Laurence Dollimore
A BRITISH man has been awarded more than €150,000 after his off-plan dream home on the Costa del Sol was abandoned by developers.
A Madrid court has ordered that the insurer of the company pay the man €152,035.
It is the amount the unnamed Brit put down as a deposit on the property in Benahavis, more than 15 years ago.
The buyer was forced to file a claim in 2005 following serious delays to the project.
After several years he won his case but by then the developers had declared bankruptcy.
As there was a collective policy with an insurer, he would have to claim the money from them.
Now, after almost 15 years of litigation, a Madrid court ruled this week that he should be paid back the deposit, with interest.
The win was made possible by a 1968 law which allows buyers to recover their monies, ‘regardless of the length of the deadline delay’.
The insurance company argued that that law was replaced by Ley 20/2015, which came into force on January 1, 2016 – but the Madrid courts said this newer version was not retroactive.
