TLF Anti-Rip Off Fund

[Guz1]

Lemonhead,

I hope you weren't discouraged by my response. As Terry said, don't give up. All suggestions are worthy of consideration.

[Lemonhead]

Not discouraged at all. Many here probably won't believe me when I say that this is one topic where I can really welcome differences of opinion. I for one, am way behind the eight ball with this topic due to never experiencing these scams and only really being familiar with property S.O.P.s relating to the US. Having dual citizenship made the purchase of our property in Turkey easy. Of course it always helps if you have lots and lots of family in the town where you purchase, as I did.

I'm going through some of the old links and trying to get some logical path to express some ideas in the best way mossible. I also don't want to repeat older suggestions.

What I've been kicking around is trying to link potential purchasers to a designated person, company, or chairperson of some type, that can do the legwork of researching any debts owed on the property in question. That could include anything from past utility bills to third party claims to the Tapu. This choud be a service offered to those interested, for a fee of course. Tying payment details up? I haven't been able to reach that point in my research or thinking yet.

Rough outline - envision a travel agent that can offer a myriad of services, but with purchasing property. Some one to do a lot of the background checks and dirty work that can't be done while in the UK.

There's a maze of different ways to lose money and I may unlimately fail in my quest to think of anything feasable, but it's worth a shot. I really would like to do something to help. Presently, it seems that the best I can come up with is ideas or support.

btw - I love a lot of what has been done so far. The contacting of the media and the plan to meet at the Earl whatever it is hall - both first rate.

[Summertime]

Originally Posted by Modgirl

Not to sure if this will sound right, here goes. Why do we pay upfront for the property that we are interested in? does it sound to stupid to say that no one pays for any property ( off plan ) or otherwise as we do when we purchase at home maybe removing the temptation of spending money before the property is built. If builders realise that we don't pay untill all documentation and build are complete and that they will not see a penny of our hard earned cash. When you look at the amount of property not sold and empty should that not tell us that alarm bells should be ringing out and something may be amiss.

Very well Mod Girl, this is how is should be.

[Sarahlou]

Now that this thread has been resurrected. Maybe it would be a very good idea to have an anti rip off fund and may be it is something that can be looked at seriously now. Sharon got a donation from someone to pay her air fare to Turkey, a big enough amount to come out of one individuals pocket. I'm not advocating handing over large amounts of money to anyone but perhaps the cost of a flight so that someone in a similar situation can be on the ground to try and sort out a mess. The end result for Sharon is that was she is coming home with a tapu for a replacement apartment. The value of which is probably 125 times the cost of the ticket. it's not always going to happen like this and there might never be another result like this one. I know there was a lot going on on the ground all week to get this result, a lot of work and a lot of heartache but if the initial donation had not been made then none of this would have been possible. So would you miss £5 or £10 if it could possibly end someone else's nightmare.

[cpc1]

I for one would gladly put a tenner in the pot.

[ceemac]

I don't think giving money on a forum like this is a good idea at all.

If anyone feels the need to financially help another member then they can pm and offer that support.

There's far too many problems created by forum funds - a while back there was a thread where people were coming on and posting the amount they had donated and quite frankly, to me that was in very bad taste.

I would advocate these things be done privately - there are lots of other ways we can support members and we should explore these.


C

[Guz1]

That's very unfair Ceemac. People were asked to pledge an amount and did so. They weren't boasting about how much they could contribute. There have been other funds where contributions were made anonymously.

[ceemac]

Well that's my opinion on the matter. I believe it should be discreet and private.


C

[jaimie]

I think it's a fantastic idea though I wouldn't have a clue how to work it; having said that, there's enough ppl on here with the know how to accomplish it.

As for similar being tried before and failing, that may be so; shouldn't stop us from trying again though! Individually we probably couldn't help ppl too much (unless Bill Gates is secretly a member :-) , collectively the dynamics change, remember united we stand divided we fall - isn't that just the truth!!

[Guz1]

Originally Posted by ceemac

Well that's my opinion on the matter. I believe it should be discreet and private.


C

Nothing wrong with that.

What I find unfair about your suggestion that people were coming on saying what they had donated was that it intimates that people were boasting about their contributions which simply wasn't the case. As one of those referred to, I take exception to your comment. Frankly, since fundraising causes so much division on the forum and generates comments such as yours I will give them a miss in future.