We are buying a property off plan, on a development of 600 detached and semi detached villas on the Costa Blanca and have a penalty clause of 30 Euros per day written into our contract, for late completion. The property is likely to be completed approximately 1 year late therefore the amount of compensation is considerable. Our lawyers have advised us that the developers are refusing to honour the contract, as there will be too many claims to settle, which would place them in financial difficulties. We have offered to accept extra work instead of money but they are refusing to negotiate. We understand that in some cases they have agreed to compensation and then refused to sign the deeds at the last minute, placing the owners in a take it or leave it situation at the Notary's desk.

We are now applying for a Court Order to make the developer sign the deeds and pay the compensation or allow us to deduct it from our final payment when the property is finally completed. Even then there is no guarantee they will do so. Is this a common occurrence with developers in Spain and what are our chances of a successful outcome to this?