more property problems

  There are people I’ve met that have had problems which we have not discussed so I can not relate their story, some people have either reached a closure or put the problem behind them and do not want reminding of what happened, some even fear recrimination should the “offender” find out that his crime is being “exposed” ? or discussed, some of these people end up living behind high walls and interact very little with the local population


  Mark is the only person I know who wont admit to having any major problems either past or present (his problem apparently lies in the future). He bought a relatively modern property that needed no significant work and thus avoided the builder pitfall, however he did not want to pay the excessive government tax and bought with the help of a Sri Lankan friend, I am unsure of the full story as Mark will no longer talk about it but I understand that he will suffer a big problem if he wants to sell the property. He is also in the position where he dare not fallout with or have cross words with the “friend”. Mark lives a good life here but is another example of how we become unknowingly trapped.

  Edward and his wife Jackie are now retired and have a very nice waterside home, in the UK they were both involved in different aspects of the legal system and this probably stood them in good staid when it came to dealing with people, however no matter how suspicious you are of others or their motives you can still get caught out, in their case they fell foul of poor workmanship and had to have their swimming pool completely rebuilt, the original “builder” did a disappearing trick so there was no chance of getting him to do the job again at his own expense, another contractor had to be found and paid. Edward is still very bitter about this but compared to many it could be said that they got of lightly,

  Garth and Wendy also have a waterside home (without a pool) and apart from the usual inflated tourist price that had to be paid for materials and labour they have had very few problems with this house, mainly because of lessons learned in the past! as not too long before this house was completed Garth and Wendy had had another property built that was a show house for how bad things can be, whereas the UK tends to over regulate on everything there are no building regulations as such in Sri Lanka (there maybe regulations for large buildings and the like, but houses can “just be built”) the property was so bad that the couple could not live in it, again the original contractors disappeared and rather than throw good money after bad Garth and Wendy bought the waterside plot their new house is now on. It would have taken a very long time to find the original contractors, if indeed they could be found and impossible to get the house rebuilt by them, civil action would go on for years should it get that far, Being “better off” than many Garth and Wendy were able to shoulder their losses, a very expensive exercise nevertheless. At least they still own the land that the first house was built on.

  Make sure you know all about your contractors, get official contracts that cover everything, involve a lawyer, it may cost a bit to get started but starting in the correct way can safe a lot of money, hard work, and heartbreak