Buyers start suing developers over apartment delivery breaches

“In the last few months we have been contacted by dozens of clients intending to sue a number of developers in the country, located in cities such as Bucharest, Brasov, Cluj and Arad,” said Mihai Cuc, a partner at Enescu & Cuc in Bucharest. Most of the developers have slowed down or even halted construction works due to lack of cash. “There are also developers that have not even started the work or never obtained the authorization to build, while sale-purchase contracts were signed as early as 2007,” added Camelia Enescu, a partner at the same law firm. “This situation makes us doubt their goodwill. All that was required during Romania's real estate boom in order to start selling something which didn't exist was a plot of land and an architectural plan designed to impress,” she commented. The law firm believes most of those who sue the developers have high chances of winning, but the issue is whether the developers will have the means to pay back the required sums. “The reality is that Romanian legislation is extremely permissive with these developers, which are really not obliged to offer any guarantee before starting to sell off-plan projects. In many European countries, they have to deposit a sum equal to part of the project's value in the bank or there are requirements related to their minimum social shares,” added Cuc.
Corina Saceanu