Today is a very important day for our friends Across The Great Lake, July 4th, is Independence Day.
So Inside Timeshare (Europe) would like to take this opportunity to wish all our friends and contributors a very happy 4th July, we shall certainly be cracking open a bottle to help you celebrate.
Yesterday, the week started off with another court in Tenerife finding against Resort Properties / Silverpoint, with the Court of First Instance declaring the contract null & void. In this case the CLA clients will receive back 23,150€, in this instance that is 7,000€ more than they originally paid. The infractions for this case are the contract being a perpetuity one, deposits taken on the day of signing and the lack of information required by law.
It is clear that the courts in Spain are enforcing the timeshare laws, as laid down and clarified by the Supreme Court. We are seeing more and more cases with some very large payouts, often more than the client originally paid, showing the courts will penalise resorts and their sales departments for infractions of the law. The most common ones are the taking of deposits within the 14 day cooling off period, even by a third party, which the courts are awarding double. In some cases this period is increased to 90 days if there is a lack of information required by law, which would then allow the courts to award double any payment made in this period.
Unfortunately, due to these rulings there are many companies springing up purporting to be law firms, stating they have won so many cases. Many are offering a no win no fee case, then need to have a substantial payment upfront to start the case. If contacted by one of these companies, check how long they have been in operation, check the dates of company registration (if any) and the date of any website registration. Remember many of these court cases have taken 3 years or more to go through, as they have been subject to appeals at the High Court or sent to the Supreme Court, so any company that has only just “popped up” could not have had these successes.
Check who the lawyers are, what their Bar Registration numbers are, you can check these through the Spanish Bar Association Register. We are also seeing fake court documents, these can be verified with courts themselves, if you are in doubt contact Inside Timeshare and we can check them for you.
Another aspect to many claims companies and the no win no fee claims, is that they will need to “relinquish” your membership first, this is usually for several thousands of pounds. The no win no fee claim is then an attempt to claim under section 75 of the credit consumer act. Now the important thing to remember is if you have used your timeshare, then you have received the goods and services paid for, so there is no claim. The credit consumer act sec 75 does not pay out because the contract is illegal under Spanish law. There is only one way to make a claim and that is using a legitimate law firm with experience in this field and going to litigation.
If you are in any doubt about the authenticity of any company you are dealing with, or the offer sounds too good to be true, then contact Inside Timeshare and we will check them out for you. Remember, better safe than sorry.
Happy Independence Day and have a great party.
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