GO TO CHAPTER FOUR
A Cautionary Tale: Our Ongoing Struggle with AMAY Properties in Spain
As we continue to share our story, we hope to inform others of the distressing experience we’ve endured with AMAY Properties, who claim on their Facebook page to be one of the largest builders and Real Estate developers in the Costa Blanca in Spain. BIG does not mean Honesty, Honour or Integrity.
This is part three of our experience, although sadly, our journey remains unfinished as the issues we’ve faced have yet to be resolved. Our story is one of broken promises, mistrust, disrespect, lies and deceit from a company that has failed to meet its moral, legal, and contractual obligations.
The Beginning of a Dream turned Nightmare
In June 2024, we purchased what was supposed to be our dream villa in Spain, a property that we envisioned as a peaceful retreat and a place to create lasting memories. However, what followed was far from the idyllic experience we had hoped for. Despite paying a significant sum for the property, AMAY Properties handed over an unfinished villa with defects and lacked even the most basic legal requirement: a Habitation Certificate. This document is essential for confirming that a property is safe and legally habitable, yet AMAY Properties seemed indifferent to its absence.
Since then, we’ve been locked in a frustrating battle to hold AMAY Properties accountable. As of January 25th, 2025, AMAY Properties has still not fulfilled its contractual obligations and has ignored our pleas, leaving us in a state of limbo.
A Pattern of Disdain and Contempt
Our experience with AMAY Properties has been marked by a shocking lack of professionalism and respect. From the moment we signed the contract, they have treated us, and we suspect other clients, with total disdain and utter contempt. Their failure to deliver on their promises is not just a breach of contract but a betrayal of the trust we placed in them as a so-called reputable builder.
Over the past two months, we’ve shared the first two parts of our story, detailing the deception, dishonesty, and heartbreak we’ve endured. This third chapter serves as a continuation of that narrative, but it is by no means the end. Until AMAY Properties resolves the issues and fulfils its obligations, our journey remains unfinished. My mission has become a mission to educate other unsuspecting buyers of the unscrupulous actions and behaviours of AMAY Properties.
This Isn’t About Money—It’s About Integrity
It’s important to emphasise that our story is not about financial loss or gain. It’s about honour, integrity, and the basic principles of fairness and accountability, qualities that AMAY Properties and its employees have consistently failed to demonstrate.
In response to our public disclosures of AMAY Properties, They have attempted to silence us, accusing us of defamation and insult in legal communications. However, our story is not based on hearsay or emotion; it is supported by verifiable facts, including imagery, emails, and WhatsApp messages. These documents paint a clear picture of the underhanded practices we’ve encountered, from misleading assurances to outright falsehoods and lies.
A Warning to Future Homebuyers
By sharing our experience, we hope to empower others to make informed decisions when purchasing property in Spain. The dream of owning a home in this beautiful country should not come at the cost of disillusionment and anguish. Unfortunately, our story is a stark reminder that builders can operate without professionalism or integrity.
We urge anyone considering buying a property to:
1. Conduct Thorough Research: Investigate the builder’s reputation, read reviews, and seek out testimonials from previous clients.
2. Verify Legal Documentation: Ensure that all necessary certificates, including the Habitation Certificate, are in place before finalising the purchase. DO NOT rely on your Lawyer to do due diligence and DO NOT trust letters of undertaking.
3. Seek Legal Advice: Consult with a qualified lawyer who specialises in property law to review contracts and protect your interests.
4. Trust Your Instincts: If something feels off during the process, don’t ignore those red flags.
Our Journey Continues
While this marks the third chapter of our journey with AMAY Properties is far from over. We remain committed to exposing them for their dishonesty, dishonour and lies.
To those who have followed our story, we thank you for your support and encouragement. And to AMAY Properties, we say this: Honor your commitments, uphold your promises, and treat your clients with the respect and integrity they deserve.
PART THREE – 2024
January 2024 came with its usual flurry of queries and house inspections, however, since our video meeting, Janine was very courteous, friendly and professional. Everything looked like it was finally progressing with some calmness and professionalism.
Outdoor Kitchen
We decided to have AMAY Properties build an outdoor kitchen, we felt it would be better to have all construction works carried out by AMAY. (The kitchen becomes a “rattler out of the pram” moment later in the year). The outdoor kitchen was agreed and contracted and signed to the value of €9720 Plus IVA. It was agreed that the outdoor kitchen would be constructed and paid for after the deed was signed.
In the Chapter, The Closing, you can read where the “rattler out of the pram” event occurs as a form of punishment to us for not staying quiet.
Pillars
Early in February, we again raised the issue of the non-existent pillars to the left of the car gate and the short pillars at the pedestrian gates. Janine assured us she would remind the builders again but requested a site meeting on the 8th to discuss the pillars. At that meeting, she confirmed that ALL the pillars would be risen. But later that day, at 4.59 pm, she emailed me to advise that the pillar to the left of the car gate and the one to the left of that would NOT be built. Again, the age-old argument was pursued when we quoted the contract, and she insisted “no” was the answer. But at 5.15 pm, she emailed to confirm that ALL pillars would be built and raised. Today is the 25th of January 2025, as you can see from the images below. These pillars were not built. Just more lies to keep us quiet.
Shower Doors
In the middle of February, at one of our weekly inspections, we discovered that the showers had been installed with shower screens when we requested shower doors encapsulating the shower to prevent water from flowing onto the bathroom floor. We raised this with Janine who immediately informed me “it was a mistake by the worker”, the poor workers, it seems like its always their fault, they seem to make so so many mistakes. Anyway, she agreed to change them.
On the 5th of March we visited the Villa to find that the shower screens had been replaced with shower doors, the guest room shower was fine, but the main bedroom shower had a major issue; the door opening was on the wrong side of the shower, making access to the shower impossible, as you had to climb over the toilet to get in or out of the shower. We again contacted Janine, who informed us that this was correct. The closed-door screen would always be on the water jet side of the shower. Again, the same argument pursued. Finally, 10 days later, we agreed that the shower door would be replaced with a centre split door, allowing full access to the shower.
Think about this: In our contract, we stipulated the size of the shower, water jets, shower screen, toilet faucet and floor tiles before the villa was ever constructed. After the first floor was constructed, but before any rising walls were built, we met with the architect on site who measured out the bathroom with Janine and ourselves. He demonstrated the bathroom space and marked it out for the workers. After the workers built the walls, it was discovered that the stipulated shoer size would not fit in the space allowed by the architect, we had to accept a shower size, 20% less than agreed. Then there was drama about the height of the body jets, which, after huge arguments, were lowered to become body jets and not face jets. Then we had a tantrum by the plumber, who, in front of me, threw his tools on the floor because “someone” forgot to install the toilet faucet, which he now claimed could not be installed, but I insisted it was installed and provided him with an installation solution. Then the floor tiles were the wrong colour and shape, but we decided just to accept them. Then, the shower door was replaced THREE times. Seriously! And this was only a shower. But it’s a microcosm of the issues we have encountered with this builder.
Steel Gates
Later in the month, we noticed that the height of the pedestrian gate was too short. Janine said she already reminded the provider, and now they were waiting for the material. Also we noticed that the window glass in the basement was frosted, despite the fact that in our current home, the same windows were clear glass. We brought this to Janine’s attention, her reply was, “the glass is always frosted”, we decided not to challenge this, as we were getting really tired of the non-stop arguments.
On the 11th March we drove past the Villa just as the gate people were installing the car gate. The gate was too short and not the height we agreed. We immediately contacted Janine to stop the installation and have the correct gate height installed, Again, the old familiar argument pursued, Janine claimed that we only agreed that the pedestrian gate would be 3.2mtrs tall, when our contracted clearly stipulated that ALL the gates with be at the same height of 3.2mtrs. I went through the files, pulled the relevant contract piece and sent to her, she said she would talk to the workers.
Steel Railing
We passed the Villa towards the end of the month to find that the steel railing had been installed on an outer wall that served no purpose, but we had previously been informed that this was not our wall. At the same time, our boundary wall had no steel railing. We advised Janine and she informed us that “the workers were not finished”.
At this point, I could not understand why any builder would build or construct something, knowing it was wrong and would have to be rebuilt or reconstructed. But so far, this is how AMAY Properties built our villa.
Basement
At the end of March, we carried out our usual weekly inspection to find that they had installed, plastered and painted the ceiling in the basement, but never installed the air conditioning, which sat in boxes on the floor. We emailed Janine, who informed us that the Air Conditioning would be installed when the bathroom was being reformed. Whatever that might mean, as of today, the 25th January 2025, there is no bathroom.
Mosquito Nets
April came along very quickly, we did our usual visit to find that Mosquito nets had been installed on all opening sliding doors as contracted, BUT, they were pull down nets and not slide nets as highlighted in our contract. Needless to say, the usual rhetoric began from Janine, but quickly defused and she agreed to find a solution.
Rear Wall/Railing
A dark discussion emerged towards the end of the April regarding the height of the wall/fence at the rear of the Villa. This was a party boundary wall, which was agreed in the contract to be 2 meters tall, was standing at 1.5 meters tall. After emails with Janine, she informed me that AMAY Properties could not raise this wall.
Early in May, we raised the issue about the wall/fence again and expressed our utter disappointment that AMAY Properties could choose not to honour their contractual obligations and refuse to raise the wall as contracted. We advised that should they decide not to honour their contractual obligation, we would be forced to engage legal representation. Her response was, “I will speak to my boss”.
A week later Janine confirmed that AMAY Properties, would in-fact raise the wall by 400mm, although 2 meters was the contracted height, and therefore an increase of 500mm was required, we took this as a win and accepted the compromise. Please note how I refer to this as a compromise. A contract is never a compromise, yet, with AMAY Properties, each step of the construction process was a compromise, with AMAY Properties always on the winning side.
Overflowing Jacuzzi and Pool Leak
On the 27th April, on one of our inspection missions, we turned on the Jacuzzi to observe the new jets, to find that the water overflowed out onto the terrace and when down the shower waste drain. We left the unit on for five minutes to calculate the water loss and deduced a water loss of 2 litres per five minutes, resulting in an hourly water loss of 24 litres per hour. We advised Janine immediately of the issue. We also advised her of a leak in the infinity overflow, leaking into the car port. Her response was, “The pool would be perfect on handover”.
The Closing
Considering our Villa was due to be completed in September 2023 and it was now April 2024, some six months after the completion date, and visibly the Villa was still not ready, we requested a closing date. Ten days later, we requested a closing date again and we also requested a site inspection.
Four days later, we met onsite and walked through the Villa with a printout of the unfinished works and defects as we observed them. Janine had a copy of the list and she agreed at that meeting, that everything on the list would be completed on signing the Deed. I sent a digital copy of the unfinished works and snag list to Janine on the 23rd Inst.
In mid-May, Janine requested a closing date of the 31st of May. We agreed to the closing date, subject to confirmation that everything on the Snag List and Unfinished Construction list would be completed before signing the deed, with a request for the completion date of the basement as this was to be completed after the deed was signed. A week later, we were still waiting on a reply and again requested confirmation.
On the 23rd May, Janine advised me that ALL the work was now complete, except the basement. But we knew it was not complete, because we had been to the Villa just the day before and the Walls/Railings were NOT touched. I raised this with Janine and she confirmed that the Walls/Fence was not complete, but the materials were ordered. We realised now, that was just more lies.
Again we confirmed with Janine that we could not move into our new Villa until ALL the work was complete and again requested dates for completion.
Four days prior to closing the sale, Janine requested another inspection at the Villa to demonstrate that now, ALL the work was complete. We attended yet another inspection, to find that the works had NOT been completed. When we pushed again for a completion date, her story changed. This time we were informed that it would not only be up to AMAY Properties, but also depended on the Town Hall and their inspection of the property, before a date could be given to complete the basement.
The following day, more surprises unfolded. But these surprises really demonstrated the core values of AMAY Properties. Remember, as I mentioned before, this was our second Villa that we purchased from AMAY Properties, the first was paid over €400,000, this new Villa was costing us €600,000 of which, in good faith and with Trust and Honour, we had already paid AMAY Properties €530,000. We wanted to do the last payment on the day of signing the deed by Bank Transfer, her response was shattering.
“Good evening David, for us for the deed the money should be in the bank. If you think that tomorrow by doing it instantaneous it will arrive to our bank account, Its no problem. But I only let you know, that from direction they inform me that for the deed the money should be at the bank”.
In other words, if the final €70,000 is not in AMAY’s bank at the time of signing the deed, they wont sign. Where is Trust and Honour here? We decided to arrange a Bank Draft to save any delays.
The day before closing the sale, we requested again a completion date of the outstanding works and the snag list. This time, we received a different style reply.
( I have pasted the relevant parts of the PDF list for ease of reference: This is what AMAY Properties decided NOT to complete, or just totally ignore).
Good evening David, I hope you are fine.
I am attaching the pdf with my answers in yellow.
As you know, I have always tried to make the process as smooth as possible, and you have also helped me on many occasions. I hope that this good mutual treatment will continue because as always in the answers I have tried to have a balance.
I hope for your understanding.
This is the PDF List
Snag List Villa 45 30052024 Inspection
POOL / JACUZZI
Jacuzzi is overflowing – Jacuzzi found to be grossly overflowing and water flowing over the sides and down the shower waste drain. There is evidence of no a water recirculation system
present. This overflowing is occurring while there are no bodies in the Jacuzzi.
After speaking with the workers
1. Pool UNTESTED We checked that yesterday, everything was OK
2.This is normal. Once you are inside jacuzzi, the water wont come so much
outside.
GROUND FLOOR BEDROOM
- Evidence of Ant infestation at base of Bathroom door.
There are dust for the ants that you can buy, we are not in the season of the ants.
MAIN BEDROOM
- Glazing bead on large windows not flush in corners. They have been Siliconed, but the beading itself needs to be replaced tothe correct size.
No, I am sorry, as I told you, this problem which you told me is no reason for changing the PVC door.
2. The decorative wall was damaged when the cables were
repaired. The attempt to repaint the portion of the wall damaged
is unacceptable.
(Image of wall attached)
This point, by installing a larger light this won’t be visible, and you know that this has been changed because of the heights of the light points.
SOLARIUM
- Roller Shutter needs attention – Black brush strip is missing from one of the runners. Suspect it has wrapped itself, around the top.
The technical of the shutters said that the black brush strip is correct only on one side. They installed it like this in all our properties.
WALL/STEEL FENCE REAR WALL/STEEL FENCE LEFT of CAR PORT
The wall/Steel Fence to the rear Stands at 1.7m and not the 2m The wall/Steel Fence to the left Currently Stands at 2.7m and not the 3.2m as agreed.
The wall/Steel Fence to the left Currently Stands at 2.7m and not the 3.2m as agreed.
The car gate currently stands at 2m, and not the 3.2m as agreed.
This points will be done
PRE-INSTALL CABLES
There are NO cables evident in conduits of the CCTV pre-install cables.
The preinstallation is done and we now because of our experience that the companies of
security knows how to install it, We ever let it like this
MY RESPONSE
The Jacuzzi
We paid an awful lot of money for this Jacuzzi.
The Jacuzzi is faulty because there is a design flaw. The jacuzzi has no water recycle drain. There are other ways to resolve this also, I am happy to offer suggestions, but I am not an engineer as I told you. We can engage a Jacuzzi specialist to form an opinion.
This matter MUST be resolved or fully credit us to the value of the jacuzzi of €13500 plus IVA
The Feature wall in the bedroom
We paid 400e to have this wall painted. After it was painted, it was perfect. However, we brought to your attention that your tradesman had opened the wall light holes for cabling at two different levels. You remedied this, but the feature wall paint was damaged. In an attempt to restore the feature wall paint, it was unsuccessfully touched up. This wall MUST be repainted or credit us with €400 plus IVA
The pre install of the cables
We ordered this, after we had ordered and paid for the same installation in Villa 25. I just confirmed with our CCTV technician and he confirms that in Villa 25, the CAT 5/6 cables were installed.
These cables MUST be installed or refund us the value we paid in Villa 25.
The Roller Shutter in the solarium kitchen. – This is broken.
I did not mention the height of the walls/fence, because as you can see, in the response from AMAY Properties, they say “this points will be done”, it is now the 25th January 2025 and no, they are not done.
Back to the closing date of the 31st May 2024, a staggering eight months after the contracted completion date. Our Lawyers suggested we proceed as she was confident that if she spoke with one of the principals at AMAY Properties, they would agree on the day to complete the contracted works, and she assured us she would get a letter of undertaking to ensure the works were complete. We had no reason to disbelieve our Lawyer, so we attended her office an hour before our sale closing time at the Notars office.
When we arrived at her office, she told us that she had put several calls into AMAY Properties office to speck with a Vincente Barbera, who she believed was the person that would attend at the Notars office to conclude the signing of the deed. I explained that Vincente Barbera was in fact one of the two principal owners of AMAY Properties. She decided to give him another call. What unfolded was mind-blowing.
My lawyer is female, not that that should have any bearing in a world of equality. In my opinion, she is a well-educated, diplomatic, strong, but not aggressive Lady. She is in Legal practice and therefore can handle herself. Well, not this time. Vincente Barbera began shouting aggressively at her, so much so, we could hear him on the telephone, while she had the telephone to her ear. They argued in Spanish, but I was able to understand most of the argument. As my Lawyer addressed the issues of the outstanding works, to which Vincente Barbera was infuriated and told her that she would not know whether the items on the list were complete or not as she had not inspected the property. He also informed her that we had already delayed the closing for months. He continued his verbal assault, telling our Lawyer that she needed to inspect the property, at which point our Lawyer said, “There will be no closing today, Goodbye” and hung up the telephone. She was clearly shaken by the assault and said to us, “what a rude man”. We were floored.
She advised us to contact Janine and arrange another inspection at the property where she would attend.
I was furious, not alone was our special day destroyed, but Vincente Barbera accused us of delaying the sale, when it was always AMAY Properties fault that there were delays. This was to be a day of celebration, a day we got the keys of our new Dream Villa. Instead it was a nightmare of a day, filled with stress, upset and sadness.
I contacted Janie, to be told that she was no longer involved with our Villa as the deed was now signed and her role with us ended. I explained that no deed was signed and we needed to have yet another inspection on the instructions of Vincente Barbera. I also advised her that I wanted Don Vincente at the meeting. I wanted to meet the man that had caused us so much pain and hurt.
I decided to write an email directly to Vincente Barbera appealing to his “Honour and Integrity”, that email was ignored. Which says a lot about his Honour and Integrity.
It took four days for Janine to arrange a meeting with us, she scheduled that meeting for the 5th June, but denied my previous request to bring our Architect to the meeting. She advised that an Architect would not be permitted onto the property.
We attended the site inspection on the morning of the 5th, where Vincente Barbera DID NOT attend, our lawyer was in attendance, along with the various tradesmen of the works that AMAY Properties had refused to carry out.
It was interesting because none of the tradesmen really knew why they were there.
The first was the Pool/Jacuzzi man, he looked at the over flowing water from the Jacuzzi and confirmed that this was not correct and provided us with a corrective solution, I offered an alternative solution, which he thought was a better solution and agreed to carry out the works.
(Previously, Janine told us that the pool company had said it was normal for the water to overflow and waste into the drain)
Next was the electrician. He was totally confused. We explained that there were no cables in the conduits and he agreed that there were none. He told us that AMAY Properties never requested cables in the conduits. He asked us to have our CCTV company contact him and he would install the cables. (Previously, Janine told us that this was the way all preinstalls were completed)
The roller blind people for the solarium looked the roller blind and confirmed that the missing rail brush was caught up in the roller and they would attend to it right away. (Previously Janine told us that the Roller Blind Company said that ALL blinds always only have one brush in the runner)
Lastly was the Painters who painted the Bed Head Walls, they agreed without discussion to repaint the offending wall. (Janine previously to us to fit larger wall lamps and nobody would notice the error in the painting)
Our Lawyer wanted to include the Steel Fence already agreed in the list as part of the process. We discussed the fact that the Steel Fence was mounted on an outer boundary wall, which was not our boundary wall, Janine was adamant that this was correct. But my lawyer insisted that this could not be the case, because fifteen meters of our wall had no fence whatsoever. I suggested to remove the steel fence from the outer boundary wall and fit it to our boundary wall, never thinking that she would use this suggestion as a final solution. It was a suggestion, nothing more. An agreement was drawn up to include the steel fence on our wall.
These last four paragraphs demonstrate the level of lies and deceit engaged by AMAY Properties and their employees. Disgraceful.
With a newly signed agreement, that basically agreed what we already agreed in the contract, my lawyer was confident she could close the sale and that AMAY Properties were legally bound to complete the work. Because now, we had an agreement, that agreed the original agreement. A new contract, to contract the Original contract. Madness.
I advised my lawyer that we did not want to attend the closing as I did not want to meet Don Vincente at this juncture, and instructed her to use the power of attorney she had to make the closing. A meeting was arranged on the morning of the 6thJune with the Notar, where the purchase concluded. My Lawyer said, Vincente Barbera was as quiet as a little kitten at the closing.
On that day, the day of closing, we went and bought two beautiful bouquets of Flowers and sent one to Janine and the other to Astrid as a gesture of good will and for Astrid, a token of our thanks for her help during the process.
Over the following days, some small works on the lists were completed. At the end of the week, I decided to merge both lists into one and email an updated list each week to Janine.
In the following two weeks, I requested a completion date for the basement to which I was told, “it is nothing to do with us, it is the Town Hall that must carry out an inspection”. This was repeated to us again and again when we sought an update on works completion. Then our requests for work completion dates were ignored.
On the 27th June, now twenty one days after the sale closing, we were still trying to have the snag list plus additions, completed. We seemed to have returned to the usual rhetoric of Janine, “Its not part of your contract”, where then we had to prove it was.
A total change of events occurred on the 8th of July after I had emailed and sent a WhatsApp to Janine five times without a reply. I emailed her suggesting I would go sit in her office until she gave me an answer to the works and completion date. Her reply was astounding as follows:
Good morning David,
As I have told you on several occasions,
- The inspection of the property will be carried out when the town hall considers it convenient, we cannot inform you of the date.
3- The incidents are being carried out, as you know I do not have dates or times, so I will notify you the day before and there are incidents, which depend on the material coming, so it may take a little longer.
So much for my knowledge and my work.
For everything else, you have Vicente’s telephone number, so that your legal representative can communicate directly with him. In fact, to avoid any misunderstanding, we will always communicate by email and the 3 of us in copy with any communication (I will let you know by email when the trades are going to go).
I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that the attached quotation cannot be executed by our company. We are very sorry to say that we have commitments with delivery dates for other works and we do not have any workers available.
As you know, the pre-installation, which should be paid with the total of this budget, is already installed, but it is not necessary for you to pay us for it.
I reiterate the above, from the sales/post-sales office we can only respond in terms of incidents. For the rest of things you have to contact management.
Thank you and best regards
You can see from her email, the utter contempt that is demonstrated. Let me explain about this email. The first part refers to the inspection of the property by the Town hall. It’s a total lie as explained in the following paragraph.
The next part refers to the outstanding list of 35 incidents on our snag list. As of today, 25th January 2025, most of these items have NOT been completed.
The next part refers to communicating by email. This is not a practical form of communication in this regard, as I don’t check my emails every hour, I explained this to Janine and was ignored.
The Attached Quote referred above is actually a Contract where AMAY Properties have contracted with us to build an outdoor kitchen. Here, she is throwing her rattler out of the pram and refusing to carry out the contracted work/installation.
I responded to her email, which was long, but also included a solution to the ongoing saga of the unfinished basement and this solution would allow us move into our new home. Yes, you read that correctly, we cannot move into the Villa until the work is complete as we don’t want to live on a building site.
My offer was simple: I calculated that the cost of the basement’s completion cost was around €11,000. So I suggested that AMAY Properties pay us €10,000 as a once-off payment, and we would finish the basement ourselves. This did not include the outstanding snag list. She replied on the 9th of July, advising she would clarify with her directors. Some four weeks later, after our meeting with the Town Hall, Janine advised us that the cost of the work was €7000 and was awaiting my advice. My reply was, “Our offer is now rescinded”.
We decided to see whether my theory was correct regarding the Town Hall and their delayed inspection of the Villa. My feeling was, it was just another lie by Janine and AMAY Properties. So we made an appointment to meet the Architect of Rojales, Senor Javier Martin Quesada Perez, at the Town hall in Rojales on the 9th July.
What an interesting meeting. We attended with our Spanish translator, just to make sure we did not miss anything. Senor Quesada Perez checked his records and showed us where AMAY Properties had submitted a “Certificado final de obras” in early March. The council rejected the certificate and requested additional information by registered post. Senor Perez confirmed that AMAY Properties had received the request, but failed to resend the information. This confirmed for me that AMAY Properties had been telling us lies all along.
Senor Perez then suggested that he would telephone his contact in AMAY Properties, he telephoned a man called Joaquin from the planning section of AMAY Properties, they spoke at length, but Don Joaquin told Senor Perez he was going on vacation and would look into this matter in September on his return. There we had it, nothing was going to happen now until September.
Senor Perez went on to explain that without a proper “Certificado final de obras”, the Council could not issue a Habitation Certificate, which was needed for us to be able to live in the property.
With this new information and absolute confirmation of the lies we had bean told by AMAY Properties, we engaged a new Lawyer, one who specialised in litigation. He explained the importance of the Habitation Certificate and suggested that although the unfinished works were a worry and concern, the lack of this certificate was insurmountable in comparison.
On advice from our new Lawyer, we stopped communicating directly with AMAY Properties and communicated through him instead. He wrote to them several times, seeking a resolution without a court appearance, but everything he did fell on deaf ears. They basically ignored him.
We moved into our unfinished Villa on the 8th August. On this date, there were still 21 unfinished items on our snag list, and as mentioned, AMAY Properties received a copy of the updated list on a weekly basis, but after living in the property, more defects became apparent and by the time December came, the list included 34 unfinished or defective items. We decided to stop sending lists on the 11th December as we realised that AMAY Properties were never going to finish our basement, nor attend to the items on the list.
Earlier in September, we had a flood in the basement, the unfinished basement and as it was an emergency, I WhatsApp Janine, to which she replied to email her. I emailed her and she replied that she would get a plumber over next week. I suggested that as the water was rising, but on her advice we would leave it until the plumber arrived next week and all damages would be charged directly to AMAY Properties. A plumber appeared at our home within 45 minutes and remained there for four days as the shower in the guest room was the source of the flood and the floor had to be dug up, replumbed and retiled. The mess that was left behind was excruciating. But the leak was resolved. The plumber broke open the ceiling and this remains exactly the same today, some five months later.
IMAGES OF FLOOD
I was becoming very unhappy with the whole process and decided that I would share our story and by doing so, we may help others to avoid unscrupulous builders such as AMAY Properties. As I live my life from a core value of Honour and Integrity, I wanted to be transparent, I had completed part one of our story and sent an email to Lea Garcia, CEO of AMAY Properties, sharing with her my process, intentions and links to the story. Ms Garcia ignored my email as I expected her to do.
This was my email on the launch of part one of our story on the 2nd December 2024:
Lea Garcia
CEO
Amay Properties
Dear Lea
Our dealings with your company have caused us such undue stress and concern, yet, we have been patient, waiting for months in the hope that you might find some honour or integrity in your business ethic, but instead, I have just listened to lies, more lies and false promises.
It was a personal insult for you and your team to confuse my kindness with stupidity. It was also a mistake. Nobody wishes to be viewed as stupid and I am no different. Nor am I stupid.
As my core ethos is, and always will be, “If I have no Honour or Integrity – Then I have nothing”, therefore it is only prudent and transparent that I share with you my intentions.
Part one of our three part story, has just been launched. You can watch the Video or read the story here: https://livinginquesada.com/amay-properties/ or across 15 social media channels, or on the 49 groups associated.
As each part of the story is ready for publishing, it will be launched in the same manner. When all three parts of the story are complete, they will be merged into an EBook and launched across all platforms, both social and mainstream media in the countries in which AMAY draws its clientele.
I have already been successful it achieving exposure in Ireland and the UK on mainstream media when the EBook launch occurs and will endeavour with full vigour to successful engage with the other European states that have relevance to AMAY.
Our story is based upon fact and truth and is fully supported by documentation, WhatApp and email transcript and audio files.
Also I must point out, that you personally gave me permission to launch this story in your email, not that I need your permission. However, I will use that permission to its full and legal extent.
There is no need to reply to this email, it is purely a curtesy email sent out of Respect, Honour and Integrity.
Yours sincerely
I felt again that AMAY Properties considered themselves untouchable, so I decided on a different campaign tactic. I posted a link to our story unto their Facebook page. This got their attention. I received a telephone call from my Lawyer, who advised me that AMAY Properties had engaged a law firm to sue us for “Defamation and Insult”, they were unhappy that I was sharing our story and they wanted me to STOP and withdraw my story and my social media comments. They also suggested that they would meet my Lawyer, here is a short transcript of their email: “I expect you to act and end this by talking to your client, and we will give him an amicable solution, which is the best for both parties”. Their threat and offer to meet was on the 16th of December. Today is the 25th of January, and my Lawyer has not heard from them since.
Anyway, I decided to continue with our story and almost a month later, I had written the second part of our story and again I sent Ms Garcia an email with my process and intentions, together with links to the story and video. Again I was ignored. My email was sent on the 26th of December, 2024.
Lea Garcia
CEO
Amay Properties
Dear Lea
It would be remiss of me not to be fully transparent with you and I feel it is the honourable thing to do. Here is the link to Part Two of our story along with our video production: https://livinginquesada.com/amay-properties-part-2/
Our two short videos released over the past two weeks have garnered over 21,000 views, and the number is growing. We are very pleased with this exposure. We continue with part two of our story launching today. While writing, it became clear just how poorly your company has treated us, how unfairly we’ve been dealt with, and how dishonourable your company truly is. The lies and deceit are unfathomable. As I’ve mentioned before, many mistake my kindness for stupidity, and I assure you, I am not stupid.
Part Three will be launched later in January, after which all three parts will be published as an Ebook and circulated widely across various media outlets, social media, estate agents, and other associated parties.
Make no mistake, there is no defamation or insult in our story. We are stating facts, corroborated by evidences. The only insult is how AMAY Properties have treated us.
Yours sincerely
After I published part two of our story and compiled some short videos outlining our experience, our story began to attract much attention. Although our story is far from over, I will continue to share our experience to ensure other unsuspecting buyers do not endure the pain we have endured at the hands of these merciless, unscrupulous builders here in Costa Blanca.
Please share our story in a bid to help and protect others.