Another estate agency has closed. Lifer Inmobiliaria has suddenly closed its ten offices in the province of Las Palmas, trapping hundreds of clients who had already begun the process of buying a property and who had paid a deposit to the firm within the last year or so. Several of these clients have denounced Lifer for alleged fraud.
Estate Agency sources say that the administrators (directors) of Lifer "have disappeared off the face of the earth", and that in some cases, the same property had been sold to two different buyers. Even the company's website has stopped working and phones are unanswered.
The Canarian Business Association of Estate Agents has condemned real estate malpractice and says it regrets the situation in which clients and workers of the business find themselves. It appears that Lifer staff have gone three months without being paid. The Association said it was confident that this alleged fraud was an isolated example of malpractice, and reiterated its condemnation of any illegal practices or those which don't treat the interest of clients as first priority. It noted that Lifer had never been a member of the Association.
La Provincia
Canarias7