Rob Horgan
A BOILER room in Marbella mis sold loans worth €6 million to unwitting expats.
A judge in Bilbao has nullified 12 equity release mortgages sold by financial advisers in Estepona, Marbella and Fuengirola.
Sold to reduce the potential inheritance tax on a property, SL Mortgage Funding Limited (SLMF) did not have any of the necessary permits to sell such loans.
In fact, SLMF did not have any regulatory approval to legally raise funds from the public when it was selling equity release mortgages between 2004 and 2007.
A spokesman for Marbella-based lawfirm Lawbird said that the ruling ‘proves’ that the company was operating as a boiler room.
“The ruling that SLMF was operating in breach of mandatory banking and financial regulations makes the offender a ‘boiler room’, even if the company was operating in its own country,” he said. “It also allows the victims to end the nightmare which has blighted them for over 10 years.”
The judge said that the breach of public policy is ‘far more serious’ as it makes a mockery of financial regulatory laws.
As a result, all contracts and agreements between clients and the bank should be terminated, with the clients able to claim back everything they had invested.
