Norvet Property Development
Reviews and Complaints

On October 16, 2017 I sent my first reservation deposit over to Norvet Property Developers for property located at 477 Arago and started shopping for a mortgage, etc. On November 6th, I sent over the first 10% of the deposit on the flat and signed a contract for the purchase. The unit was set to be finished by October 31, 2018 - which fit into my planning well - it gave me just under a year to figure out my next move, which was leaning more in the direction of a permanent move.

However, shortly after signing the contract and pledging the next 20% (in May of 2018), I became aware that this building had not begun construction yet - and would not begin construction in any time in the near future… or ever.

See below for references as to what was occurring:
http://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/premsa/2017/11/28/lajuntament-detecta-irregularitats-i-ordenara-aturar-les-obres-dun-edifici-de-leixample-per-protegir-els-drets-dels-llogaters/

https://pahbarcelona.org/es/tag/arago-477/#pll_switcher

https://habitatge.barcelona/en/noticia/aturades-dues-obres-de-rehabilitacio-de-finques-a-fons-inversors_610220

https://www.barcelona.cat/infobarcelona/ca/aturades-les-obres-dun-edifici-per-protegir-els-drets-dels-llogaters_583993.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afBndHSZCHM

https://www.elperiodico.com/es/barcelona/20171128/barcelona-frena-por-irregularidades-las-obras-de-un-edificio-comprado-por-norvet-6456259

What I would soon learn - was that Norvet had illegally evicted a number of tenants from their building, and was causing an uproar in Barcelona. I was moving to Barcelona to escape capitalist antics in things like housing, I hardly wanted to be living in a building that was stigmatized in the neighborhood and had been wrongfully evicting tenants so that foreigners could come in and buy overpriced semi-luxury apartments.

When I approached Norvet about what was happening, they sugar-coated the story, and spoke as though they had just learned about what was happening… the IT being that 4 or 5 tenants with the group PAH Barcelona (who I am a supporter of) had been squatting in the building. They had not just learned about it, this had been happening since July of 2017, and had most definitely been happening when I signed my purchase contract. For the record, squatting is legal to do in a vacant building, and Norvet had no right to remove the squatters from the building, nor could they begin construction with occupants still living inside. (To this day, this apartment building is sitting unoccupied and unfinished at 477 Arago, a victory of the people no doubt).

Norvet offered me a solution - one that my attorney's told me I had really no choice but to take. I had signed a contract to purchase a flat - and until the delivery date came and went, I was not actually entitled to get my money back - because they had a certain amount of time to try to rectify things. At this point, Norvet was still trying to convince me that the building would only suffer a 6 month delay - but that was clearly a lie, and one that I am sure they knew was a lie at the time they said it.

Norvet then offered me a flat at 63-67 Rabassa. It would be 70K more expensive (a really good price they told me, while truthfully it was about 40K over the market value) but it was in an old factory, so there were no disgruntled neighbors, no wrongfully evicted tenants, and it was allegedly on track for completion around the same time - October of 2018. My lawyers told me I should take this offer, and it didn't seem like I had another choice, so I moved forward on purchasing the new flat in Gracia.

In August of 2018, I had moved to Barcelona (with the intention of staying permanently) and had rented a flat for a few months until the Gracia apartment would be finished. I arranged my first site visit and was taken to see construction on the building. I was shocked at how small the flat appeared. I had a contract for a unit that was 46 m2 - which is 495 square feet. As a New Yorker, that size seemed reasonable - and was about the same as what I had in Brooklyn. This was markedly smaller - and I arranged a second visit later to measure the flat. I measured it to be approximately 35 m2.

At this point I called my lawyers and demanded that we measure this with an architect who was legally able to submit such a report. I was only 2 m2 off - it was 37 m2. This was 9 m2 less than my contract, and in the city of Barcelona, illegal for habitation.

It was now December of 2018 - and the new completion date of the flat was December 31, 2018. We notified Norvet that we would not be closing on the contract and were seeking our money back based on the size of the flat. Nothing.

In February we went to measure the flat again. It seemed that Norvet had modified some of the walls to try to increase the area of the apartment slightly, and they had gotten it close to 40 m2, but the salon / kitchen area was still 17 m2 (also not legal). We soon notified the city of Barcelona who came to measure the flats and revoked their certificate of habitability.

They called us to close on the apartment for March 31, but at that point the apartment was not legal and we did not close, with no further word from Norvet.

Now, the apartment is still illegal - and they are refusing to grant us access to visit the flat to see what work may or may not have been carried out since then. They are also refusing to return my money.
Furthermore, there are 4 other flats on the ground floor of this building that are illegal. Whether the owners are aware or not is a great mystery, I'm certain they are not.

These postings and newspaper articles will not stop or go away until I have my money back in full.

--
Petra Ahmann
Producer

I am writing as a buyer who was interested in buying property in Barcelona, Spain. This company is owned by Israelis whose entire business plan is based off of deceiving customers who are not locals, (i.e. Americans, British, etc. etc). They sold me an apartment that was being occupied by protesters, while they KNEW it was being occupied and its work permits were in the process of being revoked by the city. When I found out about it, they strong-armed me into taking an apartment in another building that was more expensive. The apartment was small - and way over priced to begin with, but I had already paid a deposit and had no way out of the contract until it expired on the other flat, which would be more than a year away.
Since then, they were supposed to deliver the new flat in December of 2018 (they said it would be ready in October of 2018, to begin with), neither have happened. There is no set date for completion at this point. Furthermore, the apartment was 10 m2 smaller than what was specified in the contract - which put it at a whopping 37 m2. In Barcelona, this is not a legal apartment, and the city came and measured and indeed deemed 5 apartments in the building illegal. The fact that they are charging more than market rates for an apartment that is so small it should be deemed illegal is ridiculous. They are a company I would never work with again, and will be spreading word of this as far as is physically possible. Please contact me if you'd like to start a class action suit against them.

I am writing this post very sorry norvet can be a very good company but
Norvet company give wrong delivery date and mislead customers.
Contract delivery date is not correct, without releasing tenants norvet giving delivery date. Add the nine months to the contract delivery date norvet give us delivery date 30 june but norvet says delay date march 2018. I recommend you to new custumers you pay only %10 first, after make the remaining payment at apartment delivery date. Dont pay half the price of the apartment. You are in trouble like us. I wrote this post just to inform them that they will take apartment from norvet. I hope this criticism for norvet cause good results.