ARCHIVED - Extension to off-plan claims deadline until December 26th

Anyone who paid deposits for a Spanish property which was never built has a little longer in which to make a claim

This week the deadline for those who were affected by the number of bankruptcies and frauds perpetrated during the Spanish property boom, paid a deposit for a property off-plan which was never actually built,and are trying to reclaim money from the banks which guaranteed now bankrupt promotors, should have concluded.

However, the covid crisis has caused a significant delay in courts across Spain, so the Government has decided to prolong the period during which claims can be made until the 26th December 2020.

Anyone who paid money for a deposit on an off-plan property which was guaranteed by a bank before January 1st, 2016 and was never built, can claim.

There are believed to have been more than 600,000 clients who lost their deposits due to paralyzed work projects throughout Spain, many of them foreigners, and certainly here in the Region of Murcia we have several examples.

Trampolin Hills was one of the most publicised, and those who paid bank deposits on this development have won compensation through the courts, mainly because most of the buyers were Spanish nationals from Murcia city who got together and pushed through a group action to reclaim their money. Nearby was the Santa Ana del Monte urbanisation in Jumilla which was never built, the Tres Molinos development, the Isla del Fraile and others built by Polaris World, all of which ended with the bankruptcy of the developer.

Just in Murcia there are believed to have been 120,000 affected by the bankruptcies, and around 40,000 have never lodged a claim or tried to recover their lost deposits, deterred by the drawn-out process and the fear of throwing good money after bad.

In truth, not all claims prosper, as a lot depends on the determination of the purchaser but 85% have.
So if you did lose money on an off-plan property that was never built, the deadline is now December 26th for those wishing to initiate a claim.