Let the Buyer Beware!

Global Edge, 24 Feb 2010.  
England's 1966 World Cup hero Sir Geoff Hurst claims his name was “used and abused” by a British estate agent selling off-plan property in Marbella, Spain.
Sir Geoff Hurst told London's high court yesterday that Mark Cordner, who he believed owned and had the legal right sell off-plan development Aloha Royal near Marbella, had deceived him and six other investors.
They claim that, because of Cordner's alleged deceit, negligent misstatement and wrongful conspiracy, they handed over the full purchase price up front and without security for seven off-plan apartments.   They say their rights over the properties have now either been destroyed or rendered worthless.  Sir Geoff Hurst claims he has personally lost £600,000.
Hurst said that he did virtually no research and took no legal advice, as Cordner said that his in-house lawyer would deal with the legal work.
"It is easy to say in hindsight, but if I'd seen the documents, we wouldn't have gone anywhere near this" said Hurst.
Comment:
How on earth does this still happen?  How can people be so stupid?   After 30 years of shouting – from every pulpit that would allow me access – that only a fool buys a property without legal advice, EVEN TODAY only about 60% of the buyers of property overseas use a lawyer – and, worse still, many of these use the developer or estate agent’s lawyer.
Yet many of these buyers are well educated and successful people.   Many are surrounded by advisers of one sort or another.   Some wouldn’t buy a paper clip without reading the Which! report! 
Why do they do this?   I think it is often a cross between embarrassment – insisting on using a lawyer looks like you don’t trust the seller; lack of knowledge – how do you find a good lawyer to deal with a property in Bratislava and greed.  It is subtly (or, often, not very subtly) – suggested to you that ‘using a lawyer is a bit of a waste of time and that, quite frankly, its just not necessary in this country’.
Don’t listen.  Insist on protecting your position.
For years, my colleagues have been telling me that I am crazy to keep on stressing the need to use a lawyer when buying abroad.  After all, we make so much more money sorting out the mess you get into when you don’t!