Banco Popular has been held responsible to pay the money

Pellicer & Heredia has been one of the law firms who started representing buyers lodging actions against the Banks to recover off-plan deposits paid during the real estate and financial boom in developments which were not finished on time or not finished at all.

Buyers who received a Bank Guarantee or Insurance Policy for the safety of their deposits or those who never had it due to the developer or Bank responsibility might be in luck today due to the recent cases held by the Murcia Courts, nº 5 and 11, which ordered Banco Popular to pay back to the buyers of an off-plan property located in Cuevas de la Almanzora (Almanzora Country Club) and developed by Huma Mediterraneo SL, all the money they invested, plus legal interests from the time they made the payment, plus all the legal costs they incurred during the Court proceedings.

The imperative and inalienable rules contained in Law 57/68 are compulsory to developers, banks and insurance entities. The breach of these obligations by professionals – developers and financial institutions – can never be to the detriment of the buyer.

Furthermore, Law 57/68 requires Banks to guarantee all deposited amounts:

1. By opening of a special Bank account.

2. Through the custody of the said special account so that all the amounts paid as advanced payments are effectively deposited in the mentioned account.

3. Through the vigilance for all the amounts to be used only for building purposes, under the bank responsibility.

Also, art. 1 of the 57/1968 Law states “The bank receiving up front payments in the developer special account must request the existence of those Bank Guarantees under its own responsibility”.

Talking to Ignacio Pellicer he confirmed: “We have been pioneers with the so-called Law 57/68 cases as this is the number of the Law which grants refund rights to off plan buyers.” “The last sentence received by the Court in the consumers favour was Friday July 24.”

If you bought a property off plan, you paid a deposit or even made stage payments into the special bank account opened by the Developer, whether you received the compulsory bank guarantee or not, you might be interested to learn more about your rights.