British buyers lost in court of irregular Marbella property.

A court in Marbella has told the four British purchasers of a property Marbella seen as illegal by the Junta de Andalusia that they cannot have their deposit returned and they must go ahead with completing the purchase. The purchasers must now pay all the court costs as part of the ruling, but do have the right of appeal to the provincial court.

They had claimed their deposit back after a delay in the handover over a challenge to the building license. Court orders the British buyers to complete purchase of irregular Marbella property.

The buyers have paid over more than 103,000 € as a deposit on the apartments on the urbanization Santa María Green Hills, in Elviria Marbella, signing the contract with Marbella Vista Golf S.L. in November 2004. The Spanish new paper Diario Sur reports that the apartments should have been handed over before 1st January 2006, but, owing to the regional government’s challenging the building license they considered to be illegal, neither the property nor the gardens and promised golf course were completed by that date.

The would-be buyers then claimed their money back through the courts, with the company placing its own counter-claim as part of the same proceeding. First Instance Court No. 5 in Marbella has now found in favor of the developer, ruling that the fact that the property was not completed on time is not the company’s fault. The court also said that any irregularities in the license granted by the Town Hall cannot be attributed to the developer.

There was a similar case affecting the same urbanization two years ago, when other British buyers had their claim for their stage payments to be returned turned down by a court. Sur however reports another case a year later, when the provincial court ruled on appeal in favor of the buyers, ordering the developer to return their payments.

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