“Regaining my deposit on a property in Spain”

Received this from a grateful client.

“I’m just emailing to let you know that the funds are now safely in my bank account. Would you thank all of the team for making it happen. I’ve written a testimonial below for your website.

I have to thank the whole team at Spanish Solutions for the amazing help and support they have given me. My story began in 2003 when I paid a deposit towards a property in Spain which was never completed. I had given up all hope of ever regaining this deposit until a friend recommended Spanish Solutions. To my utter delight only 4 months after I first contacted Spanish Solutions this deposit is now back in my bank account.

I would have no hesitation in recommending Spanish Solutions. Their efficient, professional service has been excellent in every way.”

We are assisting people with a case whereby a company many years ago took deposits of 50,000€ plus, telling potential homeowners that properties were going to be built in a variety of areas north of Alicante, that building licences were in place, and the properties were never built.

Major Legal Action

We have had clients approach us having seen in the Costa Blanca People the news of a major legal action we have ongoing.

Our clients generally came to Spain in the early 2000´s, saw a complex and decided to buy. The promoter took them to a local solicitor and they arranged power of attorney, and over the coming months, clients paid between 50,000€ and 80,000€ in good faith to the builder, believing that work was going to start.

The scam affected many potential homes in Lliber, Benidoleig, Sagra and La Llosa de Camatxo. The clients visited the plots initially believing all was well but the licences were never granted to build. Clients started to become concerned, realised that nothing was happening, started to press for their money to be returned, but were told you can have anther house but it will be 50,000€ more and it wasn´t even partially constructed either. When they asked for their money back they were told sue us. In fact, the grass is still there in these areas and not a stone laid as the land was classified as “rustic”.

The solicitor´s firm was totally unconcerned; some clients approached another lawyer and sued the builder winning their case and a judgement saying the money had to be returned to them.

Unfortunately, by this stage, the promoter had no money left and the clients were told they had no chance of getting their money back and their papers were handed back to them.

Supreme Court Precedent

In late 2015/early 2016, there was a case with the Supreme Court set a precedent whereby people can claim, if certain conditions are met, from the Bank that received the funds related to a construction if a guarantee was not provided by the builder and people have lost their money.

If the promoters received advance payments through a bank, they should have had them deposited in a special account, separate from their other funds, and only available for payments for the house being constructed. If the bank did not insist that this deposit account was opened and that the amounts were guaranteed, then they may be liable.

Our clients may now have the option of either suing the Bank for not fulfilling the conditions of the law from 1968 or of suing the solicitor acting for them for negligence and misrepresentation, as they clearly did not do their work properly.

With this lady, our solicitor started a case against the Bank and fortunately they saw that it was such a strong case that they agreed to pay out of Court, and we acted on a No Win No Fee basis for her. She was able to get most of her money back within only four months of contacting us.

A true success story.