DTC has made me believe that I should get in touch with a lawyer immediately. Do you think it might be best to just settle with what compensation the developer is offering?
Concerning the loss of rental income, it makes sense what you say, but I think it would hard to make a case when the project is actually finished.
The court would probably reason like this: "The project is finished, the developer has offered to pay him the rental guarantee, and he wants money he was entitled to in the past and did not receive? He should be happy that project is finished and settle for that, in addition to saving us a lot of time if we do not drag this thing on"
However, if what you say is true, I would have no case at the moment, because the project is not even finished.
Hi!!! I'm not a lawyer to answer you properly.
Correct if I'm wrong, but I believe that both you and DTC are foreigners investing in properties in Brazil.
In local market, no construction company offers rental guarantee. It's not common.
Usually they offer this rental's guarantee to attract international buyers, like your case.
As I mentioned before, you need to check if they established in your contract a percentage for delay in the conclusion of your units. Usually it's around 6% per year (0,5% per month). But it can varies.
If you have good comunication with the construction's company, then send an e-mail to then, asking when they think that the units will be ready and remembering then that according to the contract they are 1,5 years in delay.
Due to that, you can also confirm that according to the contract, you have the right to receive a "x"% fine proportional for the delaying time and you can propose, that it's easier for you to reduce this amount from your last installment of each unit. Usually the construction's company accepts this deal.
Concerning the rental guarantee, maybe the post of DTC was misunderstood, because, as mentioned before, rental guarantee is rarely offered to the local market in Brazil.
What happens a lot (and can be the case of the DTC's post) is the following example:
- I live in a rented apartment and I pay the rent every month. Meanwhile, I'm buying my own apartment and it should be in June of 2013. We are in August and my apartment was not completed yet, so I start a legal case against the company, in order to inform that, since the company broke the contract, besides the fine for the delay, the company should also pay my rent every month in my rented apartment from June till whenever the apartment that I purchased is ready, so I can move in to there.
I believe that the DTC's post explains exactly that situation mentioned above. The judge claimed the company should pay the rent of the apartment of the person till his own apartment is ready.
So, I think that this case only would apply to you, if you live in a rented apartment in your country and you are losing money (paying rent) because your apartment here in Brazil is not ready yet.
Once again, I'm not a lawyer, and maybe you can demand the rental's guarantee in advance, before the aparment is ready. But I never heard about it and I really don't see it happenning, once the company can claim that the building is not finished, so they not even had a chance to start renting apartments to confirm you the income signed in your contract.
If I were you, I'd enter in contact with the construction's company by e-mail or enter in contact with a friend at the city to search the status of the construction, if you don't trust in the company.
But it's up to you to decide!
Best Regards,
Rafael