Laurence Dollimore
A BRITISH couple are celebrating one of the biggest legal victories against a timeshare company in Spain, thanks to a local law firm.
Max and Britt Sewell-Rutter, from Southampton won €365,000 against La Pinta Beach Club in Tenerife after having to remortgage their home in the UK and losing most of their life savings through dodgy contracts.
The historic victory came after the judge ruled that the contracts should be deemed null and void due to perpetuity.
Under Spanish Timeshare Law, weeks sold after January 5 1999 cannot be in perpetuity and not for more than 50 years.
Max Sewell-Rutter said: “We have had timeshare weeks with La Pinta for over 10 years and every year we went there, we were approached by the resales department, pressuring us to buy additional timeshares which they promised to sell at a profit.
“They put so much pressure on us each time to make us part with our money that we felt quite exhausted and gave in.
“As a result we lost most of our savings, having to remortgage our house and take out a bank loan. In the end we had lost a considerable amount of money.”
Sharon Johnson, of Malaga-based M1 Legal ECC, acting for the Sewell-Rutters, told the Olive Press: “As far as we are aware, this is the largest timeshare victory ever achieved.
“M1 made this possible due to the continuous dedication and commitment supporting this case.”
M1 Legal provides legal services to support European Consumer Claims who have been subject to mis-selling and subsequent breach of statutory duties by the resort in relation to holiday ownership products and services sold transnationally.
These include floating week timeshares, points-based timeshare products, holiday clubs and fractional ownerships.
For any other timeshare enquiries contact Sharon Johnson at sharon@m1legal.com.
