The Basque Consumer Institute bases this recommendation on a legal interpretation that sets that date as the limit, taking into account that the legal period of five years for claims has expired since the publication of the Supreme Court ruling.
Kontsumoside, the Basque Consumer Institute, advises that claims for mortgage charges should be made to banks by January 22. This recommendation is based on a legal interpretation that sets January 22, 2024 as the deadline for filing claims. The calculation of the date takes into account the fact that the Supreme Court decision was published on January 23, 2019 and that the statutory period for filing claims is five years.
The claim must be addressed to the Customer Service or Customer Ombudsman of the bank with which the mortgage has been taken out, who has the obligation to respond within a maximum period of one month. Kontsumobide reminds that it is crucial to submit the claim to this specific service, as its submission in a conventional office may be considered not filed. To do this, the institute makes a claims model available on its website.
Several rulings ratified by the Supreme Court stipulate that the management, appraisal and registration costs in their entirety, as well as 50% of the notary costs, must be borne by the banking entity granting the mortgage loan. Several clauses detailed in the mortgage contracts attributing these costs to the applicants were annulled by the said judgments.
The annulment of these clauses opened the possibility for mortgage loan applicants to claim reimbursement of these costs. Although several banking entities accepted the ruling and acknowledged that the costs themselves should have been paid, they refused to refund them, arguing that the claim period had expired.
The term for claiming these costs is five years and, according to Konsumobide, The crucial question is when does the deadline start?. Initially, the banks argued that the term started when the mortgage was signed, but the European courts rejected this position as it would create defenselessness for consumers. This position of the banks would have closed the door to the exercise of consumer rights, as they would assume that the period had expired before the annulment of the clauses.
Kontsumobide recalls that there is currently no legal certainty as to whether the period starts from the adoption of the case law (23 January 2019) or from the declaration of nullity of the clause. Anyway, to avoid conflictsadvises those who signed their mortgage before January 15, 2019, to claim reimbursement of mortgage costs before January 22, 2024.
People who signed their mortgage before June 15, 2019 They are the ones who can claim mortgage costs as it was common for banks to charge these to applicants. With effect from June 16, 2019, with the entry into force of the law regulating real estate credit contracts, the allocation of mortgage costs to banking entities was established. Kontsumobide therefore states that the cost declaration does not apply to mortgages taken out after that date.
Source: EITB
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
