In December 2015, there was a judicial before and after milestone in the mortgage field in Spain. Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU), Supreme Court The clause obliging clients to bear all costs of formalizing the contract was declared invalid and abused. mortgages. This court decision opened the door for thousands of consumers to claim what is rightfully theirs, as we read on the OCU website.
The Supreme Court decision clearly states that it is a practice to collect all these expenses from the client. abusive. But, It was not specified what percentage of these expenses should be borne by the bank and which by the customer. The consumer organization said that although the general trend was that banks had to bear all the formalization costs, this led to a variety of comments from audiences in the state.
By January 2019, several decisions of the Supreme Court and a decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) had pinpointed the expenses that should be reimbursed to consumers:
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All expenses covered Real estate registration, management and valuation.
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Half notary expenses.
Until when can you claim expenses?
According to the regulations announced by OCU, there is a five-year statute of limitations for making legal claims. However, there are debates about the beginning of this period.
Some banking institutions rejected the requests, arguing that the deadline had already expired. While a statement is awaited from OCU and the ECJ, they think the following: This term starts on January 23, 2019, the date on which the Supreme Court clearly determines the distribution of expenses. This is the period to be requested It will end on January 24, 2024.
Claim mortgage costs through OCU
If you want to claim these mortgage costs, you can do so through OCU, but only for those who entered into a contract before June 16, 2019, when the Real Estate Loan Act came into force. So on their website they state that if you file a claim through them you will get:
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Legal consultancy from lawyers who are experts on the subject.
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Fees cover all judicial and non-judicial proceedings In all cases until final judgment or definitive extrajudicial agreement.
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Possibility to claim abuse of other provisions such as IRPH, single premium life insurance or floor provisions in the same procedure.
The decisions of the Supreme Court and the CJEU have opened a window of opportunity for thousands of consumers fighting against abusive clauses in mortgages.