Costa News Spain Breaking News | English News in Spain.
Monday, 17th March 2025 at 18:44
The Court of Justice of the EU has closed some of the remaining loopholes regarding the limitations periods for unfair mortgage terms. In a decision issued on Thursday, it was confirmed that there can be a deadline for claiming a reimbursement, but no maximum time period to claim the nullity.
CJEU already decided that at the beginning 2024 the claim period began when the affected party knew that a clause in the mortgage agreement was abusive. The Supreme Court in Spain has adopted the same regulation. The Supreme Court of Spain adopted the same regulation.
This ruling can be understood by using an example from 2009, which the CJEU now has ruled upon. A Banco Santander customer took out a mortgage in 2009 that included a clause requiring her to pay transaction costs, taxes and registration costs as well as administrative costs.
Banco Santander claimed that the deadline for claiming compensation had passed. The court ruled for the bank.
In its ruling, the court reminded the consumers that the protection they enjoy is not absolute. It then upheld the legality in setting maximum time limits to claim compensation as long as the limits are not higher than those of similar domestic legal actions, (principle equivalent) and as long as the limits do not hinder or prevent the exercise of rights conferred by EU legal order.
The CJEU stated that even though there is no time limit for the cancellation of the contract, the principle of equivalents does not prohibit the setting of national rules or deadlines to claim refunds.
