Samoens Owners - Joint Action

17 October 2012

I have managed to contact a French owner (Jean Marc Dufresne) of

Samoens who proposes to help us put together an association to fight

Soderev.

One association will be enough to defend our interests.

It is very important that this is done quickly so as not to fall behind in the

process.

Once it is created (Jean Marc proposes to do that) three persons at the

minimum will need to be appointed as chair, treasurer and secretary.

He has sourced a specialized lawyer that would help us a lot. The cost is

likely to be around 500-600 euros per participant of legal fees.

The role of the association will be precisely defined and quantified.

 

-The people for whom their loans poses a real problem, can request the

suspension of the payment of the mortgage, for a period of two years by a

letter to the trial judge. (For the procedure, the lawyer can help)

You can contact Jean Marc directly on jmduf01@gmail.com to give him

an email address.

It is very important that as few people as possible (ideally no one) signs

the much reduced rents that Soderev will offer (likely to be 50% of current

rents) and most people in other residences who have signed such

agreements failed to realise that they are also then responsible for all the

charges, as it tends to be well hidden in the texts !

We will not get the 3rd quarter rent now but should get the 4th quarter

2012.

I am an owner of Samoens, and French, but resident in the UK for over 30

years.

I'll try to answer any questions as best I can.

Submitted by Blotch (not verified) on

What do people think of signing up an accountant and a lawyer? I know it's more outlay but each would be looking at the issue from different angles and each may provide options. It would protect our legal and financial positions and could help if we go it alone. Especially helpful if Soderev invoke a compensation claim then accountant can argue down the profitability of the development and hence the amount due.


Soderev cannot be allowed to argue down the rents on lack of profitability then argue up the compensation saying we are causing them huge financial losses.


I can understand why the French owner is proposing a formal structure. It makes things open & fair & prevents challenges eg re accounts. It would ensure minutes are taken and shared. A lawyer will want to primarily have one main point of contact. My only request is that lawyer and 'board' speak both English and French.

Blotch41200.8849537037

Submitted by Claire on

Hi, we are ferme de Samoens lease back owners and are interested in looking at joint legal representation. As a starting point, it would be a good plan to have someone at the meeting in November who is a fluent French speaker and take it from there. We, like most, think it would be better to have the leases cancelled.
Any ferme de Samoens owners feel free to get in touch.

Submitted by minty on

Hi, I am an owner in Fermes de Samoens. I am interested in

what other folk are doing and any joint action, I've pm'ed

my details to Justme on Steve Rushton's original FdS forum

as I couldn't register here originally.

Mike

How about arranging an "online meeting" for Uk owners, or perhaps a

physical one in the UK? Not sure how practical a physical meeting would be,

but an online one should be easy to arrange.

Any thoughts?

Submitted by Blotch (not verified) on

Ok well that's a plan. Wait until after the St Gervais meeting and see if representation needed for LFDS meeting. The only advantage in sending one representative to Paris for the first meeting is that Soderev will see that owners have already united, appointed legal representation and will fight.

Submitted by lpanes on

Just back from 11 days at LFDS you would not know anything was

different.

Our sofa bed has been replaced with a new one and the place was

clean and functioning as normal.

Was pretty busy in development and the resort was heaving from the

29th December.

We haven't received,our rent, has anyone else due at the end of

December?

Hello,


Just found this forum, we are owners of an appartment at LFDS, we havent had any payment since Sept 2012, we completed the 'claim' form sent by the administrators MJA, have there been any developments since late 2012 that anyone is aware of ?


Are Soderev completely off the scene ?


We have just finished negotiationg the sale of another property near Carcassonne, it was taxing but it happened in the end, the only thing I would be very wary of is the french tax system, its geared against you (bordering on criminal) if you cant 100% prove that your mortgage (Credit Foncier are useless) is directly related to your property they treat any proceeds from the sale as 'profit' and you are taxed on the whole amount (NOT less the mortgage), I would strongly urge anyone wishing to sell to make sure all the relevant paperwork is in order and appoint a good english speaking notaire/avocat.






Submitted by lpanes on

A group of us had a meeting in the early days that was held in Midlands

area to agree a strategy to get the snagging done and we used the

services of an English lady who lives in Samoens to translate the letter

and send to LP Promotion on behalf of the group.

I believe that a provisional date for a meeting, time and location in the

UK is agreed at the end of October so we can share the outcome of the

25 th October and have an agreed strategy for our meeting in Paris.

I believe we need representation at the meeting who is bilingual and is

from a legal background,my proposal is to seek the services of a lawyer

to attend the meeting and report back at an agreed fee for this meeting

attendance only - happy for this to be the lawyer proposed by Jean

Marc but they need to be billingual.

We do not at this stage know if we are effected by the potential rent

reduction or not. Whilst rents may be down there is still a development

that has the option of summer and winter rentals unlike some of the

coastal and inland residences.

I would be happy to arrange a venue in the Midlands on a Saturday or

Sunday so we can all attend.I will request a cost from a bilingual lawyer

for attendance at the meeting only and to issue a report in English who

is based in Paris to keep costs down. I found one that has represented

leaseback owners in this matter previously.

Please PM so I can see how many are interested in this proposal for a

group meeting with a one of cost for attendance at the meeting by a

bilingual lawyer.Probably will be cheaper than us all paying for flights

etc to Paris where we may not understand what is being explained.

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