大象传媒

Sun, sea, sand and a nice little nest egg: that's probably what we all think about when we look into buying a holiday home.

X-Ray viewer Barbara Woodham thought the same, but instead, five years after shelling out more than 拢100,000, she still has nothing to show for it.

Back in 2006 Barbara, together with her husband and son visited the A Place In The Sun exhibition in London. 鈥淲e love travelling, we've travelled all over the world to really obscure places. I just felt that it would be nice to have something that we could nip over to every now and then.鈥�

Punta Perla brochure

The Woodhams were enticed by a brand new resort in the Dominican Republic called the Punta Perla Caribbean Golf, Marina & Spa, and bought a three bedroom apartment off plan. The apartments promised to be 鈥渙ne of the last great investment opportunities in the Caribbean鈥� and 鈥渁 rare opportunity鈥� 鈥� so rare they are still to appear.

Excited by the investment opportunity, Barbara handed over a 拢6,000 pre-reservation deposit to the sales agent. All payments had to be made to a UK based company called Punta Perla Caribbean Limited. A couple of weeks later she received the contract through the post which she signed and returned along with the remainder of the deposit, a further 拢105,000.

Barbara told us that she didn鈥檛 get anyone to check over the contract for her. She said she regrets this now but even though it was a lot of money, she believed that it was a bona fide investment as it was being sold at the A Place In The Sun exhibition and the contract featured signatures from solicitors based in the Dominican Republic.

Punta Perla documentation

According to Barbara鈥檚 contract, her holiday home should have been ready by November 2008. However, there is still no sign of the development being started, let alone finished.

In a newsletter sent to their customers, the company behind the development, Punta Perla S.A., said the delays are down to problems they鈥檝e encountered in getting permits to start construction. The company are calling this 鈥榝orce majeur鈥� - a legal term used to describe things that are beyond your control.

We asked Cardiff-based property lawyer Emyr Pierce if he thought that a lack of permits could be classed like this. He told us that, in his opinion, the lack of permits does not amount to 鈥榝orce majeur鈥�: 鈥淭here's an argument that the failure to deliver amounts to breach of contract, the developer is unable to deliver what they promised. The contract is based on Dominican Republic law - very few of us are familiar with that but we would need to rely on the expertise of a Dominican Republic lawyer.鈥�

We asked Punta Perla S.A. what they have to say about Barbara鈥檚 situation. They told us that the delays are down to getting permits and also the global financial crisis. They have however recently signed a contract with a large Chinese construction company to help with the first phase of the development. They also say they will pay investors some compensation for the delay and are offering a 鈥榖uyback鈥� program. They expect completion to now be between January and June 2013.

But Barbara isn't convinced: 鈥淢y gut feeling then, my tummy feeling says it's not going to be done. And I think that's worse because then I know that the 拢111,000 is gone. I just think that whoever decided to do this development hasn't thought of people's feelings you know, and just taken the money.鈥�

We spoke to A Place In The Sun who told us that they don鈥檛 vet exhibitors at their shows, although they do take their responsibilities very seriously and stress that buyers exercise caution, engage an independent lawyer from the outset and take their overseas purchase just as seriously as they would a similar purchase in the UK.

If you are considering buying a holiday home abroad then the Association of International Property Professionals has some useful consumer advice on the dos and don鈥檛s of property buying. For more information see: .