He gave 7,500 euros of signal to buy an apartment at a real estate agency in Maximinos, owned by businesswoman Daniela Cerqueira da Costa. But, the space had already been sold. And the company does not return the money to you. And “Daniela Costa – Mediação Imobiliária, Unipessoal, Lda” has already been convicted in court for the crime of abuse of trust, for keeping the value of the signal in advance by Brazilian customers who wanted to buy an apartment. The firm not only continues to operate, but has other complaints, under investigation at the local PSP.
TO MINHO, the victim, a woman named Maria, an Angolan immigrant, said that she gave the deposit three months ago to the real estate company, and that, when the bank granted her the loan for the purchase of the fraction, she was told she had already been sold: “they offered me another one, of much lower quality, but I didn’t accept it”, he said. Since then he has been demanding the return of the sign: “they say they will contact my lawyer, but nothing”, he laments.
The victim says that the money is the result of savings made over 15 years of work and brought together with the help of bosses: “My seven-year-old son asks me about the new house, and I’m crying”, he said
MINHO contacted the company, having one of the employees, Paulo Ribeiro – whom Maria says presented herself as solicitor – said, on behalf of the owner, that the matter will be resolved among the lawyers ”. The firm apologizes for the fact that the apartment was sold by the owner and says it had costs with the process. But the victim claims that so far no real estate lawyer has contacted her or her legal representative.
TWO DAMAGES
As far as we know, Daniela Costa, 54, from São Vítor, Braga, a real estate entrepreneur, was sentenced in September 2019 – sentence that she appealed to the Guimarães Relationship – for committing a crime of abuse of trust aggravated in penalty of 320 days of fine at the daily rate of seven euros, for a total of 2,240 euros. It was also obliged to refund the deposit of 5,500 euros (with interest) to customers Oswaldo Correia Costa and Márcia Correia Toledo, and also to give them 400 euros, each, for non-property damage.
The sentence of the Braga Criminal Court says that the defendant, managing partner of the company “Daniela Costa – Mediação Imobiliária, Unipessoal, Lda”, received, in 2016, the signal from that Brazilian couple,
Having been asked that the acquisition fit into the program of gold visas, so it would have to be fast. To this end, they selected a property on Rua Professor Machado Vilela, owned by Caixa Geral de Depósitos, delivered a check for 2,500 euros and signed a promissory contract, in which it was stated that the mediator would return the check if the deal was not made.
Then, Daniela Costa asked for another 5,500 euros, as a “reserve”. Neither the check nor the amount of the reservation was returned or delivered to CGD. The check was not, however, cashed. In September, the couple announced that they were giving up on the deal, but the defendant, on the 22nd, informed them – says the sentence – “that the deed was scheduled for the 30th, which she knew was not true”.
Prohibited from exercising
MINHO heard, on the subject, another mediator and a bank employee: the first one says that the courts should prohibit the manager from exercising the activity, since the people and the good name of the profession are at stake. The bank employee says that the banks know her well: “there are those who are cheated and choose not to press charges”, he stressed.
In addition to the conviction for abuse of trust, Daniela Costa had already been sentenced in Braga, at the Local Criminal Court, in May 2016, for a crime of abuse of fiscal trust. He paid 700 euros in fine.
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