Letter from Cela

I have sent you a PM; look forward to hearing from you. Any other Alenya owners out there???

Mutley - your private box is full

Arctic

Dear JuanAzur,

I have not seen a post from Mutley on this forum - how can I connect.

Arctic

You should contact mutley on this forum and ask him how he dealt with his problem

Dear All,

We have just joined the forum. We are leaseback owners at Malibu Village. To date, we have received 2 x 25% payments relating to 2009 Q3 & Q4 rent arrears. We have received rent payment for Q1 2010 - but only , we figure, because one of us pestered CELA offices in person during June 2010. CELA paid by cheque.

Our thoughts on the matter. As many leaseback owners as possible should arrive in Malibu on an agreed date (Sept 2010?) and protest at the CELA offices. From experience, we know that CELA dislikes noisy protest.

Arctic

Please refer to this blog for UK owners contacts re Orelle development (next to last posting) and general background.

Thanks, I'll forward you membership details and the distribution list.

http://www.frenchleaseback.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=117 &PN=1&TPN=2

No have not made contact as yet... all help most welcome

cheers

Hi greenfintry - are you in touch with the rest of the British owners at Orelle yet?? If not, leave another message on this blog and I will give you all the necessary details. FYI, we are presently joining forces with a French syndicat formed to represent our interests in discussions with CELA

This is my first entry here too. We are owners of an apartment in Orelle,

and have had the same problems with payment etc as listed. To date we

are still waiting on the last 2010 quarter payment and have just had an

email back from CELA saying it will be coming soon.......

The French blog seems to be getting more organised again, but not sure

where it is all going..... We had a previous apartment in La Tania and this

was handled by different letting agents, but seems best if it is all done as

a single going concern as otherwise concierging etc gets messy.

A further question we have is use outside of the main season, as we were

informed the the whole site is closed down. This does not seem

reasonable, as it is a leaseback not a time share, and we never had this

problem in La Tania. Given that a number of people have apartments and

are not leasing back, then access should be entitled. We mention this as

we like being in the Alps in the Autumn..........

Thoughts please on all this

I have received no money as yet. We had been promised a payment in May but as at 1/6/2010 nothing...............

Has nayone heard anything from CELA or the French group lately? Anyone received any payments? Also, does anyone receive any paperwork from CELA for the payments they receive? It's difficult to do the tax returns without any formal paperwork. I've tried emailing CELA at the new email address sent out in "the letter" but no-one ever responds. CELA are just the worst. I was never happy when they stepped in to replace Eurogroup, but Eurogroup are in no better financial position I believe

All,

Has anyone received the 25% payment from Cela for Q3 and Q4 if you accepted option 1.

thanks

Hi, I also received the same letter. I feel the only two real options are 1 and 4.

Option 1 however I feel is a little too vague as there can be two interpretations possible which I think is down to French translating into English (I hope anyway). I will be requesting the actual cashflow schedule for 2010 just to make sure or confirm actual amounts to be paid.

Option 4 would be good as we would have control of the apartment and could rent it out as and when we wish. Not however sure of any companies that would provide a rental service complete with laundry and maintenance unless we could agree a separate deal with Cela ? The downside to option 4 apart from the above would also be having to pay the annual service charge which I am not sure how much this is and whether or not this would include gas, electricity water etc. Also, I understand from a fellow owner that this would also impact the VAT that we received back from the French government as I understand that it is conditional that there is a leaseback arrangement in force. The fellow owner I refer to also is not iun the same predicament as us as he has now been paid fully although he like us went 6 months without payment but only recently received the rent. He also has not received one of these letters so it seems they are targeting specific people but not sure of what or how this has been done. This alone is a bit strange to me hence will also be asking this very point.

Finally, Option 4 will also attract (I would recommend) legal advice as this is breaking an existing legal contract hence not sure of any legal issues i.e. changing locks etc and also any rent that has not been paid i.e. the last 6 months do we have any recourse.

That all I know at this stage but will update when I hear back.

Regards

We are owners of an apartment in Alenya - wondered if anyone had a list of other owners in Alenya. We have gone back to Cela stating that we do not find any of the options acceptable and requesting full payment. Their reply was that we had to pick an option. If we break the Lease with Alenya (the hotel and apartments are run by Cela) how would we rent out this apartment. If anyone has any further information we would be grateful.

I have just spent the first part of my working day reading through the rather extensive French Blog. They are all equally shocked at the treatment meated out by CELA and several people are questioning the legality of the action. it would also seem that many of the French owners have been paid up to quarter 3 which is better than their UK couterparts! They have received tha same letter and it also makes no sense in French either - option 1 is totally unclear to all. Various people are contacting CELA with no success. Also it would seem that some actions have been taken at local judicial level by a couple of people but if I understand the situation correctly there is a lot of red tape to go through. One thing stands out though, the French, true to form, want to form a "syndicat" or "groupe de pression" of all the owners asap. They also have the list of other owners as noted by dgusic which gives them (and us) a powerful position if used to full effect. I need to do some work now but will be keeping in touch during the day

Hi Nikki et al,

My French is acceptable! I will try and place a post on their thread 2moro. Whatever happens in the next week or so, I would urge no-one to accept any of the CELA "ultimatum" without careful thought. This is what they want - separated we have no chance of achieving anything but together we are a presausive force!

Cheers,

Dave T

I have just (coincidentally) received letter from Cela offering the same 4 options. Cancelling the lease wouldn't necessarily be problematic for us (we're sick of them and would rather rent it out privately), provided we didn't have to pay back the 20% VAT and we could still have it managed and maintained etc properly. I have asked Cela these questions so will see what they say and report back.
Excellent news that the French owners have their own forum - I am posting a message on theirs to say that we exist and if they can lend a hand that would be great. My French is terrible though - if anyone is more fluent please take over...

Hi

I am also an owner at Sierra Nevada, Malibu, Canet and have just today received the same letter from Cela.I too am very concerned and confused as to what action to take from here.

Is there any way that all the owners can get together to employ a good lawyer to act on our behalf and advise us on the best course of action. Does anyone know of a good reliable lawyer based in the Perpignan area who speaks fluent english?

Does anybody have a list of the other owners? I doubt Cela will provide one to me!

If anybody has any ideas I would love to hear them.

Afternoon,

Further to my earlier post, I have to date still not recevied anything in the shape of a letter from CELA........obviously I have read the other posts and am extremely concerned about what CELA might be up to here. It would seem that only some owners are receiving the whining letter with the offer of lease termination whilst others are getting a different version and even some money!!!! My recent cheque from CELA has been honoured so my rent is up to date except for the last quarter of 2009. I can only conclude that there is something devious afoot..........SO.......To anyone who has received a letter. Don't accept anything other than full payment at the moment. Accpet for example a lease termination and you will probably be in a right pickle.

We need to stick together. If Jo/Ros/Mark B are reading this, we need to get the e:mail list up to date pdq (there are at least 3 other parties to add from what I have seen) and do some serious planning/plotting pretty damn soon.

Increasingly concerned,

Dave T

Hi all
I am another owner at Orelle and am delighted to have finally found some others - safety in numbers... Thanks for posting your correspondence with Cela - I have had a letter from them bleating on about how financially secure they are so clearly they are being very selective about who they offer this to. Please post their reply so I can see what the options are - I'm particularly interested in termination of the lease provided we don't have to repay the VAT, although have the same concerns about the place just falling into disrepair if they're not maintaining it (though that sounds like a risk anyway).
Has anyone investigated selling their property? I guess nobody would touch it with a bargepole at the moment but I just wondered if there's a market out there.
Very, very frustrating. If we get to the point of needing legal advice then I'd be happy to participate.
Thanks
Nikki