A fter years of legal wrangling and setbacks, British homebuyers who were caught cold by the Spanish property market crash are finally beginning to recoup the millions they paid for holiday homes that were never built. In total, approximately , people were affected, including about , Spaniards. The average case takes months to complete so it is only now that the banks are starting to pay out.
They spent more money, won the case but got nothing. Only a minority who had bank guarantees went to court and won. Cases must be filed within 15 years of the expected completion date of the property.
Until the bubble burst in , the property boom had seen Spain building more homes than the UK, Germany and France combined. Many of these were holiday homes on the Costas, but tens of thousands were built in urbanisations on the outskirts of many Spanish towns. During the boom Spaniards were buying first and second homes off-plan. Spain is now littered with half-built, largely uninhabited housing developments.
One such development was Trampolin Hills in Murcia, south-east Spain. Claimants must beware the high cost of fees charged by Spanish legal firms. However, any compensation award is likely to include a large amount of accrued interest, so claimants may not end up out of pocket.
When the property was delivered it was not built according to the original plan. She took the developer to court and lost in , but won on appeal in The developer appealed and so she went to the supreme court in and won, at which point the developer declared itself bankrupt. She later discovered the property was registered as a tourist apartment, which meant she would have to rent it out part of the year, although she planned to retire and live there full-time.
