Most buyers arrive at my office with the same story told in slightly different versions. The delivery date was three years ago. Construction has stalled. Emails go unanswered. The project's marketing site still advertises units for sale. The salesperson who took the deposit is no longer with the company. Each missed milestone came with an explanation, a pandemic, a permit, a supplier, that sounded reasonable at the time. Now the explanations have run out, and nobody wants to say what comes next.
What comes next, in Dominican law, is a choice between three paths. Each has a timeline, a cost, and a likely outcome. The right path depends on what you still want out of the deal and how much the developer is still in a position to give.
This piece is written for the buyer who is in that position today.
First, Confirm Where You Actually Are
Before choosing a remedy, verify three things. Each one changes the path.
1. What does your contract call for?
Pull out the promesa de compraventa and read the clauses on delivery, delay, force majeure, and rescission. If the contract has a liquidated-damages clause for delay and a hard ceiling after which you can cancel, the analysis is straightforward. If the contract has none of that, you fall back on the Civil Code defaults, which are less buyer-friendly but still usable.
2. What is the state of the project?
Is construction 80% complete and paused, or was the foundation never poured? Is the developer an active operating company, or has it ceased activity? Is the land under the project in the developer's name, or in a special-purpose vehicle that may be asset-light?
3. What is the state of the developer?
Check the Chamber of Commerce registry to confirm the company is active and in good standing. Check for pending court cases against it. Check whether it has filed for commercial restructuring under Law 141-15. Each of those signals changes which remedies are worth pursuing.
Once you know those three things, you can choose.
Path 1: Demand Specific Performance (Force the Delivery)
Dominican law, under Civil Code Articles 1134 and 1184, gives the non-breaching party the right to demand performance of the contract. If the developer can still deliver, you can sue to compel them to finish and transfer title on the agreed terms.
This is the path to choose when:
- The project is nearly complete
- The developer is solvent and active
- You still want the property more than the money
- Construction delays are the main problem, not structural defects
The mechanics: send a formal default notice (an intimación) through an alguacil, giving the developer a reasonable period to comply. If they do not, file suit in the civil chamber of the court of first instance demanding performance plus damages for the delay.
Specific performance cases are usually slower than rescission cases because the court, if it grants the claim, has to supervise or confirm the actual delivery. Expect 18 to 36 months from filing to a final order, with the risk that the developer's situation deteriorates during the litigation.
Path 2: Rescind the Contract and Recover What You Paid
The more common path. Under Civil Code Article 1184, a party to a bilateral contract can sue for resolución (rescission) when the other side fails to perform. The effect is to unwind the contract: the buyer returns whatever was delivered, the developer returns the deposit and installments, and the court can award damages on top.
This is the path to choose when:
- You have lost confidence in the project
- The developer is still solvent enough to refund
- Construction delays exceed any reasonable grace period
- Completion would require you to tolerate further delay risk
The mechanics: a formal default notice, followed by a suit for rescission in the civil chamber. The legal basis is Article 1184 plus, if the contract contains a specific rescission clause, enforcement of that clause under Article 1134.
Timeline: 12 to 24 months from filing to a final judgment for a contested case. Shorter if the developer settles, which happens more often than buyers expect once the suit is properly filed.
The key question in a rescission case is not whether the developer breached (that is usually easy to prove with missed dates and unanswered notices). The question is whether the developer still has assets to satisfy the judgment. Which is why the next step matters.
Path 3: Rescind and Address Collection Risk
If the developer is clearly in trouble, or the project has been used to channel money to affiliated entities, a buyer who simply waits for a judgment may win the lawsuit and collect nothing. This is the most important risk to assess before choosing a path.
Before filing, your attorney should investigate the developer's asset position: company registry status, title records for the development land, Chamber of Commerce filings, and any public judicial records showing other creditors. The enforcement analysis informs the litigation strategy — a different approach is warranted depending on whether the developer is solvent or has dissipated assets into related entities.
An experienced litigator will address enforcement from the start of the case, not as an afterthought. By the time a buyer has won a final judgment, unprotected assets have often moved.
Complicating Factor: The Developer Has Filed for Restructuring
If the developer has filed under Law 141-15 (the 2015 Commercial Restructuring Law), you enter a different procedural regime. Ordinary civil suits against the developer are stayed. Creditors file claims with the conciliador appointed by the court. A restructuring plan is negotiated among creditors, and payment terms are decided in that forum.
For most buyers, this is bad news but not the end. Buyers of units have a specific status: if the property has been delivered, you can usually push for the title transfer as part of the plan. If the property has not been delivered, you become an ordinary unsecured creditor in the queue.
The timeline for a commercial restructuring case is 18 to 48 months. Outcomes vary from full payment to partial recovery to nothing.
Complicating Factor: The Promesa Was Structured Poorly
Sometimes the legal analysis is cleaner than the contractual analysis. I have seen promesas where:
- The deposit was paid to a personal account instead of the corporate account, making it harder to tie the money to the developer
- The delivery date is "approximate" or tied to discretionary conditions
- The seller is a shell entity with no assets
- The property is not identified by a cadastral designation, making rescission concrete but enforcement vague
Each of those problems makes the case harder, not unwinnable. It means more discovery, more investigation of the corporate structure, and more precision in the pleading.
What the First 30 Days Look Like If You Engage Counsel
If you come to me today with a developer default, the first thirty days typically run like this:
Week 1 Review the promesa and all amendments. Pull the Certificate of Title for the property. Pull the Chamber of Commerce record for the developer. Identify all affiliated entities. Assess the developer's asset position to inform enforcement strategy.
Week 2 Draft and serve the intimación formally putting the developer in default. Open contemporaneous documentation of damages (lost rental income, alternative housing, interest on mortgaged funds).
Week 3 Attempt a negotiated resolution based on a realistic read of what the developer can actually offer. A significant share of developer-default cases settle at this stage because the developer's counsel sees the filing coming and wants to avoid it.
Week 4 If no settlement, file the demanda en resolución (rescission complaint) together with any requested provisional measures. Announce the filing to the developer through a process server.
After that, the case proceeds on the court's calendar, with pretrial conferences and discovery typically running 6 to 12 months before a substantive hearing.
How Much Recovery Looks Like in Practice
There is no universal answer. What I can offer is a rough taxonomy based on cases I have handled or watched closely:
| Developer status at judgment | Typical outcome |
|---|---|
| Active, solvent, project nearly complete | Delivery forced, or full refund plus partial damages |
| Active, solvent, project stalled | Full refund with damages, over 12 to 24 months |
| Active, solvent, project abandoned | Full refund, possibly without damages, 18 to 30 months |
| Solvent, but assets moved to affiliates | Recovery requires piercing affiliated entities, longer timeline |
| Restructuring under Law 141-15 | Pro-rata recovery, usually partial, 2 to 4 years |
| Insolvent, no assets | Judgment obtained, recovery minimal |
The decision to pursue the case depends on which row you are in. A realistic assessment before filing is worth more than a hopeful one.
Document the Case Now, Not Later
Whatever path you end up choosing, the evidence that will matter is evidence the buyer controls. Start building it immediately:
- Save every email, message, and notice with the developer, in full thread form
- Photograph the project site periodically (with date metadata)
- Request in writing, and document the non-response of, updates on delivery
- Keep copies of all payment wires, bank confirmations, and receipts
- Preserve any advertising or marketing materials that were used to pitch the project
Dominican courts take documented sequences of communication seriously. The buyer with a clean, dated record is the buyer with the stronger position.
FAQ
Can I get my deposit back just by asking? Sometimes, if the developer wants to avoid litigation. A formal demand letter from a lawyer dramatically increases the chance. A quiet request from the buyer, after years of delays, rarely works.
Do I need to travel to the Dominican Republic for the lawsuit? Usually not. I can represent a foreign client through a notarized power of attorney and handle hearings on your behalf. You may need to appear for a specific hearing or for a deposition, but much of the case runs without your physical presence.
How much will this cost? Legal fees vary with complexity. A contingency or hybrid fee is sometimes possible for strong cases.
What if the developer offers me a different unit in a different project? Evaluate carefully. This usually requires signing a new contract that releases the old claim. If the new project is stable and the swap is fair, it can be a clean exit. If the new project has its own risks, you may be trading one problem for another.
Is there a statute of limitations? General contract claims expire after 20 years under Dominican law, but practical considerations (evidence loss, corporate changes, asset dissipation) push buyers to act much sooner. A case filed within the first year of default is much stronger than one filed after four years of waiting.
Can I report the developer criminally? In cases involving fraudulent representations, diversion of deposits, or Ponzi-style structures, criminal complaints under the relevant provisions of the Criminal Code are possible. They run parallel to the civil case and can create additional pressure, though they take longer and have a higher burden of proof.
The Point
A Punta Cana developer who does not deliver is not an unusual situation. It is common enough that Dominican civil procedure has developed specific tools to handle it. The buyers who recover most, fastest, are the ones who stop waiting for the next update, assess the situation clearly, and act within the first months of the formal default.
If you are in that position, send me what you have. I will tell you what I see.
WhatsApp: +1 (829) 259-8645 Email: esanchez@caribbeancounseldr.com