On Tuesday evening, more than 300 buyers of apartments inPlanorama residential complex in Bucharest lashed out at therepresentatives of the developer in one of the rooms of theIntercontinental Hotel, after having waited for well over two yearsto get their homes or receive their money back, which has stretchedtheir patience to the point of snapping.
These people, from various social categories, are but the bestexample of a phenomenon that has expanded over the last few years,where thousands of people in Bucharest, as well as in other partsof the country, have paid several tens of thousands of euros andsigned burdensome contracts based on promises, which in many casesturned out to be nothing but empty words.
The time when the economy was booming and apartment prices weregoing up from month to month made many Romanians spend part oftheir cash in hopes of a new, modern home or of a lucrativeinvestment.
"In 2006, when I signed the contract, we imagined we could trustthe developer and contracts in general," says a disappointed buyerin the Planorama complex, who was supposed to move in the new homein July 2007.
Now, however, when home prices are dwindling, the quality of theapartments in many projects is under par and job security is notwhat it used to be, so that buyers are outraged especially sincesome developers resort to modern blackmail methods.
"Besides Planorama, which is far behind schedule, the rest of theprojects generally suffer delays of four or five months. However, Ican say that more than 50% of the buyers in all projects, investorsincluded, would like their money back, especially because ofprices. Contracts are very well devised, however, by good lawyers,and people signed them, so there is hardly any way out of them,"commented Valentin Ilie, CEO of real estate consultancy firmColdwell Banker.
Besides Planorama, several other tens of people in Bucharest havebeen waiting for more than one year to see a residential complexcompleted in Drumul Taberei, near the ANL (National Housing Agency)district. About 100 apartments were sold in the Blue Tower buildingin Colentina, whose developer filed for insolvency not long ago,work stopped and no one knows how long clients will have to waitfor their homes to be finalised or to get their money back.
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