Home NEWS British holiday homeowners who fell victim to Spain’s property crash start to recoup millions

British holiday homeowners who fell victim to Spain’s property crash start to recoup millions

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British holiday homeowners who fell victim to Spain’s property crash start to recoup millions

Thousands of British holiday homeowners who fell victim to Spain’s property crash in 2008 finally start to recoup the millions they paid for flats and houses that were never builtSome 130,000 Brits lost an estimated £5.3bn on Spanish property in the crashThey tried to sue developers they’d paid but the firms had all gone bankruptIn 2015 a Spanish Supreme Court ruling allowed legal action against banksNow Adam Yates, 52, from Wakefield, has won back the £68,000 he spent on what was to be his dream holiday home on a Costa Del Sol golf course  By Joel Adams For Mailonline Published: 05:03 EDT, 3 October 2019 | Updated: 06:06 EDT, 4 October 2019 Adam Yates, 52, from Wakefield, paid £68,000 towards a home on a golf course on the Cosya Del SolA British wannabe-expat has spoken out after successfully winning back thousands of pounds he lost on his dream Spanish holiday home during the 2008 financial crash.Adam Yates of Wakefield is one of thousands now working to reclaim an estimated total of more than £5bn lost by British homebuyers who saw their developers go to the wall during the global crash.By 2008 Spain was building more homes than Germany, France and the UK combined.But when the credit crunch hit,  130,000 Britons lost £5.3billion in deposits and stage payments on properties purchased off-plan, most of which were never completed and left like a building site.Their efforts to reclaim money from developers – themselves bankrupt – were frustrated.But a landmark ruling by Spain’s supreme court in December 2015 paved the way for Brits to claim directly from the banks. Previously only the estimated five per cent of customers who had bank guarantees were eligible to do so. When the credit crunch hit, 130,000 Britons lost £5.3billion in deposits and stage payments on properties purchased off-plan, most of which were never completed Mr Yates, 52, paid a £68,680 deposit for a two-bedroom property on a golf complex in Duquesa, in the Costa Del Sol resort town of Estepona in 2007 before his builder went into administration.The Yorkshireman has now won it back through the courts. He said: ‘We felt terrible.’That money had taken us years to save – but it looked like it was gone forever and we couldn’t get a straight answer from anyone.’Estate agents vanished, the builders were uncontactable, and the developers spent four years dodging our calls.’There were many sleepless nights.’  The keen golfer wanted a home close to the links but his dreams were dashed when the Spanish housing bubble burstLuis Cuervo, chief executive of Spanish Legal Reclaims, who are handling several cases on behalf of Brits, said: ‘While the Spanish banks continue to fight each and every claim, there is now a real sense of momentum among investors seeking justice.’But while legal precedent is now on the side of those who need it most, time is not.’The Supreme Court has ruled that all claims must be lodged by October 2020, after which point the window for making a claim will close – so we urge anyone who lost a deposit this way to contact us immediately so we can help.’Anyone wishing to make a claim must do so in the next year after Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that all claims must be filed by October 7, 2020.The average case has taken more than 12 to 15 months to complete but it is only now that the banks are starting to pay out according to data compiled by law firm Spanish Legal Reclaims.Anyone making a claim must provide evidence of a contract with the developer, payments made into the developer’s account and the fact that the property was never delivered. 
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