British Expat Wins Against Dodgy Developer After A 15-year Battle

One expat’s persistence has finally paid off as a Spanish court awards him over €150,000 paid as a deposit against the cost of his unfinished home.

In 2004, the unnamed British would-be expat had paid €150,000 to a developer as a deposit on his dream home in Benhavis. One year later the property still wasn’t finished, and the disgruntled Brit was forced to file a claim against the builder. Several years later, after struggling with the Spanish legal system, he won the case against his developer who, by then, had declared bankruptcy. Finding he’d have to claim his deposit back from an insurance company as a collective policy was in place, the angry Briton continued to fight for his cash.

Finally, after almost 15 years-worth of litigation, the court in Madrid ruled his deposit must be returned to him along with the interest he would have earned had the sum been invested. His victory rested on a 1968 law stating buyers were entitled to recover their deposits with no imposed time limits, with the insurance company arguing a new law introduced in 2016 voided the initial ruling, a belief which the court rejected as the recent law wasn’t stated as retroactive. The verdict could well encourage other British expats in similar situations to take legal advice as to their positions.

In another report, expat residents in Marbella have vowed to catch a dog-hater who’s still leaving sausages stuffed with needles in the popular dog-walking area of Plaza del Bote. Warnings have been posted on the district’s Facebook page and have attracted a number of replies saying they’ll force the sick person to eat his deadly tidbits when they catch him. Other replies warned expat dog-lovers that similar pieces of doctored meat had been seen outside a local gym. Owners of the gym are now studying their CCTV records in the hope they can identify the guilty person.