Are you one of those unfortunate buyers who paid money to a builder who went bankrupt and you neither have your money nor your Spanish home?
We can provide you with help and we think, we can force the Spanish banks to refund your money.
There is a scheme when you can take the legal case to the Courts, without any money down. We assume all the risk for you.
Spanish Solutions try to be just as helpful to buyers who used other legal firms when purchasing property in Spain as to the thousands who used us right from the start.
Let’s explain…
This case started when years ago buyers from overseas paid builders and promoters for the construction of a property, however it never materialised, usually because they were overburdened and went into liquidation. I guess we can say it was a sort of Ponzi scheme. The builders were using the money from buyer B, to pay for the construction of buyer A, and so on. It was all going fine until the Spanish Property boom turned to a bust and the banks wanted to reclaim their loans from these builders. The builders had no assets so the liquidators were called in.
When the Liquidator tried to return people´s contributions to building the property (stage payments), in many cases 150,000 euro and more, they found that the developer had no money or assets to pay off the debts and also that there had not been a guarantee or insurance policy securing the money paid to them, which was actually required by Spanish Law 57/1968.
In layman’s terms, Mr Jones paid 100,000 to XYZ builders from his account in ABC bank through the law firm 123 lawyers. (I really hope none of these fictitiously named organisations actually exist and if they do, I apologise!). Anyway, XYZ builders went bankrupt, the bank can’t reclaim Mr. Jones’ money from the builders, there was no Bank guarantee issued and the lawyers have not done their job – meaning that Mr. Jones up until now had no avenue to reclaim his 100,000 euro.
There has been a very important Supreme Tribunal decision in Spain saying that the Banks had a responsibility by way of a law dating from 1968 to keep funds paid for construction on a separate account verify if guarantees were in place and thus they can be sued if there are not.
This is the Supreme Court Judgement, Civil Division, number 426/2015, which deals with the scope and interpretation of art. 1 of Law 57/1968.
The art. 1 of Law 57/1968 basically stated that companies promoting housing construction must meet the following conditions:
1) To guarantee repayment of the amounts paid plus six percent annual interest by an insurance contract registered in the General Department of Insurance, to cover the event that construction does not start or does not reach a successful conclusion for any reason by the agreed deadline
2) Sums advanced by purchasers through a bank or savings to be deposited in a special account separated from any other kind of funds belonging to the promoter. A client account basically.
So the promoters should have received advance payments through a bank, had them deposited in a special account, separate from any other kind of funds of the promoter, and that they only be available for payments related to the housing being constructed. Additionally the rules were the bank insists that these deposit accounts are opened and that the amounts were guaranteed.
The financial institution (ABC BANK) must require the promoter to comply with that obligation. And if they don’t or didn’t, the Bank assumes direct joint and several liability.
The law is clear to protect consumers. If the bank sees that the developer is not obeying the rules, the bank is liable. Good news for Mr. Jones and tens of thousands of buyers in a similar situation.
So now many Banks have been sued by Spanish Solutions and we are winning cases. The courts in Spain found that builders or promoters received funds from the purchasers, but they did not fulfil the special conditions by law of the money being placed in a separate account, nor checking there was a guarantee in place, backed by insurance. The banks are totally in the wrong we feel and the courts agree.
In this way, the financial institutions have been held accountable and customers have managed to sue and get their money back from having lost it to a bankrupt builder on a property never built.
So what about Mr. Jones? Well, he paid over 100,000 euro that he thought was lost forever. Many people are to blame here – bank, builder and lawyer.
It is not cheap but once he starts his case against the bank, he is very likely, depending on the amount of paperwork he still has, to win. He’ll get his 100,000 euro back plus 6% interest per year. He could be looking at getting back maybe 140,000. A lot of money..
If you are struggling with the money to get your legal case started, Spanish Solutions may be willling to assist by putting up the money and take a percentage if you win (and nothign if you lost for some reason) This takes all the risk off the table for you and means you put no money down now.
If you think you might be in a similar situation or you know anyone else who is, please contact [email protected]. The banks will fight this, now is the time to start your case while the wind is at our back….
We can provide you with help and we think, we can force the Spanish banks to refund your money.
There is a scheme when you can take the legal case to the Courts, without any money down. We assume all the risk for you.
Spanish Solutions try to be just as helpful to buyers who used other legal firms when purchasing property in Spain as to the thousands who used us right from the start.
Let’s explain…
This case started when years ago buyers from overseas paid builders and promoters for the construction of a property, however it never materialised, usually because they were overburdened and went into liquidation. I guess we can say it was a sort of Ponzi scheme. The builders were using the money from buyer B, to pay for the construction of buyer A, and so on. It was all going fine until the Spanish Property boom turned to a bust and the banks wanted to reclaim their loans from these builders. The builders had no assets so the liquidators were called in.
When the Liquidator tried to return people´s contributions to building the property (stage payments), in many cases 150,000 euro and more, they found that the developer had no money or assets to pay off the debts and also that there had not been a guarantee or insurance policy securing the money paid to them, which was actually required by Spanish Law 57/1968.
In layman’s terms, Mr Jones paid 100,000 to XYZ builders from his account in ABC bank through the law firm 123 lawyers. (I really hope none of these fictitiously named organisations actually exist and if they do, I apologise!). Anyway, XYZ builders went bankrupt, the bank can’t reclaim Mr. Jones’ money from the builders, there was no Bank guarantee issued and the lawyers have not done their job – meaning that Mr. Jones up until now had no avenue to reclaim his 100,000 euro.
There has been a very important Supreme Tribunal decision in Spain saying that the Banks had a responsibility by way of a law dating from 1968 to keep funds paid for construction on a separate account verify if guarantees were in place and thus they can be sued if there are not.
This is the Supreme Court Judgement, Civil Division, number 426/2015, which deals with the scope and interpretation of art. 1 of Law 57/1968.
The art. 1 of Law 57/1968 basically stated that companies promoting housing construction must meet the following conditions:
1) To guarantee repayment of the amounts paid plus six percent annual interest by an insurance contract registered in the General Department of Insurance, to cover the event that construction does not start or does not reach a successful conclusion for any reason by the agreed deadline
2) Sums advanced by purchasers through a bank or savings to be deposited in a special account separated from any other kind of funds belonging to the promoter. A client account basically.
So the promoters should have received advance payments through a bank, had them deposited in a special account, separate from any other kind of funds of the promoter, and that they only be available for payments related to the housing being constructed. Additionally the rules were the bank insists that these deposit accounts are opened and that the amounts were guaranteed.
The financial institution (ABC BANK) must require the promoter to comply with that obligation. And if they don’t or didn’t, the Bank assumes direct joint and several liability.
The law is clear to protect consumers. If the bank sees that the developer is not obeying the rules, the bank is liable. Good news for Mr. Jones and tens of thousands of buyers in a similar situation.
So now many Banks have been sued by Spanish Solutions and we are winning cases. The courts in Spain found that builders or promoters received funds from the purchasers, but they did not fulfil the special conditions by law of the money being placed in a separate account, nor checking there was a guarantee in place, backed by insurance. The banks are totally in the wrong we feel and the courts agree.
In this way, the financial institutions have been held accountable and customers have managed to sue and get their money back from having lost it to a bankrupt builder on a property never built.
So what about Mr. Jones? Well, he paid over 100,000 euro that he thought was lost forever. Many people are to blame here – bank, builder and lawyer.
It is not cheap but once he starts his case against the bank, he is very likely, depending on the amount of paperwork he still has, to win. He’ll get his 100,000 euro back plus 6% interest per year. He could be looking at getting back maybe 140,000. A lot of money..
If you are struggling with the money to get your legal case started, Spanish Solutions may be willling to assist by putting up the money and take a percentage if you win (and nothign if you lost for some reason) This takes all the risk off the table for you and means you put no money down now.
If you think you might be in a similar situation or you know anyone else who is, please contact [email protected]. The banks will fight this, now is the time to start your case while the wind is at our back….
