARS ARE NOT PAID BY MONDAY THE HOUSE WILL BE REPOSSESSED - SO WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE ME WITH MY FAMILY?
IF THE SO CALLED OWNER IS A SCAMMER (STILL CANT GET HOLD OF HIM) AND HAS RUN OFF WITH MY MONEY, I SWEAR IT LEAVES ME NO CHOICE BUT TO SQUAT AS WHERE WILL I GET MORE MONEY UNTIL MONTH END TO MOVE???

I HAVE BEEN SEARCHING INTERNET TOO TO FIND OUT IF THIS SCAM IS A WELL KNOWN ONE OR WHAT. AND STILL NOT SURE WHO TO BELIEVE SO NOT 100% SURE IF I HAVE BEEN SCAMMED OR NOT.


Ok first things first.
Prior to placing a deposit on the proeprty, you hsoudl be shown proof that the 'vendor' is the owner of the property. A valid nota simple would do. If the vendor has shown you this, he is still the owner.
In regards to the property being reposessed. This is not a fast process in spain. But if the vendor ows the bank money (mortgage+arrears) then this debt has to be cleared prior to the signing of the new title deeds.

Important points.
did you pay the money over directly to the vendor, or did it go to the agency? If the agency put in writing that they were taking the deposit and it does not specify that is was being given to the vendor, then the agency is liable.
If you are in Andalucia, by decree 218 (administrative law) the agency had/has to prove that hte person selling is the current owner and they should have supplied you with the relevant proof. If not they can be fined.

Get a lawyer on your side NOW.

best of luck
Andrew

Thanks Andrew...we spoke to the SO CALLED owner today and he is supposed to meet us and let us know what is going on. Have not been shown any special papers but looking at this positively...perhaps I can cut a deal with the bank lol
Get a house on the cheap!

Tenant claims that he or she is currently in his country. They want to pay by Czech or money order. They want to include extra money in check. Potential tenants screened by Western Union you any extra money and wants to send. Western Union wires and Moneygrams not only untraceable, they are incurable. Once the recipient picks them (the world may be at any Western Union office), the money's gone, gone, gone. Tenant is willing to hire without seeing the property. Often, writing is also poor. Often, it's not pathetically bad, it's just plain weird. It like it is not someone who was written by a native English speaker, think and write in English is very rarely. It scammers, who largely are in Nigeria and little formal education and probably none is typical of English. Scammers often irrelevant issues about (their mother, their family, their life history, their hobbies, their religious fervor, a sob escaped from being an orphan or abuse or a terrible disease), no one has any significant impact babble on about being in business transactions in the story. Why do they do it, we can not. Perhaps in the minds of his sick little Third World, it engenders more trust. This is an indication, although the West since the (rational, educated ones) rarely do this.