Hi everyone,

We are in the process of buying an apartment on the Monte Santo resort in Carvoeiro for our first venture into investing abroad. The rental agreement we're being asked to sign seems very unconditional with nothing in the way of safeguards for us as owners, in that we would sign the apartment over to the developer for nine months of the year for a three year period, but there are no provisions in case anything goes wrong, e.g. the developer doesn't rent out the apartment for the estimated period or rent. Or at some stage say the developer goes bust! We will have signed away our rights to use the apartment for 9 months over the next three years.

Has anyone got any knowledge or experience of renting out property through the developers, or any advice as to what are the usual rental agreements for this kind of transaction in general and/or the Monte Santo resort in particular?

cheers

Mike and Angela

Hi there,
I too am considering buying in Monte Santo. Haven't heard anything about this rental agreement- is it compulsory to sign this? Any information would be great.
Thanks,
Jean

Hi Jean

The rental agreement is not compulsory, it's an agreement between you and the resort management if you want them to rent out your property. If you didn't want the resort to rent out your property, then you don't have to sign any agreement.

Regards

Mike and Angela

Hi Mike and Angela

We have opted for a 1 year agreement. There is more information on the monte santo thread of this forum

Can anybody confirm that the large area of water in front of the reception is a pool and not a lake as shown on the official website.
How many properties are left to sell.
Are there any T0 Studios.
How are the rental going?

Hi Mike / Angela

Just signed up to this web site. We (Simon/Sara & Phil/Lynda) have purchased a T3 and just had through an information pack that arrived this week.

We have also gone for a 3 year deal on the rent side of things. I'm going to read through the details this week and if I'm unsure of anything I might be tempted to involve our Portuguese lawyer. I know your posting was a few months ago. Can I ask if you have resolved your concerns?

I understand from the estate agent we purchased this through that the opening is 1st July

Also can I ask if you have a direct contact at IMOCOM where you have posted questions or concerns as I have found details from them to be limited.

Cheers

Simon


Thanks

Hi Simon/Sara Phil/Lynda,

Firstly the direct contact at IMOCOM is Azy Leite who is the condominium and owners club manager. His phone is 00351218923030 or email azydotleiteatimocomdashgrupodotcom. (You have to do the address like this or this website doesn't let you show it).

We've been out to the site and met Azy, but our concerns are far from resolved. As you will see from the pack you received, there appear to be charges that we were never told about e.g paying for telephone and ADSL lines, connections to sat television etc. The rental/rack rates being advertised are way below what we were led to expect, even though Azy says these are 1st year rates designed to attract people in and establish the site, and they may increase by 20%? next year.
We're told the site will open for rentals 1st July and any rents generated will be shared between the owners according to what's generated by each apartment type. We won't actually become owners until September?(There did still seem to be an awful lot of work to be done B4 1st July).
There is also the little matter of advertisng/web sites, which we're told could be around 20-25% of rentals and which will come off before the rental is divided up 60/40%!

Hope we haven't depressed you too much, let us know how you're progressing.

regards

Mike and Angela

Hi Mike / Angela

Thanks for the response. Rather than reinventing the wheel, can I ask how your concerns on the "extra" costs ref lines etc was left with Azy?

Also on the rent returns, were you offered a guaranteed rent return when you first went to see the property? I know that this was our expectation.

When you say you "..you wont become owners until September" do you mean IMOCOM have July and Augest first refusal under the rental agreement leaving the owner their first chance to use it in September (unless you wanted to pay for the privilage..!!)

Will certainly keep you posted with anything at our end.

Regards

Simon

Hi Simon,
We didn't find out about the "other" charges until we received the info' pack from Imocom. I'm going to email Azy to say we don't require a telephone line nor computer connection, I think most people would use their mobile, or a public phone, and if they want computer connection, a laptop and dongle or blackberry could be used. I'm going to suggest that they set up an internet zone in reception (as most hotels have) and then they could charge people for the use.
I'm more concerned about the advertising costs, as we were led to believe that the 40% share of the rental taken by Imocom would cover this. Azy just says that this is normal practice. Perhaps other owners reading this could comment on this.
We weren't given any "guaranteed" rental returns, but the agent told us "realistically" our share of the rental would be approx 18000e per annum on a T2. Which would well cover mortgage outgoings.
We won't own the apartments until we sign the deeds, likely to be Sept, and Imocom intend to let them out in Jul, Aug, and Sep, to generate income as soon as possible. I'm not sure of the legalities of this (are we then buying pre-owned, certainly pre-used properties?) however the way the rental returns are diminishing, I'm going to need as much, as quickly as possible.

Thanks for this. I have read through the information pack this evening and share similar concerns to that I believe you have raised below. I can feel a visit coming on....!!!