Topic: The International Law Parnership LLP Bulgarian Dreams Rescue Seminar 21/2/09

[Livy]

Hi all

I feel it is important to give people some feedback to a Seminar I attended yesterday with 23 other Bulgarian Dreams purchasers yesterday with The International Law Partnership LLP in London.

This was following information posted on the BBC Watchdog website and advice given by the AIPP.

Just to make things clear this post is advice only. I am a purchaser in Phase 3 of The Orchard who is at a loss as to what to do next following Bulgarian Dreams collapse. I am not an agent/promoter or legal representative but just an individual that has invested a large sum of money that seemingly has been lost or so I thought.

I found yesterdays seminar both enlightening and concerning but ultimately has given me some hope that I may be able to persue legal proceedings against either the now defunct Bulgarian Dreams or their associated Building Developers.

There was a turnout of 23 people plus a further 13 that couldn't attend all of which have invested in Bulgarian Dreams Developments throughout Bulgaria including The Orchard like us.

Mr John Howell (Senior Partner) and Ms Lyubov Jones (Bulgarian Solicitor) held this seminar at their offices in London and are going to act on our behalf as a collective in the first instance and then as individual groups following their initial findings in 6 weeks.

They have asked each person attending to post on as many relevant websites/forums that we use to get other owners in a similar situation to contact them and to instruct them to act on their behalf.

There is a fee but this will reduced the more people that instruct them.

If you are in a similar situation as me whether it be Phase 1 full payment made awaiting Act 15 or initial deposit on an apartment in Phase 3 there is still hope and options but you must act quickly.

There is too much to explain from yesterdays meeting to put in this post  surfice to say the longer we sit on our hands and hope for the best the worse it will get.

I hope this helps in some way.

Good Luck

Mark

The International Law Partnership LLP contact emails are

Mr John Howell sjh@LawOverseas.com
Ms Lyubov Jones lmj@lawoverseas.com
Hanneri Swanepoel hsw@lawoverseas.com

Website www.lawoverseas.com

[rvb0910]

Hi All,
I wanted to add my thoughts to Mark's notes - I have seen a lot of notes expressing concern that these Lawyers may not be legit and wanted to reassure people that they are on the level. I am a client of The International Law Partnership and have been for many years. John Howell the senior partner does a lot of resuce work for Watchdog and indeed it is Watchdog that asked them to get involved after Dario's appearance on the programme.
Needless to say I am very grateful that they have agreed to get involved and I would strongly encourage you all to sign up for this collective as the cost is minimal compared to the service we will get. I am thanking my lucky stars that Luybov Jones represented me on my purchase in Cedar Lodge 2 as those who used Bulgarian dreams solicitors do not seem to be aware that they mortgaged the building illegally and that if you have taken Title then by Bulgarian Law you have also taken on that mortgage and now that Bulgarian Dreams have ceased trading it is only a matter of time before the banks foreclose on that mortage and the title holders are liable to pay and it could be as much as £1.2 million......This is one of the areas that LLP are going to investigate if we can get enough people signed up.
One more thing to mention....John Howell is fixing the initial fee to investigate ALL the Bulgarian Dreams develpoments at £500, he needs 50 people to sign up to make this cost effective but is prepared to take on the financial risk himself if he doesn't get 50. There are a lot of options open to us whichever development you belong to but if you want to be part of the solution then you need to sign up. Together we are stronger!
John Howell will send out Minutes of the seminar for those who could not attend and details as to how you can be part of the Collective and therefore part of the solution.

[Nyamazan]

Hi

I would just like to thank the every one who is keeping this website updated.  Unfortunately my husband is away until May so I have been keeping an eye on the forum, and a bit unsure what to do as it makes me so mad and upset!.  Anyway.... we obviously want to try an get this sorted one way or another and have sent an email off this evening to John Howell to sign up for the investigation on All the BD developments and get the minutes from the meeting.

Once again thank you for all your efforts it is appreciated.

Helen Murray
Cedar Lodge II

[dario]

50 people at £500 = £25,000. This is a LOT of money for an initial investigation.  What exactly would ths include?

The mortgage on the property worries me.  I'm doing to contact my local Sofia based solicitor about this and will report back.

[rvb0910]

The initial investigation will cover ALL the developments that Bulgarian Dreams had including all those on the Black Sea Coast. LLP will be gathering info from the Land Registry re: Title on all properties, whether there is any mortgage outstanding, if Planning Permission has been granted, if Article 15 was granted legally etc. They will produce a detailed report at which point we would probably break out into sub groups for each development as the situation will be different in each. LLP have already done some investigation and the level of fraud, back handers leads them to believe that this is merely the start of a landslide of cases similar to what Spain experienced which is why Watchdog have got involved.
Yes £25,000 is a lot of money it equates to 4 weeks work at 40 hours per week, not unreasonable given the scope of this and less than we would pay to investigate individually....better to work together and hope that everyone is committed and can be included in any solution we hopefully can get.
Some of the owners at the meeting raised their concerns over those joining up whilst those sitting back and doing nothing benefit but we all agreed that only those in the collective would receive the info they have paid for and be included in any negotiations.
Of course LLP will make money out of this but why shouldn't they? There is a lot of work to do to get this resolved and we are getting nowhere and to be honest I'm grateful that someone is prepared to help and that they are trustworthy.
The more who join up the cheaper it gets.

Rachael

[dario]

"The more who join up the cheaper it gets."

But is this true?  I could understand for a fixed overall cost, but it was just quoted at £500 each.  I'm sorry to reamain slightly sceptical still, but there are lots of different lawyers all offering their services at the moment.  Are we also not better off trying to get local Bulgarian lawyers to look into this?

What makes these lawyers more suitable to the job that anyone else?  Normally when making a decision on services, I would get in a several quotes and recommendations and then decde.  Where have the AIPP and Watchdog specifically recommended these lawyers?

Thanks,

Darren

[Adams]

Many thanks to Rachael who has reiterated everything I said in my posts on this subject. I am no longer a lone voice!! I too am relieved I had the foresight to appoint Lyubov from the International Law Partnership to represent me given the situation we now find ourselves in. Dario, you have connections with Watchdog why don't you get a reference from them as to the suitability of the LLP taking on this work.

As Mark said in his post of the 22nd feb we have to move quickly to be in with the best possible chance of protecting our investments. 

Rachael and I both used Luybov and both of us were advised of the mortgage situation on CL 2. How many owners using the BD lawyers or another bulgarian law firm  were aware of the mortgage issue before i raised it yesturday? 

[Colin007]

The International Law Partnership are just the middlemen between you and some other lawyers ( e.g. Bulgarian etc. ) I met John Howell and think he is just a salesmen. If you are lazy and want to spend more - use him.

[dario]

This is my worry.  There are lots of lawyers trying to cash in on this situation and I'm not willing to rush into anything, particularly when I hear of fixed individual fees.

When I emailed these guys asking for information about the metting, they didn't even get back to me.  I'd rather negotiate a fixed cost as a group and contribute accordingly.

Watchdog lawyers are currently going through a whole list of documents, letters and contracts, so I'm waiting to see what they can possibly reveal firstly.  My Bulgarian lawyers are also looking into this issue with the mortage, so I will report back when I hear anything.

[itiswhatitis]

......
 I am thanking my lucky stars that Luybov Jones represented me on my purchase in Cedar Lodge 2 as those who used Bulgarian dreams solicitors do not seem to be aware that they mortgaged the building illegally and that if you have taken Title then by Bulgarian Law you have also taken on that mortgage and now that Bulgarian Dreams have ceased trading it is only a matter of time before the banks foreclose on that mortgage and the title holders are liable to pay and it could be as much as £1.2 million......This is one of the areas that LLP are going to investigate if we can get enough people signed up.

The developer must have mortgaged the building AFTER all the apartments had been sold off-plan, (non of the lawyers found loans on their initial checks, remember not all purchasers used BD solicitors)  therefore he obviously got the mortgage illegally/fraudulently the bank should have made checks, the simplest bit of of research by the bank would have revealed that all these apartments were already sold; surely the bank was at fault for not doing their due diligence.  Why should the owners have to pay for their mistake, I'm sure that under the law the owners should be protected (If not BG law then under EU law), if not the law is an arse.

[Adams]

If you ask the question I think you'll find that the International Law Partnership ARE the lawyers working for watchdog.

In response to the comments made by itiswhatitis from what I can gather, that is what appears to have happened, the mortgage was taken out either on the plot of land or on the building or both (we don't know at this stage) after we all had our initial checks done.  As I understand it, the mortgage issue could affect each of us differently depending on if and when you completed on your purchase when the mortgage was taken out etc.

[nomis]

Several years ago I worked for an English bank and dealt with lending and taking security. The precedure then was that banks would carry out legal search before and after taking a legal charge/lending money to prevent this from happening.

In my eyes we have signed no loan agreement, nor have we offered to give security. I find it impossible to believe that we could either be responsible for the debt, or our apartments have been given as security.

[dario]

I should get a definitive answer on this soon. My lawyer did check for loads so this must have happened since. Given no load agreement was signed, I really doubt we can be liable.

[jo.ju]

Funny, I also phoned the International Law Partnership after watching watchdog and noone got back to me to let me know about the meeting. I then emailed John Howell for any info as once I heard about it via the forum it was too late for me to attend and still I've heard nothing. I would want to pay £500 for someone alittle more reliable in getting in touch!

[b hatton]

I was made aware that there may be a mortgage attached to my wtp apt when i had a conversation with my lawyer based in sofia a few wks ago.In the discussion about getting hold of our title deeds,which we still do not have, there was an air of caution i.e. more detective work on his part.He has told us he will be in touch this wk with regards our next move.Any information which is relevant to this i will pass on.