Revealed – new hope for buyers who lost deposits for Spanish off-plan homes

Spanish homebuyers who paid and lost deposits on off-plan properties in the country as a result of the global financial crisis have been urged to make the most of an off-plan claims deadline extension.  

It offers fresh hope for buyers who lost out badly when purchasing what they thought would be a dream home abroad. 

Spain has extended the deadline for such claims from October 7 to December 28 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  

Now, the team at CostaLuz Lawyers is encouraging homebuyers who were going to miss the October deadline to take advantage of this last chance to try and recover their money.  

The issue relates to those who paid deposits on off-plan homes that were subsequently never built, due to developers going bust in the aftermath of the credit crunch. The developers simply didn’t have enough money to follow through with the promised schemes.  

Those who lost out are now able to make claims against the banks who partnered with the developers, provided their claims are in by December 28 2020.  

“The stress of losing a deposit on an off-plan property in a foreign country is immense. However, there is now considerable precedent for such monies being repaid by banks,” Keith Rule, from CostaLuz Lawyers, said.  

“As such, I would urge anyone who has lost an off-plan deposit to take action before the December deadline. It's not too late to try to get your money back.”  

CostaLuz Lawyers has been a pioneer in this field. Having researched the issue since 2008, the company filed its first off-plan deposit lawsuit against a property developer’s bank in 2011. A year later, in 2012, it won the case, with a landmark ruling resulting in a payout of nearly €1.5 million for the 47 buyers they were representing. 

“It is a wonderful thing to be able to give hope to buyers who thought their hard-earned money was gone for good,” Rule said. “It's even better to see their faces when we tell them that the courts have ruled in their favour and that the banks must repay them. Time is running out to make claims, though, so buyers do need to act fast.”  

Rule himself was part of that first off-plan deposit class action back in 2011/12, instigating it by working to bring the other 46 claimants on board to benefit from CostaLuz Lawyers’ expertise.  

Following the successful 2012 ruling, he took up a role with the firm and has worked as a core member of their team ever since. 

The team has now successfully won nearly 850 claims from Spanish property developers and banks, with a further 500 in progress and 100 pending outcomes. Since that initial case, CostaLuz Lawyers has worked with more than 1,500 clients from the UK, Ireland, Spain and other European countries. 

You can find out more about the firm here: https://costaluzlawyers.es/.