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by **Tim Drayton** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 9:48 pm

I hope I am not breaking any rules by recommending a lawyer by name, but when I was buying a flat in Cyprus I was told that Areti Charidemou and Associates in Limassol were good people to use because they really defend property buyers' interests. I took this advice and have no reason to regret it.

by **Walker Family** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:08 pm

Hi Carol

Thank you for your reply: Have not received the pm; would you be kind enough to resend.

Thanks

by **Walker Family** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:26 pm

Hello Michael

Thank you for taking the time to post your message. The lawyer used was recommended by the agent we used to purchase the property and several individuals who have purchased through this agent have used the same lawyer (I think they were recommended by Aristo but cannot be certain). The lawyer apparently had a meeting with Aristo when everyone refused to pay this supplementary agreement and Aristo agreed to reduce the fee and gave a date by which the supplementary agreements had to be paid by; as we strongly feel this is Aristo trying to obtain further money from clients we refused to pay; our financial advisor also informed us this charge was not being made by the bank as they had a trustworthy relationship with Aristo but this was simply Aristo trying to obtain further money. Numerous e-mails were sent to Aristo asking for an explanation as to why we had to pay a supplementary agreement and no explanation was forthcoming; this was ongoing from December to April the following year when we flew out to Cyprus and had a meeting at the offices of Aristo and they agreed to waive the supplementary agreement but by this time we had obviously incurred a large interest bill which we informed them at this meeting we were not prepared to pay as we had incurred interest due to them insisting on a supplementary agreement being paid and we did not understand why we had to pay it. Aristo were aware from the outset we required a loan and at no time did anyone, solicitor or developer, inform us we would be charged for a supplementary agreement.

Thought I would post this rather lengthy reply to make anyone else who is thinking of purchasing from Aristo aware of our situation and not to fall into this trap of Aristo obtaining extra money either from the supplementary agreement or interest: By the way we are not alone in having this problem and other people have either paid the supplementary agreement or incurred a large interest bill and have had to come to an agreement with Aristo over the interest. Hopefully we will be able to take this case further and if successful other individuals will be able to claim their money from Aristo also.

Thanks for your comments Michael; much appreciated.

by **Walker Family** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:13 pm

Pyrpolizer

Further to your message I have answered the majority of your comments in my previous message to Michael.

Regarding your comment you know the Aristo Company and 'they are very honest and clear with their deals', I too was under the impression they were a reputable company but I can assure you Aristo were aware we required a loan for the villa and no mention of an extra fee for a supplementary agreement was made. Our villa is at Secret Valley and we are in contact with several other individuals who have also purchased at Secret Valley and have encountered the same problem as ourselves; you either paid the supplementary agreement to release the loan or incurred an interest bill; either way Aristo are the winners. Our financial advisor also informed us it was not the bank requesting a fee, as they have a good relationship with Aristo, but Aristo simply after more money from clients.

Your message regarding the interest being paid to Aristo or the bank - The interest to Aristo is far greater than the interest to the bank.

Hopefully the above gives you a clearer picture of our situation with Aristo and any further comments are more than welcome.

by **carolh** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:05 am

I have sent another pm with information. Hope it gets to you this time!
Carol

by **Pyrpolizer** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:24 am

Hi Walker family,

Oh so you are at Secret Valley at Ha-Potami. I believe secret valley finished some time ago now they have the Panorama projects on the other side of the hill.
Anyway I am sure with the amount of money Aristo sold all those villas he will not risk his reputation any further. He will just consider it a small discount and have the case closed.

I hope you will enjoy your villa there. Good luck.

by **Michael Coumas** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:26 am

Walker Family
I do hope you manage to sort this out, it is after all meant to be an enjoyable experience for you all & presumably the culmination of all your hard work. Although water under the Bridge now, I would not have advised using a lawyer recommended by the selling agent under any circumstances. I am sure or at least hope he / she is a person of integrity, but to eliminate any conflict of interest an independant lawyer, working for you & your best interests alone is a must.
Any suspicion of a conflict that you cannot resolve between yourselves & the lawyer can always be referred to the Attorney Generals office in Nicosia. I am making the assumption here that you were not advised on the implications of any supplementary agreements, hopefully you were, in which case you must reach an amicable compromise settlement with the developer which is acceptible to you both. I am certain you would not want the stress of uncertainty & they certainly would wish you to be a satisfied customer.
It is obviously very difficult to comment objectively, not being privvy to the case, but I do find the concept of attempting to charge interest on a charge subsequently deemed to be waived a little strange unless of course all charges plus interest are deemed to be collectable but the original charge alone has been waived as an act of good faith or compromise. Either way it needs to be sorted. For my part I would want you as a satisfied customer & unless I could substantiate charges I am seeking to pass on to you I would rather have you as a walking advertisement singing my praises rather than suffer the damage denegrating my business could cause me. I hope you are able to meet with Aristo & resolve your differences then perhaps it can be a lesson learnt. I guess at the end of the day they are there to make money & of course you are there to get the best deal you can for yourself hopefully both sides operating honestly and with a degree of integrity resulting in a win win situation for you both.
I sincerely hope the matter is resolved soon for you.