True Stories
Electricity and three wheelers
Another stolen Tuk Tuk.
Renting accommodation is a very good option instead of buying, even so Carl had his share of problemsbefore marrying a Sri Lankan lady and having a house built, as with others Carl bought a Three Wheeler (tuktuk) for his “friend” to use, on condition that the “friend” helped Carl get around before he had his own car, after a while the “friend” became less available for Carls trips so the return of the three wheeler was asked for, needless to say in the inevitable dispute that followed Carl was told that the papers for the three wheeler were not in Carls name, fear of *recrimination and lengthy legal procedure led Carl to concede. There are still problems for Carl now but these are more to do with his wife’s family and land disputes, (on my many visits to police stations and lawyer offices I saw many local people with land deeds so assume the deeds were in dispute somehow) land disputes must take up a lot of police and court time here.
Electricity.
Roger is 65 he met his Sri Lankan wife Ajantha when they both worked in Bournemouth many years ago, Ajantha is older than him and had lived most of her life in the UK. Having a Sri Lankan husband or wife can be beneficial but Ajantha had been in the UK for so long that even when she spoke in Sinhala the locals knew she was no longer “one of them” and consequently she was subjected to paying the higher prices (tourist price) Roger and Ajantha bought a house north of Galle and employed a live in driver / general help who is very good and still with them today, he was able to shop for them and get local prices. Their problem was that the house and associated bills were in an English surname and the Electricity bill was ridiculously high and unaffordable, they battled to get the bills reduced and the meter altered but to no avail, (**the meter showed that they were using an incredible amount of power) the bills kept coming and with each bill the balance owing got larger, both Roger and Ajantha were getting desperate so they decided to sell the house and leave the debt behind with the attitude of “if the Electric company wants its money it can take us to court, that way we might get notice taken of our problem”. Roger and Ajantha have sold the house and are living a nice affordable life in rented accommodation, the new electricity bill is average and in a Sri name (her maiden name) so no problems there and the big bill they left behind has been forgotten about.
If you’re a native of Sri Lanka you can leave your bills for up to 90 days without paying or paying just a little, but you must pay at least one of them just after the 90 days. **electricity goes up in price the more you use, the average user will be paying the low tariff, after so many more unit’s are used the price for all units is increased, and then again for a third time, so beware especially if you have a non Sri Lankan name on the bill,
On the 28th Jan 2010 I paid 1/2 the electricity bill at the house I was sharing, yet paid more than at the bungalow, at the bungalow we regularly used the washing machine, always the electric kettle and often used the A/C for short periods, I have just found out that the reason the bungalow has cheaper electricity is because someone in a fairly high position in the Electric Company was paid a backhander to "fix it", exactly how I do not know
Unfortunately it is events like this that make using a “friends” name seem like a good idea but using the wrong “friend” can have disastrous results,
When Roger and Ajantha left they had to temporarily leave items behind as the rented property was somewhat smaller, the house was put in the care (with the items) of a local man who they believed could be trusted until the new owners took over, in this time many of the items went missing, mostly ladies shoes and clothing. it’s a story that is repeated time after time and will continue no matter how careful we think we are being!
More about Electricity bills that might be repeated in Gordon’s story. Gordon had a guest house comprising of 3 buildings, each had a separate bill but all meters were read on the same day, and as is the custom here the bills were handed to the householder on the same day, Gordon would always pay his bills the very next day, 2 or 3 days later a lorry with a work crew would arrive to cut the power off for non payment, Gordon would have to go through the procedure of proving the bills were paid before the work crew would leave, this happened with every set of bills for many years, eventually Gordon sold his properties to a wealthy Sri Lankan man and 3 days after the meters were next read no work crew showed up, in fact no crew showed up when the bills weren’t paid 30 days later, . One rule for them, and a different rule for us!
I have recently found an agreement re electricity supply, I will add correct information soon.
It is worth mentioning that the system in Sri Lanka is deliberately anti non national, selling alcohol requires a licence, Sri Lankan’s can get the licence but non nationals who have guest houses or businesses such as restaurants find it almost impossible, (of course the licence could be got in a “friends” name, but this is what causes bigger problems) A European who sold beer without a liquor licence had all his beer, wine and spirits confiscated by local police, it then “vanished”. later his business was sold to a Sri Lankan who continued to sell alcohol without a licence, and without any problems.
A bit about Police and lawyers.
*As well as threats a Sri Lankan can make an entry (complaint) at a police station accusing you of anything, if the complaint is serious enough there is a good chance of getting you thrown out of the country, this was done (so I was told) to a German man who was told that he would be reported for “interfering with the little girl in the family” if he did not do as his “friend” wanted. You can imagine his dilemma!, he eventually returned to Germany.
Everyone has the right to make an entry if they feel there has been an injustice, I know from experience that it is very difficult for non nationals to do, first there is (most likely) a language difficulty as not many local police officers have a good knowledge of English (let alone other languages) so you will need a translator, you need to be sure that they say what you want said and not what they think is best said, (though a mix of both may be better) you will also need to get a written translation of the “entry” for your own reference, there is little chance of your complaint being taken seriously especially if the person you complain about is friendly with the local police (in “my story” local police showed up to an incident 1 ½ hours after it was over, locals told me that my “friend” told the police what they would be doing) after all we are the foreigners, its your “friends” country!
I later found out that if it is necessary to make an “entry” then it is better to take a lawyer with you as the police take notice then, the lawyer should be on your side, but his / her services will not be free and selecting the right lawyer can also be a pain, below is a copy of an Email from a friend who was / is helping me with my problem. All I can do is direct you to a good, fair and honest lawyer I have been using in Galle Fort. When I first thought of the idea of buying a property, I was directed to a group of lawyers in Colombo 07 (I have friends who live in ??????? Place and have a large property there). The lawyer I chose happened to have had a great grandfather who was Irish (I am Irish) and when I asked him for the name of a good lawyer in the Galle area he said he couldn't recommend one as they were all "crooked"......however, he thought for a moment and remembered speaking on the phone to a woman lawyer he felt might be reliable and honest. She is, in fact, fantastic......efficient, honest, charges what she charges Sri Lankans. She did so much work for me, I questioned her as to how it worked out so cheap and she made that response...."I charge you what I charge Sri Lankans".
Gordon and a bit more.
Some of us have more problems than others and Gordon had his share. I have mentioned the problem Gordon had with Electricity bills but there were others he told me about (land and 3 wheeler) and I was present when he was attacked by Lalith Lakmal.
The day after my wedding I returned to my house to collect some items that had been left there by my wife’s family, because of the previous days events with the deeds I also wanted to see the deeds, I went there with a male relative of my wife, his friend, a driver, and Gordon in a mini bus, the driver stayed in the vehicle whilst the relative and friend sat indoors, Gordon and myself were outside, we had already loaded the items to take away when Saman arrived with a copy of the deeds. Shortly afterwards Lalith Lakmal (Saman’s father in law) arrived and immediately launched a verbal assault on Gordon, he got very close to Gordon and was shouting and waving his arms about, he started to leave but returned and actually took hold of Gordon and started hitting him and ordering to leave, Saman joined in and was “patting” his back pocket saying he had a gun, at about the same time Saman became aware that there were others around and ordered the two who were in the house to get in the mini bus, Gordon was also manhandled into the mini bus, Gordon was very shook up by this attack especially as at the time it seemed motiveless, I was unable to help Gordon as Saman had told me to stay where I was, reminding me that he was armed, I tried to get on the minibus but was held back, Lalith was telling the driver to go, (he was doing his best to wait for me) and they eventually left under threat of being shot by Saman. I was very frightened by all this and by being “alone” but once the minibus left Saman and his father in law acted as though nothing had really happened, during the commotion Eranga showed up at the bottom of the drive, he seemed delighted by the events, perhaps because I had previously banned him from the property. Saman then assured me that I was safe and no harm would come to me, I asked him if he did have a gun as none of us had seen it, he replied that he had a pistol and again tapped his back pocket. Lalith had left and a while later Saman left, I waited a while and gathered some items of clothing, just before I left Gordon phoned to check if I was OK.
The reason for the attack must have been, “The con trick was going nicely to plan and the family could have had me kicked out of the country at any time for visa violations” Saman had assured me that if I kept my head down and lived a quite life no one would know I was there and I would not need a visa, (my dodgy visa had already expired) I think he was making sure I had absolutely no money left before getting me kicked out, he was opening my bank statements so knew my financial situation, ironic that his ultimate greed could be his downfall, However getting married saved me from being deported as I automatically qualified for a spouses visa. Now I knew about the deeds being made out in Saman’s wife’s name and had a legitimate visa the family must have realised their well made plan was going badly wrong, they had lost their control over me and they knew I would fight back, Lalith had found out that Gordon had played a major part in me getting married and was blaming Gordon because his daughter probably would not get “her new house” easily, though I later visited the house and she was proudly showing friends round.
When Gordon bought his land there were 2 other small areas of land at separate but nearby locations, Gordon had the deeds for the large area of land where he built his properties but had difficulty getting the deeds for the 2 small areas, after quite a time had passed Gordon found out that the deeds for these areas had been put in a different name, sadly as is often the case it was not really worth the expense, trouble and lengthy legal battle to get the land returned to him, had there been houses on the land then it would have been different, There are lawyers involved in land deed changes and they are aware of what is going on, they rely on the difficulties that non nationals will encounter in the legal system. They too seem to believe that all Europeans are so rich they can afford to be robbed, the same person who cheated Gordon out of the 2 small areas of land also took the three wheeler that Gordon had bought, I’m not too sure how the three wheeler was purchased or in whose name as Gordon has returned to Europe. All Gordon’s losses can be put down to trusting the wrong people!
Frank also lost land, his “dream” was to have a nice house and swimming pool, he bought the land but as work progressed he realised he would not be able to afford the pool, when he later visited the property to check on progress the walls surrounding the property were built and he could not help but notice that his garden area was much smaller than it should be, he was told that as he was not having a pool he would not need the extra land, finances then dictated that Frank gave up on his dream and he sold the property and returned to the UK, He later returned to live with his wife in a “family” house with her relatives but so many things went missing that he decided to return to the UK for good.
Paul and Wendy are able to financially weather storms better than many but have had their share of being overcharged in the past, Paul had purchased enough blocks to build a wall around his new property and went to see how the walls were progressing to discover that as well as no walls there were no blocks, however some of the neighbours had nice new walls,
Buying land can be fraught with difficulties, In my case I was happy enough with what I paid for my land, and quite happy to pay for a JCB to clear and level the land, in fact I was amazed that it cost so little seeing as a small fleet of lorries were taking away the surplus soil, later I found out that I should have paid nothing for the work as the soil is actually purchased at X amount per lorry load, Simon bought some land but his Sri Lankan wife is the true owner, she got the land at the right (local) price and needed to only pay stamp duty, the land was on a steep hillside and has been levelled ready for building, there was so much soil removed that Simon almost got his money back .The land each side of Simons land is also for sale the plot on the right being half as big again, ergo it should cost halve as much again but no, a European is buying it and is paying 5 times more per perch of land.
Make sure you know all about your contractors, get official contracts that cover everything, involve a lawyer, it may cost a bit to get started but starting in the correct way can safe a lot of money, hard work, and heartbreak
I'm not the only one to have property stolen
I met Steve and Kath when they were staying at a nearby beach resort, they were interested in the house that I was having built as they had bought an older house near the beach about 20 miles away and were having it restored for use as a holiday home, we kept in touch via E mail when they were in the UK and tried to meet up when they were visiting Sri Lanka, as my problem unfolded I told them what was happening to me, they were quite sure that they were OK as their friend would never cheat them, but needless to say he did cheat and now they too have a house that is in another persons name and their legal battle will be getting underway soon, another problem for them is that they are not resident in Sri Lanka and will have difficulty conducting their case from the UK, However I have been able to give them details of who might be able to help etc, saving them a lot of time and effort, as theirs is another ongoing situation I shall update this as and when I get new information.
It can be difficult to fully understand what is happening with other peoples problems, from talking to Steve some more I have found out that the land he “bought” was government land and had no buildings on it, (as in my case the deeds were wrongly put in another name) for Steve this is a holiday home and not a permanent residence, after buying the land Steve and his wife returned to the UK and on his next visit to Sri Lanka discovered that his “friend” was building a house on the land, there have been legal actions and threats and as of now there appears to be an uneasy truce, though nothing official and signed yet, Steve has finished the building work and the house is now finished to a very good standard, Steve is using the house solely as a holiday home and the friend can not live in it, the friend however is getting paid a monthly income to look after the property, Steve dismantles and stores away many household items during his absence as he knows the items would be used and abused, it seems that this truce is set to continue until such a time that Steve and his wife are unable to use the holiday house then the friend “takes it back” but whether or not things will work out this way is yet to be seen, now that the house is finished the “friend” might want it for himself sooner,
Another person I have recently met has another problem with land that he bought, again I can not fully understand the story as there are language difficulties, however this person owns land that he is unable to sell due to the manner in which it was bought in partnership with a Sri Lankan, the original partner sold his half of the land and the new owner is the only one who can purchase the other half, and he has no money so the land is sitting fallow with house foundations disappearing into the encroaching undergrowth, however in this case it is not a major problem as the value of the land is not significant enough to affect anything,
This story and the one above both show how a Sri Lankan is perfectly happy to wait out a situation for years even if they die waiting they know that eventually a member of their family will get your house or land
There are people I’ve met that have had problems which we have not discussed so I can not relate their story, some people have either reached a closure or put the problem behind them and do not want reminding of what happened, some even fear recrimination should the “offender” find out that his crime is being “exposed” ? or discussed, some of these people end up living behind high walls and interact very little with the local population
Mark is the only person I know who wont admit to having any major problems either past or present (his problem apparently lies in the future). He bought a relatively modern property that needed no significant work and thus avoided the builder pitfall, however he did not want to pay the excessive government tax and bought with the help of a Sri Lankan friend, I am unsure of the full story as Mark will no longer talk about it but I understand that he will suffer a big problem if he wants to sell the property. He is also in the position where he dare not fallout with or have cross words with the “friend”. Mark lives a good life here but is another example of how we become unknowingly trapped.
Edward and his wife Jackie are now retired and have a very nice waterside home, in the UK they were both involved in different aspects of the legal system and this probably stood them in good staid when it came to dealing with people, however no matter how suspicious you are of others or their motives you can still get caught out, in their case they fell foul of poor workmanship and had to have their swimming pool completely rebuilt, the original “builder” did a disappearing trick so there was no chance of getting him to do the job again at his own expense, another contractor had to be found and paid. Edward is still very bitter about this but compared to many it could be said that they got of lightly,
Garth and Wendy also have a waterside home (without a pool) and apart from the usual inflated tourist price that had to be paid for materials and labour they have had very few problems with this house, mainly because of lessons learned in the past! as not too long before this house was completed Garth and Wendy had had another property built that was a show house for how bad things can be, whereas the UK tends to over regulate on everything there are no building regulations as such in Sri Lanka (there maybe regulations for large buildings and the like, but houses can “just be built”) the property was so bad that the couple could not live in it, again the original contractors disappeared and rather than throw good money after bad Garth and Wendy bought the waterside plot their new house is now on. It would have taken a very long time to find the original contractors, if indeed they could be found and impossible to get the house rebuilt by them, civil action would go on for years should it get that far, Being “better off” than many Garth and Wendy were able to shoulder their losses, a very expensive exercise nevertheless. At least they still own the land that the first house was built on.
When I was trying to find a lawyer I could trust I met one who seemed to be good and whilst talking to him he told me of a court case that had just finished where another English couple had been cheated out of their holiday home, the man responsible was a tuk tuk driver that they had met, befriended and trusted, (as previously mentioned the perpetrators of this type of crime is all too often the beach boy, tuk tuk driver or guide that we all meet when on holiday) luckily this couple did get their property returned to them, as this all happened in a different area and jurisdiction I can only hope that I too am lucky
We all have problems
Luke has a beautiful beach side residence, everything was done 100% above board and the correct building permission was obtained for beach side buildings, (needed now because of tsunami fears) Luke is very insistent with his workers and takes no nonsense and this has worked well for him, his wife Elaine is also very firm, perhaps a result of being an employer in the UK, even so both admit that work they had done was charged at a higher “tourist” rate but we all have to accept this, pay up or no work. There were the inevitable problems with poor work and a lot of time was spent chasing the workers to do a proper job, despite their efforts the roof leaked very badly and needed to be redone. There was much minor remedial work required to get the house finished to the standard required. Luke and Elaine do not stay at the house for a full 12 months every year, some time is spent visiting relatives in Europe, they employ a live-in caretaker/helper as well as other staff, most only work when Luke and Elaine are there but the pool is maintained 365 days a year. The staff were left with instructions that the only people who could use the pool were staff and their children, (as there were not that many) of course this was abused and locals were let in for a swim. I believe that this or something similar has recently happened again.
I don’t know if this is true but,,,,,,,,
There is another couple that I have heard of who employed a “watcher” to look after their holiday home, unfortunately he came from a village a few miles away and this was resented by locals who told the couple that a local man should be employed, they were happy with their choice of watcher as he had been honest and good, and said they would keep him in their employ, the house was then burgled apparently when the couple were in residence, all were watching TV when someone entered the back of the house, (someone making a point?) refusing to give in to the locals the couple still employed their choice of watcher. When they were back in the UK the house was fire bombed and destroyed. I do not know how true this is but, knowing what I do now its believable.
Howard and Ruth have a very unique house inland, and also need to employ various staff, they too went away to visit relatives and returned earlier than expected, the house was in a very bad state, there were people all over the house, (4 floors) and all the stock of beer and spirits had been drunk or taken, needless to say the staff were dismissed, it is just another example of how difficult it is to find people that are genuinely trustworthy.
One of the non nationals we know died and my wife and I went to the funeral, we had travelled some distance by bus and were walking part of the way to the cemetery when a three wheel driver stopped and offered a very reasonable rate to take us to the cemetery the location of which only I had been told, about ½ way to our destination I told the driver to turn right, he did so and then stopped and asked directions, though I cant understand Sinhala I knew he was not asking the right questions as the people he asked all pointed in a different direction to where I wanted to go, despite my protests he took me and my wife along another road and kept stopping and asking directions, soon I realised where we were going, he was taking us to the “funeral house” where the lady had died, I was furious by then and kept saying that I wanted the cemetery not the house, (my embarrassed wife translating) eventually we back tracked to where we were when he first stopped and asked directions and just a few 100 yards further was the cemetery, I paid him what he originally asked for and he had the nerve to ask for more money as we had gone further, I walked away but he followed and in order not to create a scene at such a time my wife paid him extra,
the Sri Lankan knows best and even if he’s wrong you will still be expected to pay,
