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Hi Winky,

welcome to the forum.

Obviously the house in it's present state is illegal and it is not said that unpermitted building work will be sanctioned. Normally it is not even allowed.

Having said that you will probably only get your deposit back! Hopefully ....

As the notary and architect were contracted by yourself you will have to pay and try and sue the sellers for damages. That might take years.

If you can give me the PA number for sanctioning I can give it a look and see what the situation is at the moment.

Cheers
Ricky

Hi Ricky,

Thanks for responding

We have been told our deposit will be returned thank goodness! But seems a very unfair system here for the buyers. Looks like we have to take the hit and pay.

At the moment, a screening letter was sent to the seller a week ago and a planning application is due to be posted outside the house for people to object to the building works.

Oh well live and learn and I know I won't be buying a house in Malta ever again!

Thanks again for replying

Welcome to malta and its quirks  - these links would put me off buying anything here



Hope you find something else soon if your still in the mind to buy...

Hi Winky,

let me know when you have a PA number!

Maybe I can give them a bit of pain-))) Opposing sanctioning of illegal building is one of my favourites ...

Usually the problem is not the buying but the selling for a decent price. Paying just 1000 € costs might have saved you a lot of money !

Cheers
Ricky

The seller cannot just decide doesn't want to sell - they may have to pay you a penalty for failure to complete

Check the preliminary agreement (konvenju). The common practice that buyer loose the deposit if decides not to buy; seller pays more than deposit if decides not to sell; and some reasons are deemed as independent from the parties (like MEPA permit, for example) and everybody just receive the money back.

But in any case the buyer pays for notary services

Spiridonov wrote:

and some reasons are deemed as independent from the parties (like MEPA permit, for example) and everybody just receive the money back.

thats "force majeure" and refers to events outside either parties control. If the current owner carried out the work on the house without MEPA permits then arguably thats not force majeure

Should you wish to test EU Law in this matter (and aslo have a 'sleep' problem) then here is the cure for both: -