Hello all,

I have been in the process of buying a house in Turkey but have been the victim of a guy who appears to have disappeared witha  lot of our money.  We have a contract with him which was done properly by a Turkish lawyer but now we are told that there is nothing we can do.

My main question is can we take this matter to the Turlish police as we would do in the UK because this is effectively theft / fraud/ embezzlement? Our Turkish lawyer says that the police would be able to do nothing and would not really be interested.

If anyone could offer any general guidance on this I would be very grateful.

Thanks,

Carl

Is it possible that your lawyer working with they guy who stole your money.  I think there would be a lot you can do if you have a legal contract (if indeed it is a legally binding and executed contract).  We have some members here who I think own property there.  Hopefully you can get an answer soon. 

Hi Elizabeth, I don´t want to think that the lawyere is in cahoots with the builder but we are beginning to wonder............ We are coming in April to try and get to the bottom of everything - one way or the other - but I suspect that "opening a can of worms" is our only option! I just want to know where we stand with the police and any other routes so that we can be sure we have purusued all avenues.....Carl

 I don´t know if going to the police will help but it certainly won´t hurt.  My husband and I have a small house in Turkey but my husband is Turkish and we bought from friends.  I have no idea if the laws are different for homeowners who are not Turkish citizens (I will ask him).  Good luck. 

I remember a website, which was set by a british couple. It full of this type of cases.. When I looked at the site, it seemed to me, they were much organized.. I will try to find out..

i think you should report this to the police anyway. this is not about stealing your watch or umbrella. you would report such criminal incident to police in UK and everywhere.

it is strange that your lawyer advises you otherwise. i personally suspect your lawyer.

Thanks for your comments so far everyone.... if anyone else has anything to add then please do!

 dont trust the lawyer (I think lawyer is with the guy who stole your money)

and go to police. they find this person

they can even find via cell phone signals

 did you find the website?

Hi. You might want to write your story to homes@itv.com. They usually investigate these stories and have helped a lot of people.

 I think many of us would appreciate a follow up on the progress of your case.  Others may find themselves in the same situation sometime,  and information you provide may help others.

Hello all......

First of all thanks to everyone for your words of advice.....

Here is the situation so far;

The solicitor in Bodrum (advokat) still does not answer questions and is adamant that we should not go to the police or directly to the district prosecutor. We will go the police despite his reservations. We will also try and contact the district prosecutor directly but have been unable to find any contact details for this office yet. If anyone can point me in the right direction for that I would be grateful.

I have e-mailed the British Honorary Consulate in Bodrum but had no reply. I have e-mailed the Consulate General in Istanbul and again have had no reply. I will try and call these tomorrow to follow those two up.

I have contacted my Member of European Parliament (MEP) and whilst she could not help directly she has given me a valuable contact at the English Law Society and has told me that if I continue to get no response from the consulates in Turkey then she will follow them up for me.

The contact at the English Law Society has given me the website address for an equivalent organisation in Turkey. I have e-mailed them today.

I still have no definitive answers or even suggested courses of action from our advokat.  I still have no communication from the developer.

Plan of action from here:

We will be in Turkey for one week from the 17 April. Whilst there we will go to the police with a full statement explaining the saga (I am in the process of getting a Turkish version done too) and all of the supporting documents I can gather together.

We will see our solicitor.

We will try and find the Muðla district prosecutors office and approach them directly for help.

We will go to the last known address of the developer and see if he really has moved away and if he has we will try and find out his new address.  We have the name of his wife and believe she works in a hotel in Gumbet so we will also be asking anybody and everybody in an attempt to find him.  He, apparently, has been a respected businessman in Bodrum for many years so we will also go to the local equivalent of the chamber of commerce and see if we can find anything more about him there.

The British Consulate website clearly states that they will assist anyone who is a victim of crime abroad as much as they can so we will be pushing for any and all of that assistance.....but so far it is not at all forthcoming.

Reluctantly, we will also have to pay to go and see a different advokat and are in the process of finding one that we can get personal recommendations for in an attempt to get some definitive answers and somebody we can trust.

Again, if anybody has ANY suggestions or advice please share it.........we are at a point of depseration and are willing to try anything to get this matter resolved one way or another.

Kind Regards,

Carl

Just wishing you every success.