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Help at hand for ‘builder mortgage’ victims ocal legal firm Spanish Solutions is fighting a landmark court case on behalf of Orihuela Costa residents who paid for their properties in full and never received the deeds because of an illegal mortgage taken out on the property. The Class Action involves a number of local residents, but the law firm believe that hundreds more are affected and are missing out on the opportunity to have the threat of repossession removed and the illegal debt paid, returning their home to its rightful owners. Regular readers may recall an article published in the autumn of 2013 when we brought the story of Roy Owens to light. Unbeknown to Roy the property developer
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that built his house had taken out a large mortgage on his home. Roy had paid for the property in full but never received his deeds and it wasn’t until several years later he discovered the terrible reason why. According to the bank Roy was legally responsible for the 50,000 euro debt and could not sell the property without the deeds. Without the resources or the wish to pay someone else’s debt Roy faced the threat of repossession. The reporter from the Costa Blanca People who covered the story introduced Roy to Spanish Solutions and Roy is now one of many people that are named in the Class Action to see justice done and save people’s homes. The builder was able to take out these mortgages on the homes because all of the buyers had given power of attorney to a prominent legal firm in Torrevieja to act on their behalf. Over time it emerged that this law firm never signed for the properties at the Notary, therefore, the properties remained in the builder´s name, despite
the fact that the buyers had paid in full. The builder took out mortgages on the properties and then as the housing boom bubble burst a few years ago, went into liquidation. With the economic climate changing, the banks began pressing for repayment on the mortgages, eventually repossessing them in the hopes of either auctioning or reselling them. Roy introduced Spanish Solutions to several other people in the same position, who in turn introduced others and even more people contacted Roy following our article. The law firm soon realised that there were possibly hundreds of people in the same position. Many joined the two Class Actions, but there are still hundreds who are living in fear of repossession unaware that help is at hand. On meeting Roy and the others the barrister for Spanish Solutions realised that this was a case of possible misrepresentation. The lawyer who acted for these clients in the purchase of their properties had a professional duty to take
care of the client and ensure that all was present and correct before the final amount was paid for the property - and to ensure they got the deeds – so the barrister felt there was definitely an avenue of legal action against the Torrevieja law firm which was supposed to be representing these clients and also the estate agent, which is well-known and still operating to encourage UK expats to buy abroad. There was a definite link between the two businesses, with the estate agent promoting the legal firm as its preferred legal partner.
Bailiffs knocking One of the victims who came forward as a direct result of Roy’s story in the paper was Roy and Margaret Bache, who last week were in the dreadful position of being informed that the bailiffs were coming to change the locks and repossess their home. The house had been transferred at auction to the bank´s estate agent company and would be sold.
Margaret and Roy Bache Continued on page 5
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