26.11.09

Mihai Cuc, a partner with E&C Law Firm, has been interviewed by Gardianul newspaper in an article related to debt collections initiated by local banks.

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16.11.09

Mihai Cuc, one of our Law Firm's partners, has been interviewed by Daily Business regarding the increasing number of real estate litigations.

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09.11.2009

An important number of Romanian Real Estate developers which have not fulfilled their contractual obligations related to the construction of off-plan properties in different cities around the country have been or will be sued by their foreign clients. Reasons vary from the overdue of finalizing the projects to the cancellation of constructions, without the possibility of returning any advance-payments.

The majority of these developers have slowed down or even completely stopped work because of the lack of liquidities, delaying the handover of the apartments to the buyers.

“There are also developers which have not even started the work or which have never obtained the authorization to build, while the sale-purchase contracts have been signed starting with 2007,” says Camelia Enescu, a partner with the same Law Firm. “This situation makes us doubt their good-will. All that was required during Romania’s real estate boom in order to start selling something which didn’t exist was a plot of land and an architectural plan designed to impress.”

In the opinion of the Law Firm, Romanian or foreign buyers have often signed contracts which have disadvantaged them, the developers constructing their strategy upon the fact that apartment prices were rising from one day to another and thus being in the position to put pressure on investors.
“Of course, the majority of those suing these developers have a good chance of obtaining favourable decisions,” believes Mihai Cuc. “The big problem is for these companies to actually have the resources for returning this money. The reality is that the Romanian legislation is extremely permissive with these developers which are really not obliged to offer any guarantee before starting to sell off-plan projects.

 In many European countries, they have to deposit a certain amount covering a part of the project’s value in the bank or there are certain requirements related to their minimum social shares.”

Published in: Adevarul, Gandul, Ziarul Financiar, Saptamana Financiara, Daily Business, Curierul National, Financiarul

28.07.09

In an online survey performed by Enescu & Cuc Law Firm, foreign business people have voted bureaucracy to be the main problem of the country’s business environment. The same survey gives a grade of 3 (out of 10) to the Romanian State for its activity of encouraging foreign investment in Romania and a 2 for the Government’s anti-crisis strategy. Besides bureaucracy, which was raised by almost 99% of the participants of the survey, the business people include fiscal instability and the lack of infrastructure in a top 3 of impediments in their activity in Romania.

Nevertheless, almost half of the participants believe that their Romanian businesses will grow in the next 2 years. This is very encouraging taking into consideration the current economical situation.

Published in: Ziua, Cotidianul, 9 O'clock, Daily Business, Bursa, Wall-Street.ro, National TV.

23.04.09

Enescu & Cuc Law Firm has initiated an online survey targeted at foreign investors and their representatives in Romania in order to discover the problems they encounter in the country’s business environment. The results will be communicated to press institutions as well as to the authorities in an effort to create a better business environment.

Published in: 9 O'clock, ExpatRomania.ro

20.02.09
Enescu & Cuc Law Firm exemplifies how Romanian debtors can avoid reimbursement of funds to foreign creditors because of the current practice in Romanian Courts.  In this particular case we refer to  the 3,000,000 USD trial against the Romanian Real Estate Developer Casarom, started by one of the Law Firm's clients.

Published in: Saptamana Financiara, BizLawyer, Gazeta de Cluj. Ziare.com