A story about IR Group (https://irgroup.pt/) for investors

Dear Reader

With this post, I’d like to share my experience with IR Group ([https://irgroup.pt](https://irgroup.pt/)), a company which I have been in contact with for about 5 years to date, with the aim of helping potential investors considering investing in one of their projects so that they can make an informed decision.

Unfortunately, our business relationship and my experience with IR Group have been rather bad for the last couple of years, they still owe me money which they have been promising to pay back since April 2019. We are at the stage where taking legal actions is necessary as they chose to ignore our emails, calls or any kind of communication whatsoever.

If you are interested in the full story just read on, I hope you find the content useful.

**Where did it all begin?**

Our relationship goes back to 2017 when I met one of their sales agents at a second home expo in The Netherlands. They introduced me to the Sesimbra project and confirmed that up to a certain amount I could finance the purchase with an investment loan to be provided by their partner bank which is (one of) the largest banks in Portugal. No need to mention the name of the bank, they were very helpful and fair throughout the process.

*Important: I was aware of me being the end-responsible entity for financing should the bank reject the loan. However, the saleswoman convinced and reassured us that such a thing is very unlikely to happen as my salary was more than ok.*

I then hired a local lawyer to perform proper background and due diligence checks and since there were no red flags thus I and my partner decided to “go for it”.

**The first stage – the only one that went well**

Still in 2017, the first step in the purchasing process was the reservation contract for which a small amount had to be deposited by us. This was settled in a timely manner, no glitches in the process. The next step was the promissory contract which we paid in time totalling our investment in the project up to approximately 50%. So basically, we had paid 50% of the total value up until this point, the rest was agreed to be covered by their partner bank’s investment loan product. The loan application was scheduled for the end of 2017/early 2018 as the bank said they were never going to approve the loan unless the project was concluded. We did complete the loan request process up until the last step, my financial profile was in order, the bank confirmed that once the project was concluded the application would be final-approved. Surprise-surprise, the Sesimbra project did get delayed (for years btw) and with that my last payment became dependent on the conclusion date of the project itself. After many emails and phone calls we agreed to put everything on hold and wait till Q2 2018 which was the new conclusion date of the project confirmed by IR Group.

**Second stage – things going south**

Early 2018 nothing really happened other than the project getting delayed and the conclusion date being moved at least 2-3x times and then we entered the summer which is when the entire story took an unexpected turn. When I was trying to reach out to my point of contact in June 2018 I was no longer able to get a hold of her. I tried via cellphone, Skype, e-mails but no response. As a last resort, I called the IR Group office and asked them to put me through to the person in question but they said she had disappeared. No, they did not say she had left the company or that she got fired, they literally said she had disappeared and they didn’t know her whereabouts. **This was the first red flag.**

Not long after this phone call I received a call from their Sales Director, she apologised for the situation and they had completely forgotten about me. She confirmed that my contracts and money were ok, and lastly, she pointed out that we needed to move fast toward the final payment as I should’ve paid the full amount already. I told her about the requirements of the bank and we agreed to wait till the end of the year, which was the latest estimated conclusion date of the project.

**Third stage – more delays and complications**

Fast-forward to March 2019, the project was still not concluded and due to a new EU/Portuguese law put in force as per 1st of January 2019 banks were no longer allowed to provide foreigners with an investment loan.

The Sales Director gave me a call and proposed the termination of our contract by mutual agreement including full money payback to me and my partner unless we could transfer the outstanding amount (50%) in a few business days. She said there were other investors waiting in line, we needed to decide quickly.

This was their e-mail in English:

*Dear Mr. XXXX*

*Hope this email finds you well!*

*I write because we need to explain what happens at Sesimbra Project, and your situation about the mortgage that you need to conclude the business, because you said me that you could come in this next month.*

*1. We are finishing the Civil works of the Apartments, Restaurante, Main reception and Pool, until the end of Juin of this year.*

*2. The soft opening of the Hotel will be at July of 2019.*

*But we don´t finishing all the public áreas and at the end of the summer will open again this areas and finishing the civil works in all the changes that they have, it takes 2 or 3 months, after the end of the summer. That means you can’t go to a mortgage before that, it will go to the end of this year to have all the documents required to get a mortgage.*

*Like we talk before, with the change of the Law Bank´s to apply to a mortgage, this kind of investment it’s not financeable by the banks.*

***And so if you don’t have the funds available to go to a Final Deed before May, we are totally available to terminate the contract.***

*I remind you that do more than one year in which we should have celebrated the final deed.*

*Waiting for your contact*

Considering the project had been delayed multiple times(for almost 1.5 years) let alone the disappearing sales agent our trust in IR Group had diminished by this point therefore we decided to go for contract termination which took place in April 2019.

It’s important to reiterate that this proposal was offered by them rather than by me.

**Fourth stage – only promises**

After both parties having signed the contract termination our money was not transferred back within the agreed business days set out in the contract of termination. “Great”!

At first they said they had just missed the deadline but later they said the payment was waiting for another new customer’s deposit. See email below in Portuguese:

*Bom dia Dr XXXX*

*Espero que se encontre bem.*

*Antes de mais lamento a minha demora na resposta, pelo que tive ausente.*

*Relativamente ao pagamento da devolução do sinal, o que está por trás do retorno de seu capital, é que temos seu apartamento reservado e esperamos que o cliente que comprou para realizar a obra e fazer o pagamento correspondente.*

*Assim que esta situação seja resolvida, muito em breve, o pagamento do S/ cliente será enviado imediatamente.*

*Sinto muito sobre esta situação e na verdade não estávamos a prever tal atraso quando assumimos o prazo de 10 dias para o realizar.*

*Mas como sabe essas situações acontecem e na realidade lamentamos que lhe estejamos a dar esta informação.*

*Garantimos que a situação está a ser encaminhada e se não ocorrer até o final desta semana, iremos dar uma data o mais rápido possível para a transferência ocorra.*

*Mais uma vez, em nome da IRGroup pedimos desculpas para o não cumprimento.*

*Desejo uma excelente semana e estarei ao inteiro dispor,*

*Com os melhores cumprimentos,*

*Cordialmente/Best Regards*

Ever since this e-mail, they have only provided “as soon as possible” as the new date for the payment.

**Where are we today**

* It’s 2022 and they still owe us the money
* I have tried to reach out to them several times, called them via phone, sent dozens of e-mails but they stopped responding
* Both parties made mistakes and had difficulties along the way, however, at the end of the day they initiated the contract termination and promised us to pay the money back which they haven’t. **They have been non-compliant for almost 2 years!**
* The last time I could speak to them I made an alternative offer to resolve the situation. I asked if we could move our money over to another project of theirs which I could finance via mortgage instead of investment loan. I got rejected, the reason for rejection was that that other project is run under another legal entity and that moving the money from the Sesimbra project to that one is not possible.
* I lost hope in getting my money back without taking legal actions so that is our next step
* I have decided to use social media platforms to raise awareness of how IRG Group has treated one of their customers which other investors might find useful for their decisions

Feel free to PM me if you’d like to know more about my case or if you’re in a similar situation.