Successful legal claim

The Ninth Provincial Court of Alicante, based in Elche, has issued a ruling in favor of real estate attorneys Carlos Baño León in the claim filed on behalf of several British clients seeking to compel the administrator of a major Valencian real estate firm—based in Orihuela and responsible for numerous developments in Torrevieja, Rojales, San Pedro del Pinatar, and Murcia, among other locations, and whose company is currently in bankruptcy proceedings, must return the amounts paid in advance

Until now, buyers of vacation condos were not entitled to a refund, but this is beginning to change, and we are very pleased that our real estate attorneys have played a part in this.

In the view of the judges of the Provincial Court, the arguments put forward by the developers’ attorneys and the property manager do not merit consideration, because the buyers of the apartment were individuals residing in the United Kingdom, which constitutes strong evidence that they did not act for speculative purposes and that they purchased the property to establish their residence, even if occasional or non-permanent, a fact not contradicted by the fact that, according to the contract, they assumed the obligation to transfer their use for the minimum period established in the aforementioned Decree (on two or more occasions within the same year for a total period not exceeding one month).

Legal claim regarding vacation rentals

Furthermore, the fact that the selling developer was the operator of those vacation apartments does not extend that status to their buyers, who, in the absence of any other evidence, are not shown to have intended to use them for any purpose other than as their residence, even on an occasional basis.

In short, the burden of proof that the purchase was made for speculative purposes rests with the defendant, given, on the one hand, the extraordinary difficulty that the buyer will normally face in proving that the purpose of the home purchase is to establish their domicile or family residence there, whether on a permanent basis or as a seasonal, temporary, or circumstantial residence; and, on the other hand, as we have previously noted, in the case at hand, there are indications that the buyers were acting outside the business sphere, with no purpose other than to establish their residence, or that of their family, in the purchased home, whether permanent, temporary, or sporadic.

We encourage you to retain the services of real estate attorney Carlos Baño León to claim a refund of the advance payments made to developers for the purchase of vacation apartments because, as you can see, a new avenue is opening up for you to obtain compensation for the money you lost, given that you are entitled to the application of Decree-Law 57/68.

This firm handles refunds of down payments for clients who purchased property for residential purposes, as well as for buyers of vacation rentals.

We are also handling claims from buyers who purchased the property as an investment, regardless of the number of claims they filed

Go ahead and put your trust in real estate and housing attorneys at Carlos Baño León.