Compass Properties appears to be run entirely by Americans, displaying bibles on their desks, the company is registered in Barbados. They employ Moroccan staff who I have never found to be other than helpful and honest in the administrative tasks they carry out. The American running Compass certainly told me that the deficit in size was due to the 'developers' who are Moroccan, but they continued to advertise the flats as a greater square meterage than is the case long after they could not have avoided knowing that this was not accurate, and taking the profit.

I guess there are problems in every country. Official bribery is very rare in England, (below the political sphere where planning permission is swapped for amenities that are seen as political advantages like schools). But try to get a non- paying tenant out who is wrecking your property and the council officials will advise them on how to gain many extra unpaying months by going to court, making a token payment etc. And don't forget that every piece of fabric must have a fire certificate attached (if it fall offs,throw away the settee..), you must pay for an energy efficiency certificate when you change tenants,every gas and electrical appliance must be officially checked yearly, deposits against damage must be lodged with an official paid third party and you cannot use it to repay the unpaid rent,you pay tax on your empty flat while searching for a tenant...

Not of course that I would wish to gas or electrocute or evict my tenants ( and have avoided doing so so far) but keeping up to date with the regulations and filling in ever more forms is a disadvantage of renting property in England.

Taking the rough with the smooth, I have got a beautiful flat (by dint of buying two and joining them) in a lovely place for less than half the price of the equivalent in England. I may be naive, but I have liked the Moroccans I have met who have been friendly and kind - strangers have gone out of their way to help me with little things and not for money. It is the foreigners in Morocco, such as an Irish company, that have tried to con me.

Some nationalities are shocked by public drunken and promiscuous behaviour, others don't mind that much but are shocked by by bribery and nepotism, buying abroad is an adventure and a risk, balancing the plus and minusand working out whether the trade off is worth the profit.