Simon Peter Okurut,
There was some good news today when we won a case we have been fighting in the Spanish courts since 2008. In 2008, my good self and nearly 100, 0000 UK citizens put down deposits to buy holiday or letting properties in Spain. At the time, this looked like a very good investment. In my case, I put down a deposit of £35,000, for a £130,000 sea-side villa, money that I took out of my pension pots and savings, having done international work for almost 10 years. I ignored advice from home to buy or build a house in Uganda, because nearly all the feed back I got from Uganda was of horror stories, with people being duped with pictures of ghost houses etc, that never existed in reality. The Property Developer kept us informed of weekly progress and I was really pleased with the progress. My plan was to let out the villa for 9 months a year and then use it myself for holidays for the remainder. Spain is a very popular tourist destination for UK citizens and at any moment in time, there are at least 1 million UK citizens in Spain, either as tourists or retired pensioners. So letting it out would not be a problem.
But late in 2008, the property market collapsed and our Developer went burst. This was really a nightmare, because all work stopped on the construction works and we were left just with shells of buildings that no one else would buy. We took the legal route, but we were fighting against big banks and Insurance companies. The Developers had no money to pay us- they simply disappeared from the scene and so we were left to fight the banks and the Insurance companies that had given guarantees to the developers. Most of us could not afford the sky rocketing legal costs, so we got the services of "No Win, No Fees" lawyers in Spain. The court went through the lower courts and up to the Supreme Court, a process which has now lasted almost 9 years, and which ended yesterday with the court ordering the banks to compensate us. In my case, they have to refund me £35,000 plus 6% interest and also pay all my legal costs.
This morning, I was really excited when I heard the news on TV. I even rang my son, a final year student at Brighton University, to tell him I now have the money to give him to pay for his own deposit for his own house. He is graduating in September, but has a girlfriend who wants to stay with him. I am not really very keen on him coming back home with a girlfriend, so I have been encouraging him to buy a flat, with me footing most of the initial costs. But as soon as I phoned him, I realised that in 2008, I was still married. This vital fact had escaped my mind completely. It was like being hit by a tornado.
Now it seems I celebrated too early. There is certainly a truism in the saying that what God gives with One hand, he takes away with the Other. There is no doubt my ex-wife has also heard about this court decision, and I expect to get a letter from her lawyers in the next few days informing me they intend to put a charge on my share of the court judgement. If you Simon Peter Okurut won a Lottery today in the UK, any of your creditors or ex-wives can immediately rush to court to slap a charge on your winnings. A legal charge means you can not get the money unless you have reached an agreement with your creditors, or failing that then a competent court willn decide on the merits of the case, as in any other civil proceedings, and decide whether the charge is lawful or not, and then decide how much to give to the creditor.
Marriage is like a hangman's noose these days. You just can't escape it or its consequences however much you try. You can't hide and you can't hide. In this country, marriage now resembles a life sentence in prison. Really sad. But I am glad that the 9 year fight is over, although I doubt I will get anything out of it. I have battled my ex-wife before and she is sharper than a nail when it comes to such matters.
Bobby
Up to 100,000 UK investors in Spanish homes could get payout
By Joe Lynam Business reporter
Image copyright Getty Images
Up to 100,000 UK investors who lost money when the Spanish property market collapsed could be in line for payouts, a law firm has estimated.
It follows a Supreme Court ruling in Spain last year, telling banks to pay investors back for the deposits they put down on homes sold off-plan.
A law firm representing UK buyers has said that could amount to as much as £20,000 per investor.
In total, Britons who lost money before 2008 could be owed as much as £2bn.
The estimates come from a law firm called Spanish Legal Reclaims (SLR), which is representing some of those who lost out.
"Property developers should have put the money in a specific account with a bank warranty - so in the event of failure, that money was protected," according to Luis Cuervo, chief executive of SLR.
"The Supreme Court said that financial institutions are obliged to repay that money to buyers, if a developer disappears or is bankrupt."
'Proper' legal advice
In the run-up to the financial crisis, an estimated five million new apartments and houses were built in Spain - more than any other country in Europe.
Most new developments were sold off-plan.
However, when the financial crisis struck in 2008, many developers collapsed, leaving housing projects unfinished.
Property-buyers who had put down cash deposits were at the end of the list of creditors, and thousands lost their money.
Image caption Stephanie Davis was one of many UK investors who lost money in the Spanish property market One UK investor who is hopeful of getting her money back is Stephanie Davis.
She and her late husband transferred €77,000 (£61,000) to a now-defunct Spanish developer to buy a villa off-plan in Andalucia.
"My husband would be so proud that I'm doing something about it. If he's looking down, he'd be ecstatic," says Mrs Davis, who is now taking legal advice about claiming her money back.
But she warns people to think carefully before joining the legal action.
"If you can afford it, then yes, but don't get into some legal tangle. We bought off-plan in 2008 - it was nearly built. But I think I'd wait until it was fully built before I'd want to buy something again."
However, UK investors are urged to get proper legal advice before submitting a claim.
Spanish law says claims can only be submitted once. If the claim is lost, it can never again be considered.
£15bn cost
Despite the Supreme Court ruling, Spanish banks are unlikely to pay out without a contest - the stakes for them are very high.
The whole thing could cost them at least £15bn and that would exclude interest owed and legal fees.
The effect could be devastating - proportionately as big as PPI payouts have been in Britain.
But British banks and the economy here are on a more robust financial footing than their Spanish equivalents. Unemployment in Spain has only recently begun to fall from its high of 26%.
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