Hi Andrew
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you - I was traveling and just got back to Brazil this Saturday so today is my first day back in the office.
Regarding your question;
1) The delivery will result in fines so yes, per your contract with them, the developer has to pay the fines. Currently the completion date is still set for October (the end of this month) and again I can only give you the information I am given and at the moment everyone keeps telling me that this date is still realistic. Although the initial estimate was to deliver the development in April 2011, the contract included leeway of 120 days (four months) which would bring us to August 2011. When you received the information that there was no foreseeable delay, it is possible that we were referring to the August date. I would imagine so if the information was 3 days before you received the new information. Apologies for the misunderstanding there - we speak to a lot of people each day and the message might not have been as clear as it should have been. We have taken steps (see below) to improve and facilitate communication with all our customers to ensure that this sort of mistake does not happen again.
2) You mention that it looks about 2 months from completion. I go past the development on a very regular basis and do not think that it will take another 2 months to complete. As long as things keep progressing as they have been, the end of the month seems reasonable. If there is an additional delay of two extra months, fines will have to be paid to compensate for that additional delay.
3) Investors can only rent out their apartments after they have received the habite-se license from the town hall which is not something that the developer has control over as it is issued by the local town hall. Everything will be done by the developer to make sure that the habite-se license is granted as soon as possible so that owners can rent out or move in themselves. In this case when fines are paid for late delivery, investors actually receive some income significantly sooner than expected so if your sole concern is rental income which the apartment is producing, ironically the more delay the better for you. With a delay and fines you get income before you've even paid the last payment on your purchase (or they are deducted from your final payment). Without delay and fines, you start getting income after you have made all payments and after habite-se has been granted (and in some cases after more money has been spent on furniture). As a developer of course the sooner the delivery, the better as less fines are paid to the owners.
About two months ago IMG created a new department to try and improve communication with customers and since that time has a person in the office full time who is dedicated exclusively to customer relations and after sales assistance. This person speaks four languages (English, Portuguese, German and Spanish) and is always available via email, phone or Skype to provide additional information to investors and answer any questions in a timely fashion. She also takes photos and video of developments/units upon request.
Since the department was created, IMG sends out a weekly newsletter to all investors informing them of the work that was done on their development since the last newsletter (weekly update of what was done on the development). A monthly newsletter is also sent out to all investors giving them information on all developments currently being built, licensed or sold by IMG. The newsletter contains both photos and a written description. For finished developments, only the monthly newsletter is sent with updates.
A communication was sent out a couple of days before you posted this question or the day before (not sure exactly which day it was sent) specifically addressing the issue of the construction and delivery dates of the Capim Macio development. It was sent to everyone who bought on the development so you should have received it.
I am also available both via Skype, email and phone to answer any questions and do my best to answer as soon as I get questions sent to me (although I'm probably not as quick in answering everyone as the customer services representative is which is why the department was created).
We also update our website every week with new photos from each development. Anyone can visit the website and see the progress done per month.
If for any reason you are not receiving the newsletters or do not have our contact details, please let me know here on the forums and I'll confirm how you can reach us and where we are sending your copies of the newsletters and communications.
I hope that helped but as mentioned feel free to contact either myself or the customer services representative with any questions you may have and we'll get you all the information you need at our earliest possible opportunity.
All the best,
John