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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.
