Sotogrande to Receive €50 million Boost to Infrastructure and Leisure

Sotogrande to Receive €50 million Boost to Infrastructure and Leisure

Sotogrande continues to grow with more infrastructure

The luxurious Spanish resort of Sotogrande will soon be provided with a €50 million investment as the owners of the estate – private equity funds Orion and Cerberus – aim to improve upon the reputation the resort has for being a high-class and laid-back place to live and work.

The Financial Times say that Cerberus and Orion will use the money to develop new offices, properties, and sports facilities as the popularity and interest in Sotogrande continues to rise.

Reports from estate agents in the area show that property prices are around 30% less than they were in the peak of 2007, and that home sales increased 23% year-on-year in the fourth and final quarter of 2016.

There is already a new development under construction, known as La Reserva. It will feature over 200 new villas to the outskirts of Sotogrande, seven of which have one hectare of private land.

Sotogrande is for people who want to avoid publicity. It is designed to be discreet. It’s the kind of place where VIPs can leave their bodyguards at home and feel truly free. Families go to the resort because they enjoy the open space and safety on offer.

Sotogrande certainly enjoys a slower pace of life compared to Marbella – which is just a 40-minute drive away. In recent years the resort has begun to rival Marbella in terms of stylish boutiques, luxury property, and world-class restaurants.

The resort has become famous for the harbour, golf course, and polo grounds. It continues to bring in the elite among the elite. While Sotogrande has just 6,000 permanent residents, as many as 30,000 people are housed there during the summer months.

Spanish Mortgage Holders Set to Receive Billions From Banks in Repayments

Spanish Mortgage Holders Set to Receive Billions From Banks in Repayments

Greedy Spanish banks have to pay Billions

which is Great news for mortgage holders in Spain

Around 2.5 million mortgage holders in Span could find themselves receiving rebates up to thousands of euros after a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) last week that some Spanish banks issued “unfair” mortgage floors clauses that went against European law, and any money raised from these mortgages should be returned.

This ruling will likely affect customers who got their mortgage from the leading Spanish banks such as Banco Popular, Banco Sabadell, Caixbank and BBVA. Analysts have suggested that banks have set aside an estimated €4.5 billion to pay back their clients.

The issue is all about the “floor” clause that was made a part of many Spanish mortgages. It gave variable-rate mortgages a minimum interest by placing a limit in how much mortgage payments could be reduced by alongside the benchmark rates, which was the Euribor rate for many of the banks in Spain.

The Euribor rate has dropped to historical lows since 2008, but when a mortgage holder had a “floor clause” attached to their mortgage it meant that they were still making repayments that were higher than the benchmark rate, meaning that they were unfairly losing out to the fluctuations of the property market.

This ruling is unable to be appealed and came as a bit of a shock to the banks, as the ECJ saying that there would be no time limit for reimbursements. As such banks really could need to pay back over €4.5 billion in rebates.

The decision to backdate the rebates to May 2013 was made by the Spanish Supreme Court to protect the banking sector as it continues to recover from a double-dip recession. However the ECJ clearly felt that banks have not done enough to protect their customers, which is why the ruling was made that floor clauses are illegal and that reimbursements must be paid.

One mortgage holder revealed in an interview with Bloomberg that he would be receiving a €6,000 rebate, which is about the figure the other 2.5 million customers with these illegal floor clauses can expect.

While many homeowners will be receiving a welcome little windfall as they recover from the festive period the same can’t be said for the banks. Some members of the banking sector had hope that the Supreme Court would step up and halt the repayments to protect the industry because of the exceptional circumstances, but the ECJ took the stance that customers should come first.

This ruling is another step in the right direction for transparency and maturity in Spanish banking and property. While it took far too long to get the repayments issued, the ECJ should be applauded for taking the steps they have.

Potentially up to 100,000 Brit Investors May Receive Spanish Property Compensation

Potentially up to 100,000 Brit Investors Can Receive Spanish Property Compensation

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The financial crisis of 2008 has been especially harmful to property investors as property developers failed to secure their customer’s deposits before the worst hit.

The BBC has reported that an estimate of up to 100,000 Brits could very well receive compensation if they invested in property and lost their money.

Spanish Legal Reclaims (SLR) is the law firm behind this estimate and they believe that, as a result of a Supreme Court ruling from 2015, Spanish developers need to now pay back investors who invested in property marketed as off-plan. It’s been estimated that the Brits could receive up to £20,000 each in compensation.

One aspect of the boom in Spain was that people rushed to buy unbuilt homes “off-plan” so that they were able to get the best deals on the property. After the market turned sour in 2008 many of the more unscrupulous developers collapsed and the money that had been invested in them seemingly disappeared so now is the time to receive your lost off-plan deposit refunds

The Chief Executive of SLR, Luis Cuervo, condemned this and said that the money should have been placed into an account with a bank warranty that could cover the money even if the company failed.

The ruling by the Supreme Court means that financial instutions are now obliged to return the money to investors if the developer goes bankrupt or just disappears.

An estimated five million new apartments were built in Spain before the financial crisis hit. Many of these properties were built “off-plan”. A lot of these developments were later abandoned however, as developers continued to default and disappear after the 2008 crash.

It looked like the buyers were last in line to receive money from these firms as creditors went after them to reclaim debts.

It’s being recommended that Brits seek out the advice of an independent law firm that knows the law before trying to submit a claim. The law also states that a claim can only be made once. If the claim fails then there are no appeals and no way to make another one.

It’s being suggested that Spanish banks could end up paying out as much as £15 billion in these
off-plan development investors in compensation payouts as they will no doubt be the hardest hit as a result of all of these payments.