Hello, my name is Diego Taurea. I'm a sociologist here in Marbella since 2001
I was brought up in Madrid and came here in 2001. Then I studied different universities in Madrid and Germany
And then I had my own practice since 2006. Brilliant, and so when did you come to Marbella? 2001
2001, and what made you come to Marbella? Well, this is a good place to have international clients from all over the place
My background was more or less that direction, so I decided to come here and try it
Brilliant, and so given that you can have an international client base then, where would you say most of your clients are from
99% of the clients are English, or 95 or whatever, but mostly from England
The rest are from Sweden or Russia or international backgrounds, but not Spanish clients
Brilliant, and why do you think so many British people? Well, British are the main population here in Marbella and the coast
They've been here for the last 30-40 years and it's going to be like that even with Brexit
Can you give me a brief explanation of what the floor clause is and why it's become such a big problem
Right, well the floor clause is a clause that was inserted that was included in the mortgages between 2001 and 2010
This clause means that all the mortgage payments or the interest will never go down below 3 or 4% depending on the clause
So this means you will never end up paying the right amount, so you will always be paying more than you're supposed to
If you multiply this for years and years and years, it can be quite a large sum of money
That's why all the mortgages between 2001 and 2010, 2011, 90% have this clause
What happens is that most of the rich, the poor people, are not aware of it
They don't have to know that they are overpaying. They might be now getting interest, but they were never informed about it
Even if they bought a property with a lawyer, this clause was inserted in the mortgages
So now, for example, we have 0% interest, or very close to zero, and still people are paying 3 or 4%
Between a mortgage of 100,000 euros, it means 200 or 300 euros per month
If you multiply this in 2011, it could be 20,000 or 15,000 depending on the amount of the mortgage
Do you have an estimate of how many had this clause at the time? Most of it, 90%. Depending on the banks, most of the banks would include that clause in the past
How much money were people being conned out of? It depends on the amount of the mortgage, how much money the client borrowed, and it depends on how many years are left of the mortgage
But the average for my clients is around 20,000 euros. We do it in a no-win-no-fix. It means the client doesn't have to put any money in front of the banks
So it's just a matter of time to get all the paperwork and do the claim, and then go to court and win the case against the bank
And how many victories have you had for the floor cases? So far, all the cases. It means around 49 cases
We have another 110 cases in court waiting. So that's the thing. The main issue is the length of the cases
It takes a long time because the courts are collapsed, and it takes a long time until you have a positive ruling
Who were the worst offenders? The worst ones? Yeah. The worst banks in this area were Unicaja
I don't want to give bad publicity, but I'm just talking about the facts in there
So most of the claims we do is against Unicaja, Banco Sabadell, Banco Popular, Banco Santander, and the old savings banks
But they already don't exist anymore. Caja España, Caja Verde, Caja Sol
All those savings banks don't exist anymore. Those are the most... They are sold and sold more cases
And are there any cases, per se, that you're allowed to discuss, that you can say, you know
of a particular client that you're allowed to talk about? Or, you know, a case that you can name that you've won that has been, you know, quite a big win at all
Well, we have a good case in Almeria, you know, which, you know, the client was able to recover 50,000 euros
So it was a lot of money. This was against Caja Bernal
And it took, you know, one year and a half, and then, you know, the client was able to recover 50,000 euros
And all the future payments of the mortgage will come down to the right figure
So it makes you... you're going to start paying the right amount from day one
since the whole case is won and the rule is passed in court
And how many people do you think still owe money that haven't gone to court
Lots. Lots. Thousands, I would say. Really? Yeah, because the main issue is that even if you sold your property in the last four or five years, you can still claim
It means that a lot of people who sold their properties in the last five years
they didn't have a clue that they were paying or were paying a mortgage
And they are still entitled to claim. And what would be your advice to anyone that's unsure whether maybe they're entitled to claim
Well, that's, you know, just contact us and send us an email, a copy of your last mortgage payment
And with that, you know, we can tell if it has a clause and all that, you know
And it takes, you know, one minute of our time, or two minutes to check, you know, if the mortgage has a legal clause
Or at least a floor clause. Obviously, the floor clause makes a lot of what we do at Fairway Lawyers
What other aspects do you work in? Apart from the mortgages. Yeah, we do a lot of real estate now
Real estate and transaction, sales, purses. And we do immigration law as well now
A lot of with Brexit now. Residency, you know, residence cards. For every teenager that has been stuck now, have no..
A lot of Brits here at the moment who are struggling to get a residency or didn't apply in time
A lot of people, you know, didn't think that Brexit was going to happen
It was going to be so... it was going to happen. And it... it did
And now, well, a lot of people have been applying on time before Christmas, last Christmas
And now it's more and more difficult. It's quite difficult now. You need to provide a lot of paperwork and more documents
And it's more complicated. So it's my understanding unless you had applied before the cut-off, you can't get a residency here anymore
Everything would have to be on visas. No, you can still. You can... it's always ways around
But you need to prove that you were here before Christmas. You need to prove that you were living here before
With the electricity bill, water bills, the macaroni bills. There's a lot of things to prove
Even in Poland, you know, we have cases where the administration has turned down the application
So it's getting more difficult. But case by case I think you can become a resident
But don't leave it too far because, you know, every month it's more difficult
And have you got anything else about sort of fairway lawyers that you'd like to add to it
I would like to add to it as well about inheritance, okay
A lot of people are, you know, with the Covid, you know, died or didn't come back here
They died and they live here and have no wills. That is a big mess, you know, if you don't have a Spanish will
And, you know, it makes things more difficult. And is there something you can help them with again
Yeah, with inheritance. There's a lot of people who, you know, they didn't leave a will here in Spain
And that's causing a big problem. Because in England it's a different law and it makes it more complicated from the legal point of view
And so how can you help people with that then? How is it different over here compared to the UK looking at..
Here you need to have a Spanish will for your assets in Spain
If not, we have to use the English will. But the English will has to be approved by a court in England
It's called a probate and it's more complicated. It took us one year to get a probate seal from England
Because with the Covid all the offices in England were mostly closed
So that's why I really recommend to have a Spanish will here
Where do you see yourself in five, ten years time? What is sort of the dream
I would like to be... have more free time. Everyone's got you busy working at the moment
Yeah, I'm too busy now. I would like to have more free time
To spend with the family. To spend in the fairway, in the golf course
Ah, the golf course. Well, of course with the family. Where's your favourite golf course around here to play
Here's Wilhelmina. Do you play often? Or not as often as you like
Not as often as I like. Once a week more or less. Not enough