Costa nightmare could cost us our UK home
Sunday, November 28, 2010 @ 12:30 PM
A couple who face losing their house in Britain to a Spanish bank have warned of the dangers of falling behind in mortgage payments on holiday homes abroad.
In an alarming development for the many thousands of Britons who have bought properties in Spain, a bank in Marbella is using EU law to force Carol and Ian Chatterton out of their £300,000 cottage in Wiltshire.
The couple – who are both NHS paramedics and have two daughters aged 12 and 14 – could be forced to sell up to pay back a mortgage on an apartment in Spain, following a hearing due to take place on Tuesday.
The bank is using a European Enforcement Order (EEO) to take control of the Chattertons’ three-bedroom home near Chippenham, where they have lived for 20 years.
The first the couple knew of the bank’s move against their home was when an interim charging order – a first step towards a possible forced sale – was posted to them by a county court.
They have been told they cannot appeal against the order in the UK. European law allows them to challenge it only in a Spanish court, which they cannot afford to do.
‘We’re devastated,’ said Carol, 48. ‘There are thousands more Britons in our position. This is a time bomb waiting to go off. I can see the suicide rate going up as a result. It will have massive repercussions.’
In 2004, Carol and husband Ian, 50, decided to buy an apartment in Duquesa, halfway between Marbella and Gibraltar, and later took out a mortgage of £145,000 with Banco de Sabadell.
When repayments became difficult last year, they offered to give the apartment to the bank, but it refused to accept – and instead launched a bid to seize their British home.
In October, Banco de Sabadell obtained the EEO from a notary in Spain. It required the county court at Trowbridge to impose an interim order against the Chattertons’ home.
On Tuesday, the county court is due to make the charge on their property absolute, after which the bank may force the sale at any time.
The Halifax holds the mortgage on the cottage, which stands at £250,000, and would agree to the forced sale as long as it got its money back. Banco de Sabadell would then take the remainder. The Spanish bank could also wait to sell until the cottage’s value rose.
‘How can we live like that, with that threat hanging over us?’ Carol said.
An EEO is meant to be used for uncontested claims in civil cases across EU borders, but evidence has emerged that Spanish officials have stretched the meaning of ‘uncontested’ to allow banks to fast-track claims on UK property.
Yesterday the UK Ministry of Justice insisted the ‘originating authority’ in Spain must certify that the defendant has agreed to the claim or had the opportunity to object to the EEO.
But in Spanish law, a buyer taking out a mortgage gives up the right to contest the debt, and this is taken as evidence of agreeing to the claim.
A spokesman for Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner for Justice, confirmed there was no obligation to notify debtors. He added that ‘in principle, no appeal is possible’ against the issuing of an EEO.
Wiltshire MEP Ashley Fox said: ‘To me this is against the laws of natural justice. I shall be writing to the Commission to ask that they investigate.’
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