British buyers who bought unfinished houses in Spain lost about 100.000 euros

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During the housing boom in Spain, thousands of British buyers, as the former emblematic English football player Geoff Hurst, bought a new house in Spain; but when the outbreak of the housing boom was produced, many of them got stuck with an unfinished house due to the developers’ bankruptcy and without the money they advanced.

According to Bufete Salmerón estimates, the average of sums lost per British buyer is approximately 100,000 euros. This amount is overcomed on many occassions, as it is the case of our client Geoff Hurst who advanced 298,000 euros in order to buy an unfinished house in the Real State development called Aloha Royal, which belongs to the property development company DUJA, which became voluntarily insolvent.

At the end of 2013, Bufete Salmerón became a pioneering law office after getting the first sentence for which a judge forces a bank to return the sums of money advanced by buyers of unfinished houses who lacked a guarantee.

The judgement forced the bank not only to return the sums advanced by buyers, but also to pay them 6% interest and the costs of the legal process.

According to the Official College of Land Registrars in Spain, a particularly positive news for British people is that they are the foreigners who buy more houses in our country, and more than half of them decide to buy an off-plan property.

The importance of the sentence

In addition, this sentence is particularly meaningful because buyers of unfinished houses lacked a bank guarantee or insurance and, however, the judge considers it is the bank the one responsible for the sums advanced. This fact provided thousands buyers affected by the purchase of unfinished houses with the recovery of their money.

Legal arguments offered by Bufete Salmerón also allowed the rest of Spanish judges to consider financial intitutions the ones responsible for the money advanced by buyers.

During the first semester of this year, the Spanish High Court of Justice has actually established jurisprudence in this regard in favour of those buyers affected by the purchase of an unfinished house.

During 2015, Bufete Salmerón got finacial entities to give buyers from UK, Ireland, France, Marocco and Portugal who trust this Law Firm, more than 5,3 million euros back. According to expectations, this figure will double by the end of 2016, fact which means an almost 100% success for our Law Firm.

The case of Geoff Hurst

The outbreak of the Spanish housing bubble affected thousands of people with unsucessful developments which nowadays take part in the landscape of some Spanish provinces.

Geoff Hurst, the English former football player and iconic character, was actually affected by this situation. In February 2004, Hurst bought an off-plan house in the property development Aloha Royal, located in Marbella (Málaga, Spain).

The house was purchased from the property development company DUJA which was supposed to deliver it in 2007. However, DUJA became voluntarily insolvent in 2012, leaving buyers, like Hurst who lacked a guarantee, with an unfinished house and without the money advanced, that is, 298,000 euros.

The social relevance concerning this problem has made either the Spanish as the British Press include different headlines to explain this situation, as it has also happened with the case of Geoff, managed by Bufete Salmerón.

If you also bought a house in Spain and think to have lost your money, do not hesitate to contact us, via phone +34.954.53.60 or via e-mail administracion@bufetesalmeron.com. Just send us the contract you signed, and if you dispose of your guarantee, we will study your case and give a legal opininion on your case with total transparency.

Photo by Stuart Miles (Freedigitalphotos)