There has always been a great demand for property in Spain, especially from overseas buyers, as well as domestic purchasers. The climate and vicinity to northern European countries, coupled with regular flights, has always meant that people have flocked to Spain for their holiday home, more than in any other southern European country.
During the peak times in the Spanish property market there were literally coach loads of buyers coming over to purchase homes. They were taken on property tours by the agents where they were shown dozens of property developments and resales homes. Back then decisions were fast and buyers were falling over themselves to snap up homes for sale in many different parts of the country.
Financing property purchases was almost much easier back then with many banks giving 100% mortgages and in some cases even more, so that furniture could be financed as well.
That all went on for a number of years but then we had the global financial crisis and one of the areas to be hit the hardest was the Spanish property market. Some buyers had purchased multiple units in the hope of ‘flipping’ them before needing to get a mortgage. Other people had over committed financially and were now left in limbo.
When you purchases a property in Spain, many of the banks also added on different types of fees like notary charges, land registry etc and in some cases there was a ‘floor clause’ added to some mortgage agreements. The floor clause was an insertion that placed a ‘floor’ level to the lowest rate a mortgage would fall to. While it could rise to whatever the rates were, it was stopped in falling to the lowest rates. This was deemed illegal over payments can be reclaimed as well, especially now that interest rates are so low.
If you are in doubt about the fees you have paid or if you have a Spanish mortgage floor clause, there are firms like MySpanishMortgageClaim that can assist you and tell you whether you are due anything back.
