‘Like living in the Wild West’: The Otero scandal that has hurt thousands

Information technology was marketed to high-income people in northern Europe as the opportunity to come and live the Spanish dream.

To escape the gloomy weather and own a luxury villa on a coast that receives more than 300 days of sunshine a year.

Buyers who dreamed of packing up their lives and moving to the Costa del Sol were lured with glittering promotions and clever computer-generated images of ultra-modern glass houses perched on hillsides above the sea.

Founded in 2017 with just a dozen employees, the rapid expansion of Grupo Otero, the company responsible for making these dreams come true, understandably surprised.

Starting with the Costa del Sol, by 2022 they claimed to open developments throughout Spain, including the Balearic Islands, Madrid and Alicante, with 500 million euros under management and more than 130 employees, in addition to a whole constellation of suppliers and contractors.

Its owner, Rubén Otero, coined the motto ‘Focus on Excellence’ and described this breakneck growth as ‘significant’ and ‘sustainable’. He also listed his company’s values ​​as ‘transparent, agile and results-oriented’.

The problem is that recent results can only be described as poor at best, as the company suspended all development and appeared to be headed for bankruptcy.

An employee at its Marbella head office told Olive Press this week that “all projects had been suspended 10 days ago.”

Neither she nor the main sales agent in the Manilva area could explain what had happened or when construction would start again. In the words of agent Mario, ‘everything is in limbo’.

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Taking Manilva as a snapshot of the developments that Otero has been working on in recent years, things are not looking rosy.

Dozens of units overlooking lively Puerto de la Duquesa were planned in a giant valley scheme dubbed ‘the Valley of the Duchess’ by one marketing wizard in 2021. Next came La Paloma, then Don Amaro and finally Oceanic, with its 24 impressive individual houses, each costing between 1.3 and 1.8 million euros.

In early 2022, Otero announced that some of the houses were finished and ready to move into.

But as eager British, Belgian and Scandinavian buyers began to move in, the first signs that all might not be well with Otero and his business model began to sink in.

“I don’t think there is a unit that doesn’t have problems, whether it’s with basements, electricity or water,” Michel Katic, 57, told Olive Press.

The South African moved into his Don Amaro estate in June after selling his Cape Town courier business and retiring with his wife and daughter in Manilva.

“It looked absolutely stunning and it seemed like a fantastic opportunity,” he said of the state-of-the-art unit. “But since I got here there has been problem after problem.”

Quite simply, the Spanish dream has turned into a nightmare. The list of problems has been endless; from a swimming pool sliding down a slope, to water leaks that cause power cuts and even missing floor-to-ceiling curtains, for which he insists on having paid more than 5,000 euros.

And it gets worse: Katic’s estate is now totally dwarfed by an unfinished shell that was hastily thrown away and totally blocked his view.

“You may find this amusing, but Otero sold us this ocean view villa,” he said laconically. “Now we can barely see the sea.”

Currently, all the repairs come out of pocket, as Otero has continuously ignored him since he paid the last installment on the property.

Are you thinking of moving? “We don’t really have anywhere else to go. We sold everything and moved to Spain permanently. So there is no way out now.”

After the disaster struck last month and Otero stopped paying contractors, in the words of one resident, the developments have become “like living in the Wild West.”

The Englishwoman, who asked not to reveal her name, claimed to be in a group of 30 owners demanding action from Otero and the city council.

Alarmingly, she was so terrified of the unfolding disaster that she was too scared to meet the olive press and begged us to help him.

“We have been robbed, lied to, intimidated, it feels like dealing with the mafia,” he said. “Two of my neighbors are so upset they feel suicidal about it.”

She revealed how for the past fortnight, she and her neighbors have seen a number of shadowy figures hanging around unfinished units and abandoned construction sites.

He added that he had “seen looting, robbery and attempted break-ins” at the nearly completed properties. “There are teenagers, the elderly and random men wandering our gardens; Here we live in fear.”

Incredibly, however, he claimed that the owners have been the subject of a notable lawsuit from Otero’s representatives, insisting that they pay a further €120,000 retroactively to “pay for an increase in the cost of building materials”.

“And they have threatened to cut off our water supply if the residents, who already have their keys, refuse to pay,” he added.

But on top of that, he claims that Otero has not been paying his own water bills, but was instead illegally taken from the communal water.

Other residents arrived in Spain last year to find they couldn’t move into their supposedly finished villas and were forced to rent apartments in the meantime.

A couple from Belgium, Danny and Sandra, have a house full of flaws, from dents and scratches on appliances and walls, to shoddy workmanship and even structural issues.

They had been told their villa was ready in February, but when the couple arrived from Antwerp, the house was nowhere near ready. They had to spend three weeks in a rented apartment at a cost of €2,000. “They lied all the time and that’s a big problem,” Danny said.

After signing for the property and getting the keys, Otero kept adding new costs to the final bill.

After adding €23,000 for a kitchen, €35,000 ‘because of the Coronavirus’ and then €7,000 for the infinity pool, they even had the upper hand to demand €500 just to install a socket where the TV was supposed to go.

It all meant that the total price of his villa skyrocketed by €110,000 above the originally agreed price of €640,000.

And just last week, after the accident on January 25, they received another letter from Otero demanding an additional €84,000, ‘for increases in the cost of construction materials’.

If they refused to pay, Otero could withhold their first occupancy license which they needed to legally occupy the house.

“I hate them!” Sandra admitted on the verge of tears, while she recounted the ordeal that had happened at the hands of Otero.

“I was sick from stress, just like many other people.”

Danny believes the company’s downfall was caused by selling property for too low a price and then trying to make up for it by cutting materials and labor.

Many of the other buyers facing the biggest losses were too afraid to talk to Olive Press, or were advised against by their lawyers.

One British buyer who remains more optimistic is Chris Morris, 35, a builder, who placed a bet of €700,000 in February 2022 on his Otero-built property in Valle Romano, in Estepona.

He insisted that because he owns the land, he also owns the house, which is now 75% complete.

“Well, it was 75% until the contractors got the doors back, the air conditioning, the windows, etc.,” he said. “But I don’t blame them, I would have done the same in their place.”

He added: “We are in discussions with the company now to try to put windows and doors back on to keep the unit safe.”

He added that Otero will be in breach of contract if he does not finish his property by May.

“Some people said that Rubén Otero had fled to Venezuela with all our money, but my architect, who has been very helpful, said that he saw him in a restaurant in Marbella on Saturday night.”

An experienced builder in the UK, his advice to other buyers is simple; ‘Do not panic’.

“No one has lost their money yet. Until it’s final, don’t dwell on it. Just stay positive.”

The Olive Press had not received any comment from Otero despite regular requests from his Malaga-based lawyer David Sánchez.