What is believed to be the largest award to date in a Spanish timeshare dispute has been secured for Southampton couple Mr & Mrs Sewell-Rutter.
In the Spanish courts, Malaga-based M1 Legal, acting for European Consumer Claims, secured an award of €365,000 in a claim against La Pinta Beach Club in Tenerife.
The case was complex, with different authorised agents acting for different companies. However, the evidence presented to the court showed the contracts were linked.
The judge accepted that the companies involved were, in effect, the same entity.
The court also ruled that the timeshare contracts should be treated as null and void because they were sold in perpetuity. Under Spanish timeshare law, timeshare weeks sold after 5 January 1999 cannot run indefinitely and must be limited to a maximum term of 50 years.
“As far as we are aware, this is the largest timeshare victory ever achieved,” said M1 Legal ECC spokeswoman Sharon Johnson. “M1 made this possible through continuous dedication and commitment to supporting this case.”
Mr & Mrs Sewell-Rutter said: “We have had timeshare weeks with La Pinta Beach Club for over 10 years and, every year we went there, we were approached by the resales department and pressured to buy additional timeshares. They promised to sell them at a profit. The pressure each time was exhausting and we eventually gave in. As a result, we lost most of our savings, had to remortgage our house and take out a bank loan. In the end, we lost a considerable amount of money.”
They added: “We didn’t know where to turn until we found M1legal. At last, we had found a company that dealt with us in an understanding and professional way. It took some time, but our case finally went to court in Tenerife and a few months later we were told we had won. We can’t thank M1legal enough for their efforts. They have been brilliant throughout, and now we will get our money back. We are so delighted and would recommend that anyone who has lost money as a result of timeshare scams get in touch with M1legal.”
M1 LEGAL provides legal services to support European Consumer Claims for consumers who have experienced mis-selling and subsequent breaches of statutory duties by resorts in relation to holiday ownership products and services sold transnationally. These include floating week timeshares, points-based timeshare products, holiday clubs and fractional ownerships.
Claims include actions against resorts, marketing companies, management companies, exchange organisations, and finance and lending companies.
To find out more, contact Sharon Johnson at M1 Legal on 0034 951 562 209 or email sharon@m1legal.com. You can also visit www.M1Legal.com
