John O'Dolan found Dead at Home

It is with great sadness that we have learned this morning of the death of well known Irish property entrepreneur, John O'Dolan.

O'Dolan will be most famous in overseas property circles as one of the four Irish men involved in the €28m purchase of the 'Ireland in the Sun' project on the manmade island group known as 'The World' off Dubai's coastline. Last year he was also instrumental in organising a deal to purchase England in the project for a reported €23.5m. 

The death is a double tragedy for the Irish property community, coming as it does, so close to the death of Patrick Rocca. O'Dolan is pictured here in happier times presenting a bowl of shamrock to a representative of Nakheel, developer of The World project. 

The Irish Times reports this morning:

ONE OF Ireland’s leading building developers was found dead at his home in Galway yesterday morning.

John O’Dolan (51) had developed a large property development portfolio throughout the country and abroad in areas such as Dubai and Spain. He had been involved in the Island of Ireland project in Dubai.

Mr O’Dolan is survived by his wife Eileen, his daughters Fiona and Róisín and son Robert.

Gardaí say they are treating the discovery of Mr O’Dolan’s body in a shed near his home at Rusheen Bay, between Salthill and Barna in Galway, as a tragic accident.

The father of three founded the auctioneering company Mullery, O’Dolan and Doyle which became one of the biggest in the west throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Mr O’Dolan was regarded as a shrewd judge of property trends and he later set up his own development company.

He went on to become a major player throughout Ireland and beyond and became renowned for choosing signature properties.

He set up O’Dolan International to develop overseas properties and along with a number of other developers in 2007 bought the Island of Ireland, part of the unique World development four kilometres off the coast of Dubai.

They paid €28 million for the man-made island which was to contain over 100 residential units as well as replicated Irish landmarks, conference centre, hotel and marina.

A number of his properties were landmark buildings such as the former Revenue Commissioners offices on Lord Edward Street in Dublin which he bought five years ago with partners.

Mr O’Dolan had extensive business interests in Galway and was involved in a number of charities.

He was involved in the big effort to bring the Volvo Ocean Race to Galway. The race will arrive in the city in May.

Earlier this month, a receiver was appointed to two of his business interests, the Kinlay House Hostel and property sales company, Polska Property.

The global downturn had impacted on his business interests the same way it has impacted on property developers throughout the world.

Ryanair takes the Piss - Yet Again

You have to hand it to Michael O'Leary and Ryanair, they really know how to get themselves free press coverage. 

The latest stunt pulled by the bould Michéal is to tell everybody that Ryanair is considering putting coin slots on the doors of its toilets so that passengers have to pay to use the loo. 

You'll see further along in this piece that we feel this is merely a smokescreen for an IT blunder that has got Ryanair all the wrong sort of press coverage. Let's be honest though, O'Leary isn't that fussy, as long as he and his airline are written about for one reason or another he doesn't really care. It's all free advertising. Let's take the old 'toilet trick' at face value for the moment, just in case. We'll discuss the IT blunder underneath this piece. 

Irish carrier Ryanair, Europe's largest budget airline, might start charging passengers for using the toilet while flying, chief executive Michael O'Leary said on Friday.

According to today's International Herald Tribune O'Leary is purported to have said:

"One thing we have looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny in future," he told BBC television.

He said this would not inconvenience passengers travelling without cash. "I don't think there is anybody in history that has got on board a Ryanair aircraft with less than a pound."

O'Leary has a reputation as a cost cutter, expanding Ryanair by offering low headline fares and charging extra for items such as additional luggage.

"We're all about finding ways of raising discretionary revenue so we can keep lowering the cost of air travel," he said.

Last week, Ryanair announced it was to shut all check-in desks at airports and have passengers check in online instead. End IHT Piece.

All very tongue in cheek we at the OC imagine, but one has to wonder which cheek O'Leary has in mind. Boom, boom. 

_______________________

Now we don't mean to be cynical about this latest O'Leary stunt. OK, so that's a lie, we are very cynical about it. Could it be that O'Leary is using this latest ruse as a means to divert attention away from the following Blogging incident which has backfired more than a little on the penny pinching airline.

According to blogger Jason Roe, he was offered the prospect of Ryanair flights for free, but unintentionally. This is a major 'egg on the face' incident for one of the largest airlines in Europe. 

According to Roe:

"While trying to avoid the dreaded Ryanair credit card charges, I jumped into the Ryanair Voucher section. There are no card changes (sic) on vouchers, so it can be a good way to avoid extra fees." 

The result, Jason was offered flights (albeit rather fleetingly), any flights pretty much, totally for free. No nasty taxes or charges even. 

Not even a mention of a 'piddling' charge, you could say.

Among a number of the wonderful 'Ryanairesque' responses to Jason's blog from, obviously pretty miffed, Ryanair IT staff were:

"You’re an idiot and a liar!! fact is! you’ve opened one session then another and requested a page meant for a different session, you are so stupid you dont even know how you did it!" 

"If you would work in your pathetic life on a such big project (sic) in a such busy environment with so little resources, you would know that the most important is to have usual user behavior scenarios working rather than spending time on improbable and harmless things."

Touch of class. Also good to see that Ryanair is hiring so many native English speaking programming staff. 

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Interest Rates are the Real 'Good News' Story

If you're looking for good news these days, you don't actually have to look that far. You could be forgiven for thinking that the bottom was falling out of absolutely everything if you spent your days listening to the radio or watching news bulletins on the TV - oh boy is it depressing. Job losses, falling stock markets, turmoil in the banks, the financial services sector in a terrible state, imminent strikes, pension pilfering ... the list just goes on and on.

But if you want a real 'Good News' story then all you have to do is drop over to the very happily named House Price Crash website and take a look at their sector outlining current base rates. Notice anything? Yes - they're all very low. In fact, you should take a copy of that photo, because we may never see rates so low across the world again. Every country listed has dropped rates drastically such has been the depth of the current economic downturn. This means that it has never been cheaper to borrow money. Now - if only we could get the banks to actually give us some.

Of course low base rates don't ensure low loan rates, the bank adds a (very often substantial) chunk to cover all those plus offices. When you think about it, there should be a law against having a 12% plus credit rate on a credit card when the bank can pick up money for little more than 2%. I guess if people are silly enough to not pay off those credit cards every month then they deserve to be done up like kippers, but it is a bit rich (only if you're a banker of course).

Ah well, you know what they say - "You can't have your cake and eat it too" (although heaven knows why not, if you've got cake surely you should be allowed to eat it, otherwise what's the point?).

OverseasCafe features in International Herald Tribune Blog

More good news. The OverseasCafe featured on the internationally renowned International Herald Tribune (IHT) blog, Raising the Roof, written by Kevin Brass. If you're looking for a blog to give you a flavour of what's going on around the world you won't find much better.

The story which grabbed Kevin's attention was the interview with Jerome Andree (you'll find it here if you've not seen it before), formerly of Fortuna Estates.

It's always good to get feedback which confirms that there are high profile people in the industry engaging with the website. Just makes it all feel a little more worthwhile.

The full blog is below, but the original can be found here:

A Spanish land company accused of defrauding thousands of investors was originally operated “loud and proud” and established as a legitimate investment scheme, Jerome Andree, one of the co-founders of Fortuna Estates, told Overseas Café.

Spanish authorities raided Fortuna’s offices in December. The company reportedly offered investors shares in land in rural Andalucia, which they said would be reclassified for commercial development. Fortuna tempted investors with the prospect of up to 800 percent returns on their money, the London Times reports. More than 2,000 buyers were allegedly scammed, many from the U.K. and Ireland, according to authorities.

In an e-mail exchange with Overseas Café, Andree offers his version of events, including what he calls the “soap opera” that led to his “removal” from Fortuna in 2007. Andree, who is apparently living in Sri Lanka now, said Fortuna was established “in a buoyant Spanish market to achieve beneficial returns for investors,” not as the swindle described by prosecutors.

“Under my watch all the land was bought and paid for in full,” Andree wrote. “This was good land and the clients were correctly given their title deeds.”

Asked if Fortuna was a “boiler room operation,” Andree denied it.

“While I was involved Fortuna Land was operated loud and proud with clients encouraged to visit, meet the principals and staff face to face,” Andree replied.

When asked what advice he would give Fortuna’s clients, he wrote, “I think all investors prior to May 2007 should hang on to the land they own.”

The full exchange can be found here.

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AIPP Criticised by OPP

The latest edition of OPP has a piece on the Association of International Property Professionals (AIPP) which, it claims, has been the source of much criticism from within the overseas property industry.

The AIPP was set up in 2006 in answer to criticism that the industry wasn't regulated. Well the industry still isn't regulated effectively (organisations like the AIPP and FOPDAC are essentially self-regulating vehicles formed within the industry, neither has any statutory function and cannot, thus, take any other action against members except to fine or expel them). This isn't the fault of either organisation, government have simply not been accommodating enough to broach an issue which has been crying out for attention. The Irish government briefly flirted with launching the NPSRA but the legislation is currently floundering in a morass of red tape from which it may never emerge.

The criticism stems from the amount of negative publicity attracted both Bulgarian Dreams and Seven Continent Investment (7CI). The former was expelled from AIPP last year, and has been the subject of two BBC Watchdog programmes over the past weeks. The latter went into voluntary liquidation recently. The inference is that the vetting procedures in AIPP are not all that they may be. The AIPP response would lead you to believe that companies which may not be able to get into the organisiation, or which may have no desire to even try, are taking advantage of a situation which currently suits them, making the argument that non-statutory regulatory bodies are a waste of time and money.

Here is the article from OPP:

The Association of International Property Professionals (AIPP) has come under criticism from some sections of the overseas property industry after several media reports highlighting alleged improprieties of current and former members of the industry trade body.

Several agents have contacted OPP with concerns over the AIPP’s vetting of members, citing the investigation of former member Bulgarian Dreams by the BBC’s Watchdog programme and Worldwide Destinations, which has been the subject of several negative newspaper reports in recent months. Both of these companies have been expelled from the AIPP.

Following reports by property portals The Move Channel and Global Edge, the AIPP has also come under fire following allegations of improper conduct by investment agency Seven Continent Investment (7CI) which went into voluntary liquidation earlier this month. However, its director, Alistair Powell, who is on the board of the AIPP, told OPP that it had begun legal proceedings against at least one of the portals. “We are unable to respond and defend the allegations that have been published at present as we are following due legal process”, he said. “Once the standard liquidator's report has been finalised, 7CI and its directors will be happy to comment in full. The directors of 7CI view attempts to disrepute the company and its directors, either indirectly or directly, extremely seriously and appropriate legal action has been taken through its commercial litigators”. The AIPP said that it “never reveals details” on whether official complaints are made against a member and confirmed that 7CI are currently members of the trade body.

Nonetheless, negative coverage about AIPP members over recent weeks has drawn criticism from some in the industry.

Commenting on the reports regarding 7Ci, Heath Golding, MD of agency Asset Property Brokers, said: “The fact that Alistair Powell is, I believe, on the board of directors, makes us question the credibility of the AIPP. So for now we are still of the opinion that the AIPP is not a company which we fully acknowledge within this industry. If they were a government recognised body, things may well have been different.”

Stuart Law, chief executive of investment agency Assetz, added: “This is really an indictment of the vetting process of the AIPP,” he said. “Are they putting subscription monies before vetting potential companies? Are they close enough to the industry to hear about what is going on? We have heard things for months. We aren’t saying that the AIPP has failed, just that questions need to be asked.”

AIPP hits back

Addressing these concerns, Paul Owen, the AIPP’s chief executive, told OPP: "Alistair Powell is on the board due to the same mechanism as every other board member,” he said. “All people working for member companies are entitled to put themselves forward to sit on the board, members vote on this and the results are given at the Annual General Meeting (AGM).

“From a broader perspective, this is certainly not an indictment of the vetting process when evaluating potential members, but it is not perfect. If a company meets the criteria of AIPP then they are in. If they do not, they are out.”

Owen revealed that the trade body was “party to lots of information”, but was reliant on complaints to come in before it could take action against one of its members. “If we had a remit to act on every story we hear, we would need a staff of 20 people just to go through these; action requires proof. However, at present we are reactive rather than proactive in assessing what is going on in the market. Recently though, we received an anonymous email about one of our members and we felt the allegation was so serious that we put it directly to the member who refuted it.

“The AIPP is not perfect and has never claimed to be. What I find silly about some of the arguments out there is that you wouldn’t get rid of the police just because they didn’t stop every crime. There are a whole new set of challenges in the market and we are working out ways to deal with this. The British travel trade body ABTA was in existence since the 1950s, for example, but only made a name for itself in the 1970s when a lot of Brits had problems with tour operators collapsing. It is in these difficult times that the industry needs to highlight good practices and there is a real chance with the AIPP to build on this.”

The trade body’s chief executive recognised some of the complaints made against it, but asked those that were “standing on the outside and throwing stones” to work with the AIPP and not against it to help make the market a more transparent place. Owen also revealed that the board is examining a proposal to strengthen its escrow requirements for members and that the “rules might get tougher” as of its AGM on March 19th.

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Bulgarian Dreams Watchdog Update

BBC's Watchdog programme did a followup on Bulgarian Dreams (including interviews with some people referred to the programme by OverseasCafe.com). 

The programme's website says:

"Since our broadcast we've discovered a lot more about Robert Jenkin and Bulgarian Dreams. He was selling apartments in over 30 developments across Bulgaria, so it's no surprise that we've now heard of hundreds of you who each paid him tens of thousands of pounds for properties that were never finished."

It finishes with a statement submitted by Jenkin, who refused to take calls from the programme:

Statement on behalf of Berkeley Square Trading Limited (T/A Bulgarian Dreams). 

"The decision to close the London sales and marketing office of Berkeley Square Trading Limited t/a Bulgarian Dreams doesn't mean that the company isn't committed to providing ongoing customer support services to clients who've purchased developments in Bulgaria where it's able to do so. Clients are aware of the telephone number and email address where ongoing queries can be addressed. Bulgarian Dreams will answer such queries if they're addressed to the Company directly, but it's not prepared to discuss individuals' issues on air."

You'll find the programme on BBC's Watchdog website. 

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Lynn Interviewed by Mail and Played on RTE

Ireland's most famous rogue solicitor, Michael Lynn was interviewed in last week's Mail on Sunday by Michael O'Farrell. Some of this interview was also played on Marian Finnucane's show on RTE at the weekend. 

The mail doesn't have it's Irish edition online but you'll find a scanned copy of the entire interview here. Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4 - click on the images to enlarge. You'll find a link to the interview on Marian Finnucane (presented by Rachel English) here (you'll need Real Player to play it). The Lynn interview kicks in at 0:34:18. Thanks to the guys at The Property Pin for both links.

Some excerpts from the interview include:

“If you wanted to get to the key question, did I act fraudulently in terms of, and had I two mortgages, three mortgages against the same property, ah, it's true I had extensive borrowings." Michael O'Farrell asks him, "But was it fraudulent?" To which Lynn replies: "Absolutely not, we were all, including myself, we were all following the ... I was the Celtic Cub, ah, who was out of control, honestly, in hindsight, I was greedy, ah, and over-ambitious, but yes there were other parties. I ... I'm sorry for what happened to them and I believe that right now the key question for me is that if I'm sorry I have to show it by actions as opposed to just words."

Lynn continues: "The truth is I want to go back, the life that I'm leading and the pressure ... I've a wonderful wife and she's been extremely loyal to me and loyal to us as a couple. I... I'm extremely lucky. I wouldn't see any reason why I would have to go to prison and the one thing I want to make clear is I'm not going to be a scapegoat for others, absolutely not, and I'm not going to be used as an example for what was recognised as an accepted form and practice of business by bankers, lawyers, accountants and auctioneers and I'm not going to be the poster boy who ends up in prison, to my cost. 

The Law Society responded in yesterday's Irish Times saying:

"The behaviour of Mr Lynn was shameful and disgraceful." Ken Murphy said that the society was still paying compensation from its fund to clients who had lost money because of his activities.

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Haydon Investments Clients take Legal Action

Vivion Kilfeather in the Irish Examiner reports that more than 50 investors are seeking the return of €8 million allegedly paid to two businessmen and an investment firm to fund a property scheme in the Ukraine since found to have defective legal title.

One investor said he had learned from documents he was "continually lied to about the whole investment project" and he also alleged the defendants treated the investors’ monies as their own personal monies.

Thomas Meyler said he believed the original €9.7m fund has reduced to €3.4m without any assets being acquired as the property was bought with a title since declared flawed.

The actions are being taken against Haydon (Private Clients) Ltd, trading as Haydon Investments Company (HIC), and Peter Haydon, with addresses at The Mall, Beacon Court, Sandyford, Dublin. Aidan Corless, of Kinvara, Westminster Road, Foxrock, Dublin, was also joined yesterday as a defendant.

It is claimed the defendants misused more than €5.2m of investors’ money to acquire a property at Kiev, Ukraine, in a manner intended to give the defendants additional profits unknown to the investors but the defendants ultimately acquired only defective title to the property.

It is alleged the defendants have continued to "waste" further monies over the past 18 months on legal fees and payments to themselves arising out of the defective title.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly was told yesterday it is being alleged investors transferred €8m to HIC under a scheme whereby it, using a Cypriot-based holding company Lemuranco Holdings Public Ltd and its Ukrainian-based subsidiary Lemuranco JSC Ukraine, would acquire a commercial property in Kiev.

Jarlath Ryan, who represents 46 investors and expects another nine to join the litigation, said no such interest was ever acquired. He said the investors had between them paid over sums of €7-8m.

He secured leave from the judge to serve short notice on the defendants of proceedings aimed at securing return of the monies and to prevent them reducing or dissipating assets.

In related earlier proceedings transferred to the Commercial Court yesterday, Quotumas Investments Ltd claims the Haydon defendants advertised in the Sunday Business Post in early March 2007 seeking investors for the Kiev project. Quotumas claims it invested €1m.

The firm claims the Kiev property was never purchased in the manner represented by the defendants to them and the Haydon defendants instead provided investment funds to Mr Corless to purchase the property in his own name. The defendants, it is alleged, were intent on creating an additional conveyancing layer so as to allow them sell on the Kiev property to the Cypriot company at a higher price, resulting in personal profit and gain to the defendants.

However, having purchased the property, it is claimed the defendants discovered their title in the property’s holding company, Allonge, was legally defective and Allonge’s ownership in the property was seriously flawed. Legal proceedings in Kiev ruled that the agreement by Allonge for the acquisition of the property was unlawful and void.

Counsel for Quotumas said it was endeavouring to establish the financial position of the Haydon defendants but documents discovered to date were unsatisfactory and tended to show the defendant company was insolvent. Counsel for Haydon said the documents had been given to Quotumas eight weeks ago and no complaint was received until now.

The judge said it would be a matter of concern for a company to continue to trade in a deficit situation. In an affidavit, Mr Meyler, a director of Quotumas, said Peter Haydon had represented himself as an investment and property expert with well-established relationships in the Ukraine with taxation, management, development and legal firms.

Mr Meyler said he agreed an oral contract to invest €1m by Quotumas on conditions including all investment monies would be held by the Cypriot firm that would purchase the Kiev property in its name and that Haydon had already invested US$2.25m (€1.7m) in the project.

He said Haydon did not make that investment but misrepresented they had and Quotumas later learned the Kiev property was not sold in the manner intended.

This story is from the Irish Examiner.

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Lynn Insurance Claims may not be Honoured

A report on the RTE website has claimed that insurance companies are moving to protect themselves against claims from those defrauded by Michael Lynn and his companies. The full report is below.

"Two insurance companies have secured court orders that effectively mean they will not have to pay out multi-million euro claims on many insurance policies taken out by missing solicitor Michael Lynn and his property company.

The order was granted because of alleged fraudulent misrepresentation and non-disclosure of material facts.

More than 250 claims against the policies have been made to date by banks and others. All are owed vast sums by Mr Lynn, who has estimated liabilities of some €80m.

In making the orders against Mr Lynn and his company, Mr Justice Peter Kelly noted the court has yet to determine whether Fiona McAleenan, a solicitor in Mr Lynn's firm, is entitled to insurance cover relating to any undertakings she signed while working in the practice.

In claiming they were entitled to refuse to pay out on foot of the policies, both companies argued the vast majority of claims related to alleged breach of residential mortgage solicitors' undertakings.

They claimed their investigations suggested a practice in Mr Lynn's firm, from at least 2003, of providing multiple undertakings relating to the same property but this practice was not disclosed to them.

The companies also claimed the defendants must have been aware they would not be able to comply with undertakings given on foot of the policies.

They alleged they were entitled to have declared void two particular policies taken out with them for alleged non-disclosure of material fact by the defendants and also said the policies should be declared void for fraudulent misrepresentation on the proposal form.

Chubb Insurance Company of Europ SA and WR Berkley Insurance Europe Ltd had taken the Commercial Court proceedings against Michael Lynn and Fiona McAleenan.

The insurance companies say the practised as Michael Lynn & Company, and Overseas Legal and Tax Services Ltd trading as Overseas Property Law.

Paul Sreenan SC applied for orders against Mr Lynn and Overseas, declaring the policies void on grounds of failure by Mr Lynn and Overseas to enter any defence in the case.

The proceedings against Ms McAleenan, of Betaghstown, Co Meath, will be heard at a later stage.

Mr Sreenan stressed his application was without prejudice to the claims made by Ms McAleenan. He said Ms McAleenan was defending the case on the basis she was not a partner in the firm and the insurance policy was a composite policy, not a joint policy.

In making the orders against Mr Lynn and Overseas, Mr Justice Kelly said the companies were entitled to have the policies declared void ab initio (from the beginning) because of non-disclosure of material facts and fraudulent misrepresentation on the part of Mr Lynn and Overseas.

The proceedings arose after the two companies agreed to provide cover for Michael Lynn & Company, the practice set up by Mr Lynn, and Overseas Property Law, which provided legal services for persons investing in overseas property.

The cover sought was professional indemnity cover in excess of the €2.5m primary cover to be provcided by AIG Insurance Company Ltd.

Chubb claimed, relying on representations of the defendants, it agreed to provide €4.5m cover for each claim in excess of €2.5m for the period from 1 January 2007 to 1 January 2008.

WR Berkley claimed it agreed, also in reliance on representations of the defendants, to provide (over the period 18 May 2007 to 31 December 2007) €4m cover for claims in excess of a €7m cover already in place.

Article from RTE.

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Bulgarian Dreams features on BBC Watchdog Programme

Bulgarian property agent & developer, Bulgarian Dreams, featured on a BBC Watchdog programme this evening. The programme followed the attempts of a Bulgarian Dreams client to contact the company. He visited Bulgaria only to be told by BD's office that they didn't have a phone number for Robert Jenkin, the company's owner. The client then went to speak with his solicitor who claimed he did not know what was wrong but everything was a "complete mess".

We have featured Bulgarian Dreams on the Blog on a number of occassions (and been legally threatened by their legal representatives, DLA Piper, to boot). If you wish to view previous postings to get an idea of what has been in train you'll find all postings mentioning the company here. There is also an article featuring a number of unhappy Bulgarian Dreams clients here and the Irish Times featured a piece on Bulgarian Dreams and its clients which can be found here.

The picture above, featuring Jenkin and his Bulgarian wife Maria Georgieva, featured heavily in the documentary as the Watchdog team failed to track Jenkin down to speak with him.

The programme concluded with the statement that Bulgarian Dreams (which is a trading name for Berkeley Square Trading Ltd.) had ceased trading due to the "extraordinarily difficult economic conditions" and that it wished its understanding customers "all the best for the future."

Nice one.

The Bulgarian Dreams website now features just the following message:

Dear all,

We regret to inform our customers that following the extraordinarily difficult economic conditions we have had to cease trading.

All existing customers who have previously purchased property should refer directly to the development companies in Bulgaria, none of which are directly affected by our closure. A list of contact details is included below:

Interlink BG Limited: interlinkbg@abv.bg

Smart Partners BG: smartpartners.bg@gmail.com

Interart Group: interart.group@hotmail.com

We would like to wish all our customers all the best for the future and thank them for their understanding at this difficult time.

Bulgarian Dreams

Here is the link to the BBC Watchdog programme for those affected by this issue. Unfortunately, depending on where you are accessing the content you may not be able to see the video. If it appears on You Tube we'll link to it here. In the meantime the transcript of the piece (which is also on the BBC Watchdog site, is below).

Buying property in England is difficult enough, but buying abroad can be a real nightmare as dozens of Watchdog viewers have found out. They've contacted us because they've all been taken in by the same company.

Bulgarian Dreams is a property business that promises new homes, in a country where the market has been booming. Each of the people we've spoken to has handed over tens of thousands of pounds and now they're worried they've lost it all.

Bulgarian Dreams has won awards, has glossy brochures and a snazzy website. It also offers the reassurance of a head office in London. Chris Dale was really excited about buying a piece of paradise and he thought he'd found an estate agent he could trust. In June 2006, Chris paid Bulgarian Dreams a £500 deposit for an apartment on a luxury development called Windows to Paradise.

Far from completed
Bulgarian Dreams put together a DVD which showed all the apartments it had on offer. It made it quite clear it'd do all the legwork and all Chris would have to do was move in. However Chris's Bulgarian Dream soon went flat. He paid a total of £56,000 for his apartment including solicitor's and management fees. Now, more than a year after the company wrote to him to tell him the development was completed it's far from it. Chris's apartment has no electricity or water. There are power cables on the ground that could potentially be live and rubbish everywhere.

Bizarrely, Bulgarian Dreams told Chris none of the problems with the apartments were anything to do with them. It was full of promises before the sale, but once it'd been paid it washed its hands of the whole thing and then stopped returning his calls. Bulgarian Dreams had said that Chris's contract was with the developers, a company called Interlink BG. He was told to contact the developer direct about any problems, but they haven't returned his calls or email either.

Same story
So far, more than 80 Bulgarian Dreams customers have contacted us with almost exactly the same story. In December, Bulgarian Dreams suddenly closed its London Office without telling its customers. But the company does have another office in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. Chris Dale and Watchdog's Paul Heiney travelled out there in search of answers from Bulgarian Dreams and the couple who run it, Robert Jenkin and his Bulgarian wife Mariya Georgieva.

At Bulgarian Dreams' office Chris was told that it no longer had his money; that it had been paid to Interlink BG, the developer. So Chris and Paul crossed the city to Interlinks BG's registered office address but no one was there either. Unfortunately for Chris, Bulgarian Dreams has lied to him. It may claim it has nothing to do with the developers, but that simply isn't true. Records show boss Robert Jenkin is a former owner and director of Interlink BG. And his wife Mariya is still named as a company manager. In fact, after more digging, we've discovered one or both of them might have been acting not just as the estate agent and developer, but also the property management company, the supposedly independent solicitors, and even the furniture supplier.

Only last week, the company took down its website and announced it had ceased trading due to the "extraordinarily difficult economic conditions". It wished it's understanding customers "all the best for the future."

Bad man?
There's an old saying in Bulgaria - bad weather gets better, but a bad man never does. Is Robert Jenkin a bad man? We don't know. But certainly he persuaded a lot of people to part with a lot of money, for something they've never had. We've tried to contact Bulgarian Dreams but it's failed to respond and seems to have disappeared.

The Association of International Property Professionals advices anyone who's encountered difficulty with the purchase of their apartment through Bulgarian Dreams to contact a lawyer. Even if it does not end up going down the legal route, anyone in difficulty will need someone who knows where they stand legally. The AIPP can help people affected to find a lawyer and have suggested a lawyer representing a group would reduce costs. The AIPP are happy to meet concerned parties as a first point of reference before they start paying for a lawyer, and say this service would be free of charge.

If you've had problems with Bulgarian Dreams or require more information about buying property abroad contact the AIPP on +44 (0)20 7409 7061.

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For a selection of property from around the world click here.

For a listing of agents selling overseas property click here.

For independent articles on overseas property click here.

For advice on purchasing property overseas click here.

For news on the world of overseas property click here.

For new releases and product updates from agents around the world click here.

For a list of upcoming overseas property exhibitions around the country click here.

Top Five Properties on OverseasCafe.com

With the proven love of 'Top Lists' in our past blogs we've decided to return to the format, outlining the five most popular properties on the website over the past month.

1. The top most accessed property on the site over the past month isn't in fact a property at all, it's a Swedish syndicate. It is telling in these difficult times that people are looking for very stable areas suffering as little as possible from the current economic downturn. Sweden checks all the boxes at the moment. You'll find this property listing here.

2. Second up is also a Swedish listing, except this one is a monster 6 bed timber house for the princely sum of just €54k. You can see the attraction really. You can find the details here.

3. For number 3 we're moving off to Spain's Costa Blanca. Casa Maribel is a three bed property between Javea and Denia for €330k. You'll find further info on it here.

4. In fourth place you'll find our first privately owned property which featured in the January newsletter. Located in the Apollonia Beach complex in Sozopol, Bulgaria, this two bed apartment will set you back €107k. If you're interested there is more information here.

5. Last, but not least, at number five we find a fine holiday villa in Davenport, Florida. The price for this three bed, two bath property has been dropped considerably to €160k. You'll find full details on the property here.

It is interesting to note that all of the most popular properties have featured either on our homepage (as Premium Properties) or on our monthly newsletter. If you would like your property to feature so it is exposed to more traffic then give Tara a call, you'll find her contact details over there on the right hand side of the page.

Register now to receive our informative newsletter, save searches and tailor your OverseasCafe.com experience to your own needs.

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For a selection of property from around the world click here.

For a listing of agents selling overseas property click here.

For independent articles on overseas property click here.

For advice on purchasing property overseas click here.

For news on the world of overseas property click here.

For new releases and product updates from agents around the world click here.

For a list of upcoming overseas property exhibitions around the country click here.

UK Bargains in Sunday Business Post

It was good to see the OverseasCafe get a meritorious mention in Sunday's Business Post. Group MD, Eilis FitzGerald, was quoted on the virtual explosion in queries to the site for repossessed or 'value for money' properties in the UK since the start of the year. Extraordinary when you consider the financial environment in which we currently find ourselves.

Here's the text:

'According to Eilis FitzGerald, of Irish property portal OverseasCafe.com, the site was receiving considerable traffic from people looking for information on the British market. She said there had been more than 50 solid enquiries for information on repossessed British property listings since the beginning of January.

‘‘Investors are looking hard for deals, with most people only considering property that is being sold for at least 40 to 60 per cent be low peak market values,” she said. ‘‘Those investors remaining in the market are seasoned campaigners who avidly hunt bargains and haggle mercilessly, so this environment suits them perfectly.”'

If you are interested in current bargains to be found in the UK property market you'll find an article on it here and you can apply for further information on listings here.

You'll find the full Sunday Business Post article, "Bargains Emerging in Britian", here.

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For a selection of property in the UK click here.

For a list of agents selling property in the UK click here.

For independent articles on overseas property click here.

For advice on purchasing in the UK click here.

For news on the UK property market click here.

For new releases and product updates from UK agents click here.

For a selection of property exhibitions featuring UK property click here.