Our problems with Karayiannas & Son Ltd. - Cyprus Eastern Forum Chat

Road Warrior

They are well known in the Dherynia area, as far as I hear, most people I talk to say that until fairly recently they were excellent, but, as they got bigger, the quality of service diminished.

fluffpiedi · Last edited by fluffpiedi on Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:22 am; edited 1 time in total

Hello Connor. Our sympathies and thoughts are with you and also a great deal of understanding.

Our contract is with Land Registry [if you can call it a contract]. We were due to move in a year ago last October 2005 and yes like you we are having to use our savings renting. We only receive our pension so it is now biting deep.

This all started with, what we thought, was a very reliable, smashing solicitor, not connected to anyone.

Hmm two years down the line we found out that indeed the contractors solicitor was his best man and they were to go on holiday together! For two years he was telling us he did not trust the contractor and we must trust him [how patronising]

We listened, we trusted etc etc, what fools they must think us but as you say they will not profit nor will they have the last laugh.

I am concerned as the agency we used have now made our ex-solicitor one of their their recommended solicitor for all their clients in Larnaca and we do NOT recommend Andros Pelecanos, Solicitor, for the nightmare he has left us with. On top of that although we paid the initial cyp£1500 fees at the outset when we requested our papers when we disengaged him he then demanded another cyp£500. When we got back to the car with them we found the only paperwork in the envelope was indeed copies of my emails etc that i had been sending him and just a few incidental sheets. Please beware and engage him at your peril. The agency was Buy Sell. Their agent at the time was and still is our best friend. He no longer works for them. When our problems became apparent he himself was there for us at all time but the company were not. Again use at your peril. Now the contractor Christos Christofi, Land Developers Ltd, well as far as we can ascertain has only been involed in three properties and the other two owners have also had horrendous problems but not quite as severe as ours. Luckily we pool together and are there for each other.

So please Connor, you are not alone as we have heard of others and we can only warn people off of our workforce and hopefully point others in the right direction.

Meanwhile our home is going derelict, our possessions are in there and here we are living in someone elses home. Wonderful dreams?

Good luck to you and your family and speak soon

Deanna and Vince

Conor

Conor

Balconia · Forum Moderator

Conor - No member could feel anything but sympathy for the situation you find yourself in.
Jim- Thank you for sharing your positive experiences about this company
with us.

jims

Conor

I like most Karayannis clients have known of you and your situation since March last year.
I have been in my house for over 3 years now and its not on your developement, I don't know your house so can't comment on its present status.
Yes,I have seen your site.
To quote you 'Cyprus is not that big and word spreads fast'. Remember that can work for or against you.

Regards Jim

Conor

fluffpiedi · Last edited by fluffpiedi on Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:50 am; edited 1 time in total

Hello Conor. Welcome to the club. In our contract it was written cyp£150 per day penalty. We were told this could be deducted from the final payment. What a joke. Our new solicitor has informed us this is not a feasible amount to recover. Only the rent we have been paying since December 2005. Even then there is no guarantee that a court will grant that.

The contractor Christos Christofi is, we believe, a one man band. Our problem is we have a contract with the landowner. We were shown the plot by Mr Christofi whom we believed owned the plot. In fact we did not know a landowner existed until contract stage some 5 months later. All dealings were done through solicitor and Christofi, as the landowner, we were led to believe by the solicitor, did not want to get involved further even though the contract stated he was responsible for building us our dream bungalow. Unfortunately Christos Christofi is a very nasty man and makes all sorts of threats and even though he is only the contractor he seems to adopt the attitude he is the only one with any say in our property. Unfortunately the landowner [if you remember the man we have a contract with] is happy for Christofi to have full power. The landowner will not acknowledge us at all and we find his actions to be that of a coward whilst finding Mr Christofi to be somewhat egotistical and a bully. He seems to find it very funny to laugh at our plight which he has caused. As you can see Andros Pelecanos, solicitor, certainly did not protect us at all. We are sure justice will prevail.

One point we would like to make is we are at least over here enjoying the sun and the majority of Cypriot people are embarrassed and disgusted as to the way we have been treated.

I cannot go into too much detail as legal action is now pending as they see fit not to respond to our solicitors correspondence. Hmm as with you we ask "what are they frightened of and what have they got to hide?"

As you say they will have to pay rental and damages so the longer they prolong things the more it will cost our landowner. Our case will also involve the architect Haritous of Nicosia so many heads are being held responsible.

I think we should tell people watch this space. Meanwhile i am pleased to see your wife, like me, is recovering friom stress related illness and we must try to stay strong as we will need all our energies for the fight to come. If we have any further developments i will let you know and i trust you will do likewise. Thinking of you all

Deanna and Vince

Steve - SJD · Site Admin

deano · Membership Closed

hi
this kind of behaivour is to be expected in Cyprus!
We have been very lucky with our developer, he is a smaller developer, but has been in the building trade sibnce pre 1974 and is a lovely guy, so this shows that there are good people around!!!

However, the problem with Cyprus is that there is so much greed and anti-foreigner attitude around and these stories do not surprise me and although i can fully understand the point of view of don't let them win, I just see this as typical of a large proportion of Cypriots and for me just makes me think who wants to live in a country like this- i know there are bad points and areas in uk, but if you can find a nice place in uk, i would rather be there as opposed to being an unwelcome visitor in Cyprus.
These cases are not one offs but the general attitude over here- i was very lucky with my developer, but see the arrogant/"you are foreigners we do as we please" general attitude daily.

Conor

bill

Hi Conor
Ive looked at your web site and truly sympathise with you and your situation .

I have tried to listen to the tapes but every time I click on them I get a message saying I have made a illegal operation and my browser shuts down --- is it me -- my computer or your web site --- is anybody else having problems ?

I was going to translate the phone call in Greek that you wanted translating -- but I can't open the file.

Have you translated the Greek bits in that call yet ?

Bill

Conor

Ace64821

Hi

I am very sorry to hear of your problems and those of Deanna and Vince, it's beyond belief. I have looked at your site and while I am very impressed by the information I am dismayed that even with the steps you have taken you can still be left in this position

You seem to have covered every angle and you have the benefit of Nigel's help so I don't think there's much else to do but can I ask if you or Deanna have contacted your Euro MP? Sorry if you have and I missed it on the site

Cyprus enjoys many benefits of being in the EU and you can see small steps (very small) that they are taking to be seen to come up to EU standards in some issues. I don't think the government (who seem very proud people who would not like critisism) would look favourably on a minority of Cypriot businesses giving their country such a bad name, they would at the very least have to answer the appropriate EU ministers questions and surely in general terms the whole building industry in Cyprus will have to adopt EU standards both in actual building standards but also in the way they do business, there must be an EU standard?

My concern here is that the builders do go out of business before your hard earned cash can be returned to you, is there nothing that can be done to freeze their assests pending the case? Surely there must be some protection? Is there no fast track solution at all?

Also regarding bad legal advice do you know that you can report any concerns to the Cypriot version of the law society?

I do hope that everyone affected gets sorted out and very soon, I really do

with very best wishes

Margaret

Elizavet

I made contact with my EMP when things went wrong for us, she informed me that although part of the EU most countries have their own laws and the purchasing of property in idiviual countires was not covered by the EU. Sad

Look at Spain and the land grabs when owners lost their properties and had to pay for services to be run into the land that was grabbed back from them by greedy developers,

Elizavet

This email I received Septemder 2004 so unless things have changed ,,,There was another one saying about each country and the laws but i cant find that one.

Thank you for your recent email concerning your consumer rights in Cyprus and particular with regard to the buying and selling of property.

My understanding is that if you believe that a property developer in Cyprus is acting illegally than you will need to take legal advice and pursue the matter through the Cypriot Courts. Unfortunately, exercising your rights in court can sometimes be costly and take a considerable amount of time.

I do understand your need for some reassurance about buying property abroad before actually signing a contract. You may find it helpful to seek further advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) which is able to offer advice on your rights with regard to European consumer related issues.

The contact details are:

London National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaus

PO Box 3308

Wolverhampton WV10 9ZS

Fax 1902 710068

Email

Links only visible to Registered Members
Register for Free or Login to the forum.

I hope this is helpful.

Yours sincerely,

Linda McAvan MEP

Conor

Thanks Ace64821 and Eliavet for discussing the Euro MP.
It’s not something we had thought off.

Now that our homework is done we intend to tell everyone. We have a list of the building industry regulators.

I will show the letters I write on my website and the responses in return.

-Elizavet- I will see if things have changed since September 2004, and send a letter to the
London National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaus.

Baggysdad · Forum Sponsor

Connor,

I too offer my sympathies and wish you the very best with your efforts.

Reference the possibility of the firm going bust, could you bring an action against both the the firm and personally against the directors so that even if the firm ceases trading, you can still go for the directors. In the UK at least, company directors have a personal obligation to the well running of the company. I have recently been involved in legal action (in the UK) against both company and directors. It was no surprise when the company ceased trading but we were still successful in the action against the directors personally.

Paul

Conor

chas&cass

Conor what a night mare
I would like to thank the likes of Coner/Nigel and others for shearing their knowledge and experiences with us.
I personally "NOW" would not touch "off plan" or property without deeds, it is the only way to force changes to the law.
I know there are those who will say that the majority buy this way with no problems, this is not the point.
Developers should not have the power to do as they have to Conor and others if you happen to upset them.
Even after you have paid in full for your house and moved in, they can if they wish, refuse to allow you to sell your property until the deeds are in your name, and as we know this can take many years (again power)
I know it has been said loads of time, would you buy under these conditions in the UK, properly not because your solicitor would advise against it.
I would like to wish Conor and any one in the same position all the best for the future, and if it was not for such warnings, There but for the grace of god go I