Conveyancing

Our Official Translator is certified by the Spanish Ministry of Justice. Therefore qualified to make translations of documents for official purposes in Spain, including for court proceedings, local authority and Town Hall applications, the police service etc. and specialises in financial and legal translations.

You will need to translate documents that originate from outside of Spain into Spanish, for many different legal and administrative processes before they can be used by local authorities here.

For formal processes, you will need a Sworn or Official Translator in Spain to translate and affix their stamp to the document. An Official Translator is approved by the Spanish Ministry of Justice as having the skill to carry-out this process for any legal proceedings as well as any other process that requires a Sworn Translator.

Mortgage Price Reference Index

The majority of mortgages signed in Spain have Euribor, a European index that regulates the interest rate of loans between banks, as a reference to mark the price of mortgages. But there are other less known and less widespread methods such as the Mortgage Price Reference Index (IRPH). Between 10 and 20% of the mortgages signed in Spain are under this index.

This mortgage reference has complete dependence on the decisions of the banks. That is, they can manipulate the IRPH practically at will and that is why Courts have considered them as abusive and therefore null and void.

As with floor clauses, once again the root problem lies in the lack of transparency and information. The banks and savings banks are accused of not correctly explaining what this IRPH indicator consisted of, showing only the alleged advantages.

Illegal Developments

That, nevertheless, where finished and “occupied” by the buyers.

In these cases where the buyer signs a Notary sales deed for the purchase of a non-licensed house, he is placed in a legal “limbo” in which he can “occupy” his property – which cannot even be called homes – but cannot be “legally inhabiting them”, nor renting them, selling them, or offering them as collateral: they simply are not in legal traffic. Electric companies cannot supply electricity to a house with no license so in many cases they need to use the contract of the developer in order to be able to live in the house.

Therefore, since these contracts are null, law and jurisprudence will also consider the mortgage loans linked to them to be null and void, and the buyer can request the return of everything paid before and after signing the mortgage plus the corresponding interests. The return of these amounts finally places the buyer in a position to opt for a legal home where to enjoy, in many cases, the savings of a lifetime.

Timeshare and Holiday products

Timeshare owners in Spain with illegal contracts can finally get them annulled and their money returned. Here’s the story and why this time, it’s the real deal.

Is Spanish timeshare law as confusing as it seems?
Yes, it is!

There wasn’t one until 1998 and it only came into effect on January 4, 1999. Then the law was updated again in 2012 to bring it into line with the new European laws.
And because Spanish law is Constitutional, new laws have to be tested in court before they are fully understood.

This is why it’s taken since 1998 for the implications of the timeshare law to become clear.
Lawyers first had to test it in local and provincial courts, then, take it to the Spanish Supreme Court. However, once the Supreme Court rules, its decision is final.
And the Spanish Supreme Court has now ruled on several elements of timeshare law.

What did the Supreme Court decide
Despite all the arguments from armies of timeshare company lawyers, the Supreme Court upheld the law as it was written in 1998.
So far it has confirmed that the following are illegal in timeshare contracts. So illegal, that any contract that contains them is null and void.

Floating weeks (including holiday club schemes)
Contracts signed in perpetuity (all timeshare contracts have to last between three and 50 years).
Deposits or payments taken within 14 days of signing (extended to three months if there are any other illegal points in the contract).
Other elements of the timeshare law are on their way to the Supreme Court. For example, the 1998 law states that any timeshare contract signed in Spain containing the word “ownership or property (propiedad)” is null and void.

What do the Supreme Court rulings mean to Timeshare Owners
It means that for the first time, timeshare owners with illegal Spanish contracts have a clear path to get their contracts annulled and their money back.

With deposits, there’s an extra twist. The 1998 law stated that timeshare companies have to give back double any amount they took as a deposit or payment made within 14 days (or three months if there’s anything else wrong with the contract). Some timeshare owners that paid big deposits are entitled to much more money than they actually paid for their timeshare.

Is this really true, or is it yet another timeshare scam

We know, you’ve heard it all before.

But for the first time, this is the real deal.

Supreme Court judgements in Spain are final and the timeshare companies can’t appeal.

If a Spanish court declares a timeshare contract illegal and void, the company has to accept the judgement and pay back the money.

If they don’t, the courts can freeze their assets to recover it.

Has anyone actually got their money back
Many cases have been settled since the first in 2010
The first case to reach the Supreme Court was in 2015 when a Norwegian woman got her contract annulled. She has now been paid back in full.
Due to this ruling by the Supreme Court, Timeshare owners are now getting contracts annulled every week and money is going back into their bank accounts.

Do timeshare owners have to go to the Supreme Court
No, once the highest court in Spain rules, all lower courts simply apply their ruling.
So local and regional courts in Spain are now equipped to declare illegal contracts void and order the timeshare companies to give back all the money they took. The courts don’t have to think about each case, just confirm that the contract contains an illegal clause and apply the law.

And that’s exactly what they are doing.

What about contracts signed before January 4, 1999
Unfortunately, timeshare was governed by consumer law in Spain until January 4, 1999. Contracts that predate the law are much harder to challenge in court. But the 1998 Law states you should have been supplied with an updated contract reflecting the changes.

I think my timeshare contract is illegal. What do I do
You don’t have to do anything. Lots of timeshare owners are happy with the service they receive and don’t want their contract annulled.
But if your contract is illegal and you want it annulled, you need a good lawyer with a firm grasp of the Spanish Timeshare Laws and how the Spanish Courts work.

No one should have to live with a mistake like buying a timeshare. And now, with so many being ruled in breach of the law, fewer people will feel trapped into expensive contracts they cannot afford or don’t want. We are pleased to see that the law is making it clear whose side they are on, and we look forward to helping more of you get rid of miss-sold, misrepresented or illegal timeshare contracts and finally walking free.