Help I need to find out the rules on prior owners having bill on the property!!!!

Did you already buy or are you renting this?

You take all the bills, go to all the companies and ask them if the bills are paid up.

If you mean the prior owner will not give you the bills I believe you have another issue. Your lawyer should have insured that all bills were paid prior to property changing hands.

Sunshine73,

Your situation is unclear to me. You say you are staying in the Apt in December and the statement is open for explanation. AnnaC questioned and now PJT questions. Did you purchase the apartment or are you renting the apartment just for the month? The answer will impact as how you should proceed with this matter.

Regards,
PJT

The fact that the previous owner is withholding the bills should be a huge alarm bell! Of course you will be liable.

You CLOSED on a piece of real estate without having clear knowledge of any potential outstanding liabilities/leins against it?

You kidding me?

sunshine73 said:

....I already own I will be receiving the apt on monday but the owner refuses to give me the final bills.
Am I responsible for bill under his name if he doesn't pay?

sunshine

Click to expand...

It is my understanding that UNLESS you gave specific instructions to your lawyer to ensure that ALL outstanding Bills had been paid, got such a statement (in writing) from the previous owner AND/OR your contract with the lawyer stipulated he would ensure there were no outstanding bills to pay, .......... then YES, you are solely responsible for any bills due prior to your taking possession.

Please, PLEASE, PLEASE do not tell us that you also used the lawyer of the seller to expedite this contract because if you DID, outstanding bills that follow might then only be PART of the legal problems you are about to experience!! gre: :surprised aranoid: :ermm: ~ Grahame.

i already own

Click to expand...

that sounds to me you purchased the appartment.
don'tforget to get the ownership certification for your purchased property/appartment before you pay the prior owner or the lawyer including a written and by YOUR lawyer sealed agreement which states that the prior owner is responsible for any open bill prior to the date.
otherwise you would be the person in charge for all that.
he.., there could be a loan on the property aso.
Mike

Bills ( electricity, water) mostly go with the property and not with the person.

Far as I remember, those go with the person.

like Chris said,
debits on the property's name go with the property and roll over tothe next owner.
telephone/internet aso are personal contracts which you have with the provider, they go/stick with the person.
do not overtake a contract for telephone/internet, as the new owner you could get hassled with such, too, just make your new contract with the phone provider,, make your ow new one with the internet provider, do such with the electricity provider aso, and you will be just in charge for your own new contracts.
but still,
did you receive the proof that your property is debit free?, does not belong to somebody else?
i don't want to offense, but if you name yourself the family with "tigeraje" i would assume there's nobody to trust. you are purchasing property, such is usually not some cheap stuff we pay from the 'caja chica'.
good luck
Mike

sunshine73 said:

Hi,
Thank you for your quick response....I already own I will be receiving the apt on monday but the owner refuses to give me the final bills.
Am I responsible for bill under his name if he doesn't pay?

sunshine

Click to expand...

My understanding is that debts follow the RE property, not the ex-owner. So any debts the ex-owner has related to that property (EdeSud, Claro, Management Fees, etc.) are the liability of the current owner. That would be you.

Again, this is my understanding and I am not a lawyer. But if you want to recoup your money you will have to pursue the ex-owner. There is really no other recourse to my knowledge because if services were provided to the property then the providers of those services likely have a legal claim.

sunshine73 said:

... I got the keys he showed the bills paid up to date and the old owner did have a mortgage with Popular which was subsequently paid post agreement. The problem is now that this bitter little man is threatening to arrest me for defamation of caracter and some dominicanos agree..... Are you serious??!!!!! WTF excuse my french. This guy sent me this hateful email I will post in a few..... after all was said and done.

He then went to the apt to see who was there??? weird right?

What is wrong with this guy? Because I am an American can this really be done in the extensively corrupt society dominicans live in??!!!

Mary

Click to expand...

IF you doubted the man's honesty & told others that you thought he was a crook (or worse) & you did not have ONE SHRED of proof to substantiate your comments .............. YES, he can sue you for defamation.

Putting it about that he is a 'bitter little man' isn't going to help matters much either!!

Really it makes no difference if you are American, European, Asian, Latino ............ . ~ Grahame.

sunshine73 said:

I understand that this is very limited forum to explain a 3 month negotiation, bu tlet me try to shed some light. I sent him the initial 10% deposit by wire transfer and while he had the money in his acct (verified by my bank here in the states) He continued to swear he did not receive it and that I should send the money thru western union $14000 dolars !!!! After 2 weeks I received written confirmation of the date, amount and currency received by his bank and thats when he said the bank received it this morning. secondary to that incident he told me he had not paid the apartments mortgage in the last 2 months, and finally after we were in the process of waiting for my mortgage he tried to sell the apartment.

All these events are very much on paper!! I called him a conman.... not a crook. Lastly I told my family to keep an eye out and not to trust him, because we are talking hundred of thousands of dolars.

Now being an American was mentioned because in THIS country you can NOT be arrested for calling someone a crook. Secondly defamation of character only applies when in doing so affects ones ability to produce income or damages ones ability to close a deal or future monies. Not the simple fact of calling someone a crook.

All in all I hope I was able to shed a little light, but I know dominican laws are diferent, and I am not familiar with them.

Thanx anyways

Click to expand...

Interestingly enough, it is not uncommon for virtually all banks in the Dominican Republic to not post a wire transfer into an individual account for many days after receiving it. In some cases this is measured in weeks! So you both might be right in that you sent the money, the bank had it but he did not (yet).

Often the hold up is the research the bank does to ensure the funds are not laundered or for illicit purposes. For this reason, and the oversight by the DGII, most people do not wire funds into the country via a bank.

They do so with Western Union a lot. So...

I personally do not believe calling someone a name, "crook" or otherwise, is cause for a serious legal tussle. He might harass you some but unless you went out and took an ad in a newspaper or did something really out there you'll just have an annoying person on your hands for awhile.

In this country one of the very few things people have is their reputation and they tend to guard it and defend it as if it were their only possession. I always exercise extreme care when communicating with others about what I do or do not feel about someone. No one can sue you for feeling something but they can sue you for abusing their character in a public forum.

The moral of this story; always use a very competent lawyer (such as Guzman or Hache or Fernandez) to handle your RE transactions. You may pay a little more for the fees but just consider this to be cheap insurance so you can sleep at night.

I hope all works out for you in the long run...