This striking recognition obliges the Spanish banks to return the money anticipated by the clients who have purchased houses that were not constructed or delivered.
Law 57/1968 establishes that real estate developers who receive funds as a deposit for a property purchase have a legal obligation to put them in a specific account and provide their clients with a bank guarantee. The guarantor would then be responsible for the return of the deposits in case the developer was unable to deliver the house within the agreed time.
Many banks failed to comply with the statutory requirement for developers to place customer deposits into a separate account and allowed these funds to be deposited into the general account. In this way the promoters could use these funds in other areas; Leaving their clients without safeguarding the money for the construction of their houses.
On December 21, 2015, the Spanish Supreme Court has established "that banks are responsible, together with the promoters for the loss of the clients' advanced payments ", therefore the financial institutions have to the refund the amounts anticipated by home buyers in case the developers fail to deliver the properties on timely basis.
This judgment is very important because many national and foreign buyers can now issue claims also against the Banks.
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