I'm not the only one to have property stolen

  I met Steve and Kath when they were staying at a nearby beach resort, they were interested in the house that I was having built as they had bought an older house near the beach about 20 miles away and were having it restored for use as a holiday home, we kept in touch via E mail when they were in the UK and tried to meet up when they were visiting Sri Lanka, as my problem unfolded I told them what was happening to me, they were quite sure that they were OK as their friend would never cheat them, but needless to say he did cheat and now they too have a house that is in another persons name and their legal battle will be getting underway soon, another problem for them is that they are not resident in Sri Lanka and will have difficulty conducting their case from the UK, However I have been able to give them details of who might be able to help etc, saving them a lot of time and effort, as theirs is another ongoing situation I shall update this as and when I get new information.




  When I was trying to find a lawyer I could trust I met one who seemed to be good and whilst talking to him he told me of a court case that had just finished where another English couple had been cheated out of their holiday home, the man responsible was a tuk tuk driver that they had met, befriended and trusted, (as previously mentioned the perpetrators of this type of crime is all too often the beach boy, tuk tuk driver or guide that we all meet when on holiday) luckily this couple did get their property returned to them, as this all happened in a different area and jurisdiction I can only hope that I too am lucky

I dont know if this is true

  There is another couple that I have heard of who employed a “watcher” to look after their holiday home, unfortunately he came from a village a few miles away and this was resented by locals who told the couple that a local man should be employed, they were happy with their choice of watcher as he had been honest and good, and said they would keep him in their employ, the house was then burgled apparently when the couple were in residence, all were watching TV when someone entered the back of the house, (someone making a point?) refusing to give in to the locals the couple still employed their choice of watcher. When they were back in the UK the house was fire bombed and destroyed. I do not know how true this is but, knowing what I do now its believable.

we all have problems

  Luke has a beautiful beach side residence, everything was done 100% above board and the correct building permission was obtained for beach side buildings, (needed now because of tsunami fears) Luke is very insistent with his workers and takes no nonsense and this has worked well for him, his wife Elaine is also very firm, perhaps a result of being an employer in the UK, even so both admit that work they had done was charged at a higher “tourist” rate but we all have to accept this, pay up or no work. There were the inevitable problems with poor work and a lot of time was spent chasing the workers to do a proper job, despite their efforts the roof leaked very badly and needed to be redone. There was much minor remedial work required to get the house finished to the standard required. Luke and Elaine do not stay at the house for a full 12 months every year, some time is spent visiting relatives in Europe, they employ a live-in caretaker/helper as well as other staff, most only work when Luke and Elaine are there but the pool is maintained 365 days a year. The staff were left with instructions that the only people who could use the pool were staff and their children, (as there were not that many) of course this was abused and locals were let in for a swim. I believe that this or something similar has recently happened again.


  Howard and Ruth have a very unique house inland, and also need to employ various staff, they too went away to visit relatives and returned earlier than expected, the house was in a very bad state, there were people all over the house, (4 floors) and all the stock of beer and spirits had been drunk or taken, needless to say the staff were dismissed, it is just another example of how difficult it is to find people that are genuinely trustworthy.

You don’t always realise something is missing until you need it.

  Barry is 77 years old, he bought a house a few hundred metres in land, he did the right thing and paid his government taxes in full and he is the undisputed owner of the land. Barry was at first concerned about very shoddy renovation work to floors and subsequent inspection proved that the work was very bad, Barry had paid 3 times more for bad floors than he should have paid for good ones. Naturally very upset Barry at first sought legal advice and was lucky enough to find what we believe to be an honest lawyer, she advised Barry that it would be a waste of his time and money pursuing a civil action as not only would the “contractor” delay proceedings for possibly years, but Barry would lose anyway. Barry tried to employ another contractor but this man was threatened and told never to return. Other work that Barry has paid for has not been done, the “friend” employed to look after the house in Barry’s absence has been stealing items from the house, once again this person was someone trusted. Barry did not want to believe that the people he trusted were stealing from him so he would put a little pile of rice on the floor of a room that no one should go in, close the door and then go out shopping or the like, sure enough on his return he would find the rice pile had been disturbed.

  Work has been paid for in advance and it has not been done, despite the fact that Barry has paid “tourist price” for this work more money is still being asked for,

  All workers ask for a deposit before they start work (they think we might get them to do the work and then not pay) and will ask for more as the work progresses, if you really are in control then you will manage to get the work done and finished properly before making the last payment, but sadly it rarely goes that way for non nationals, you might hold the money but the workers hold the Aces, after all if the workers want more money and refuse to carry on what can you do?

  Barry’s problems are ongoing as of posting this,

  Barry has decided not to take legal action and cut his losses, now a bit wiser and a bit poorer he will continue with the restoration work and will try to call the shots by insisting that only the work he wants doing is done, its done to suit his finances and when he wants it done. I speak to Barry quite regularly and will continue to update his progress and problems.

Update, Barry is trying to get a legal agreement with his contractor to either return most of the monies that have been paid or a time scale for completing the work, so far the contractor is still failing to start work on the days he promises to, as to whether he will meet Barry at the solicitors office is anybodies guess. (my guess is he will not show up)

Added on 06/02/2010


                                                                     A Bit About Bills

Barry thought his problems were almost over when he employed new people (father and son) to look after his property and be his helpers, unfortunately the son could not resist the temptation of taking Barry’s wallet even though it contained less money than he could earn from Barry in a week, now the son has lost his job, The average Sri Lankan does not seem to have the ability to see ahead, it really is a case of enjoy today as tomorrow never comes. Barry has now got his original contractor to agree that he will supply the materials that Barry has paid for, but it seems unlikely that any work will be done even though that has been paid for as well, I must admit that I am very pessimistic that Barry will get any materials let alone all the materials as the money will have been spent. This trusted person was also responsible for paying Barry’s bills but of course Barry found out he was paying over 6 times more than he should have been, now Barry is not going to pay any more bill money to this trusted person and will let his TV contract (in trustees name) run until it is cut off, the bills of course will go to the trustee, Barry has been told that the trustee will be arrested after 3 final demands have been ignored,



In my case we were at the stage where I had left the house aware of the families evil deeds, I to (to save money lol) had put bills in Saman’s name, in this case it was the mobile internet connection I was using, even though they had stolen everything from me, at one of our meetings to reach a settlement Saman actually had the nerve to bring the unpaid bill to me expecting me to pay it.

Added on 10th Feb 2010

Only today I heard from Barry who wrote to the chief of the Tourist Police complaining about the actions of his contractor, the letter was passed on to the Hikkaduwa Station and an officer was sent to speak with Barry, this was to discuss any action that was to be taken, it would appear that this officer once held a high position in the Tourist Police and claims that in his time there he dealt with many complaints from tourists regarding crimes committed against them, he estimated there was an average of 5 complaints every day, this confirms that this type of problem has a well known and documented record, yet very little if anything has been done to discourage people from committing these crimes and the process of reporting crime and having action taken against the perpetrators is still very difficult, this indicates to me that the government has absolutely no interest in problems suffered by non nationals and probably no intention of implementing change, perhaps a large reduction in visitors and the loss of the valued tourist $ will change this.

  For people like Barry and myself who came to Sri Lanka alone it is too easy to fall into a trap by trusting people, not knowing any fellow Europeans (until too late) and having no one to talk things over with leads you straight into their trap, I’m calling it a trap because it is very difficult to get away from though I hope Barry manages to.

Added on 18th Feb 2010.

Barry is still having problems with the various people he has befriended or employed, now a picture of great sentimental value has gone missing, Barry is sure he knows who stole the picture but as the Tourist Police Inspector who is “helping him” pointed out, it is not enough knowing who took or stole something, you need proof that they took it, the man in question is quite cocky about it all safe in the knowledge he will get away with it and that it will cost Barry a lot of money to pursue the matter through the courts, and should Barry lose there is always a chance that counter action will be taken.

Barry is going to speak to a lawyer to find out exactly what he can do about the thefts, but as many non nationals discover it can cost a lot of money trying to get justice, most often it costs more than the value of the stolen property and people do not pursue the matters, the Sri Lankan wins,

Sri Lankan’s know that the process of law will favour them and this in itself encourages crime against (mainly) visitors, of course there is crime and often violent crime committed by and against themselves but it is the crimes against non nationals that is the topic of this blog,

A Sri Lankan person can leave many items unguarded safe in the knowledge that no one will touch, vehicles can be left for a while unlocked with engines running, crash helmets can be left on the bike, shopping can be left in a tuk tuk or on a bike, indeed cycles are left without being chained up, many day to day things like this happen and there are no thefts or problems, even when a genuine beggar is right next to unsecured items, I think there are 2 reasons that these things are not taken, 1 - generally a Sri will not steal from a Sri (but will from a visitor) and 2 - there are too many people around all watching,

Added on 19th Feb 2010


After a thorough search through rooms and cupboards Barry was infuriated to find even more items of personal property missing and is determined to get something done about it, he has been warned by another European in his area that it will be a dangerous game to play but he feels that “enough is enough” and how do you stop it happening? Barry still needs to have work on the house completed even if it means losing the monies paid to contractors and employing a new contractor, so other people will have to access his property, Barry is alone and has to leave his house from time to time, even the people currently employed as watchers can not be trusted 100%, more to the point though is that as the house has a 6’ high wall all round once over the wall any intruder or person seeking revenge on Barry would be safely out of sight, and from experience I know that the local police wont be rushing out to help him in an emergency.

Excuses.

  A Sri Lankan is a master of excuses, when you are on holiday the person you befriend will be most reliable, he will turn up on time and will do all that he promises to do. (though not necessarily what you really wanted to do) when you are here for a longer time he/they will become less reliable, be it builder or beach boy the excuses for failing to show up/start work or whatever will arrive, often very plausible and usually concerning the health of a family member. I started to hear so many excuses that I wandered where they came from or who thought them up, I jokingly concluded that every town in Sri Lanka has an “excuses shop” tucked away in a little side street, where new or original excuses are bought, if this were true I think some shops in tourist type areas would do very well, I mentioned my witticism about “excuses shops” to some of my European friends who said they would ask the persons who let them down in the future if they had visited the “excuses shop”

Contract.

  I can not offer any legal advise on the correct procedure for purchasing land or property in Sri Lanka, There are rules and regulations (as in most countries) as to how land or property should be purchased legally, there are many web sites that offer official advice, there are many lawyers that specialise in property sales and doubtless there are lawyers in many parts of the world that can do likewise. I can not vouch as to the honesty or integrity of such people however as there was a lawyer who prepared the deeds for “my property”

I did try to lower my tax burden by buying the land on a percentage share basis with my “friend” (60-40 to me) and paid very hefty legal fees for the lawyers services, however he had obviously been advised as to my “friends” true intentions and acted in his favour. Had their plan to get me deported at a later date (foiled by my getting married) succeeded then all would have been well with them, whether or not the lawyer involved will also face criminal charges is for the courts to decide, my letters of complaint to various legal societies representing lawyers in Sri Lanka failed to get as much as a courteous reply let alone any disciplinary action, I’m sorry to say there is a lot of dishonesty in many walks of life in Sri Lanka and the legal profession is no different, A good honest lawyer is a good find,

However you purchase land you will still be at the mercy of your contractor, builder or friend to get any building work or landscaping etc done at a fair cost and in a fair time, you could consider getting legally binding contracts between yourself and any chosen person employed by you, but even this is no guarantee of success assuming that a contract will be agreed to anyway! if a friend (fellow European for e.g.) can recommend someone who has previously completed good work in good time, use them! Also make it clear that you will not make any final payments until the work is completed, a combination of contract, recommendation and payment conditions is probably best,

As previously mentioned it is considered perfectly fair to charge non nationals a higher price than local price, this practice is followed by most professions, trades and general worker, it could be said that it is actually a practice that is encouraged as there are no regulations in place to prevent people massively overcharging. The law here is very pro-local in any monetary disputes, so expect to pay more, trying to get local price by trusting a “friend” more often than not will lead to disaster.

Very important = Keep a Diary!

 If you are considering buying property of any description it will pay you to keep a diary of events, start right at the start and include everything related to your search for, and purchase of property and subsequent building work or restorations, it will only take a few minutes of your time and could prove to be invaluable later, if needed it will save much time and will more than payback for the initial effort, Sri Lankan law can be quite exacting and a dispute over a date or other matter could cause expensive delays should legal action be taken later.