Monday 15 August 2016

How to Recover Lost Deposits on Spanish Property Investments




Roughly 20,000 Irish investors could be able to claim a refund from an unfinished property development following the Spanish Supreme court ruling that banks are liable to repay these missing deposits.

The court chose on December 21, 2015 to uphold an earlier finding that investors who put money in unfinished off-plan developments were entitled to have their money protected through a Spanish bank guarantee. As such it was decided by the judges that it was up to the developers and financial institutions to return the lost investments.

Investors are able to make use of this guarantee even if they didn’t ask for one or the developer didn’t provide one. If they had an agreement in writing that was never finished then they could also be entitled to interest on their reimbursement. Spanish financial institutions attempted to overturn the ruling but failed.

It’s estimated that thousands of people could demand these reimbursements on lost investments so you need to contact Costa Del Sol Property Group today. 

The Supreme Court ruled that banks had a duty of care when the investments were made and that they should have issued guarantees at the time.

The court said that when people put money into an account with a bank they expect the bank to protect the money. The money wasn’t supposed to be accessed unless the developer provided customers with a deed of sale to sign ownership of the property over. Instead banks failed to do both of those things and they failed to ensure people got these.

Buyers in Spain usually pay a deposit of up to 50% of the value of the property. For a buyer to take a case they have to have a legal document that proves the funds were transferred between themselves and the developer. Investments made in the past 15 years are covered by this court ruling and it’s expected that a case could take up to 18 months to end.

If you’re interested in taking on such a case then count on us to provide Spanish legal representation for you. Our Spanish lawyers will accept a splitting arrangement with you where you pay them a percentage of the money you recover rather than paying a fee no matter the outcome of the case on a NO WIN NO FEE basis.