• Contract Law
• Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008
• Limitation Act 1980
• EU Directive 2008/122/EC
• Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977
• Misrepresentation Act 1967
• Consumer Rights Act (CRA) 2015

Lawsuits in Spanish Courts

Spain operates Directive 94/47/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 26 October 1994 on protection of purchasers in relation to certain aspects of purchase contracts for the right to use real properties on a timeshare basis. This Directive is enforced in Spain through Spanish Law 42/1998, which came into effect on 5 January 1999. On 15 January 2015, the Supreme Court of Spain ruled that all contracts signed after 5 January 1999 must have a duration of less than 50 years, which had a significant impact on the owners of timeshares in Spain. This essentially outlawed the “open-term contracts” that became common in the 1980s.
On the back of this decision, timeshare consumers filed a large number of lawsuits with the Spanish Supreme Court. Since then, a decision has been upheld requiring resorts to offer their customers a so-called “cooling-off period” or time for considering a purchase. It is illegal to accept any money or force a client to sign any financial agreements during this period. The “cooling-off period” was initially ten days (Law 42/1998) but has since been extended to 14 days (Law 4/2012).
Furthermore, the Supreme Court of Spain has ruled that any timeshare contract dated since the beginning of 1999 must contain information about the purchased apartment / living space / length of stay, as well as about arrival and departure times.
Failure to comply with these rulings could result in the timeshare contract being declared void, in which case buyers are entitled to a full refund of the timeshare purchase price. Yet, even though Spanish laws are currently on the consumer’s side, timeshare resorts might try to stave off the inevitable decision by appealing against court rulings and transferring money between their subsidiaries.