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IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ALL OWNERS WITH A MANCHESTER BUILDING SOCIETY (“MBS”) MORTGAGE!

12th August 2023 by admin under In The Media, Legal Action     
Step forward for building society merger as terms agreed

If you are reading this article there is a good chance that you are among the 200 odd owners of Spanish property that took out a mortgage with Manchester Building Society, now part of Newscastle Building Society.

For years, Manchester Building Society (“MBS”) offered lifetime mortgage loans to owners of Spanish property. The facility allowed “asset rich, cash poor” property owners unlock their wealth by means of periodical drawdowns that typically, would only be repayable upon death of the borrower, within a maximum period of 12 months from the demise.

Unfortunately, MBS ran out of cash to pay property owners, all agreed instalments were halted due to a prohibition by its regulator, PRA, to grant further loans in Spain and elsewhere and left borrowers “high and dry”, still with a MBS mortgage registered against their property and thus, unable to sell it.

There is however a way out to free your property from this mortgage for good, and that solution is already available through Lawbird Legal Services. Last year, a Velez Malaga Court fully accepted executive proceedings brought by Lawbird Legal Services against MBS, on behalf of a British client, demanding full payment of the agreed loan of 300k Euro (with interest). This is in addition to the over 50 rulings won in many other courts against different equity release providers around Spain.

Now, more claims are being filed through the Courts to terminate the mortgage loans due to contractual default by MBS, on the following grounds:

  1. MBS have stopped making any further agreed payments.
  2. MBS have not given a solution to the property owners.
  3. MBS have not reviewed the existing mortgage loan proposal to adjust it to their inability to continue offering the promised cash.
  4. MBS will not address the current situation of owners that are unable to sell, offer a compromise or terminate the mortgage loan.

If you have a property and you have Manchester Building Society Lifetime Mortgage, you need to act now and take advantage of the existing favourables rulings to achieve the following:

a. Nullify the MBS mortgage loan.

b. Retain the sums received so far as compensation.

c. Remove the charge from the house.

If you are in the above situation and want to know how ERVA and their appointed lawyers can assist, call Anabel on + 34 952 86 18 90 or send her an email (info@erva.es) to schedule a free online or office meeting with the lawyers.

Dont wait any longer, acting now is better than doing it later or not doing it all, it will not cost you anything to know your options and legal rights!

…click here to read more

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FUENGIROLA COURT DECLARES NYKREDIT’s MORTGAGE NULL AND VOID while CHRISTEL MARK HANSEN, branch manager and witness, gives masterclass in lying under oath.

19th March 2022 by admin under Legal Action     
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Court of First Instance 1 in Fuengirola has declared an Equity Release mortgage loan valued at €1.4 million null and void.

According to the ruling, Nykredit Realkredit A/S (largest lender in Denmark) and Sydbank (Investment bank) teamed up to create the Spanish Equity Release Package (SERP), a complex financial product designed to reduce the value of Spanish properties by registering a mortgage loan against them and intended, based on generous and explicit advertising, to mitigate or reduce Spanish inheritance tax.

Of the Nykredit loan only a small sum was given to the property owner/borrower whereas the rest, the larger part of it, would be invested in a SICAV (translated as Investment Company with Variable Capital) promoted by Sydbank. As we all now know, not only did the investments go terribly wrong but the tax break offered by the mortgage was a not true, i.e., a scam.

Nykredit and Sybank, working closely together as shown on signed mutual agreements, offered around a dozen of such mortgages to Spain-based properties owners.

In spite of the above a cynical and insolent Christel Mark Hansen, working for Nykredit since before her employer peddled these toxic banking products and now branch manager of Nykredit’s Marbella office, shamelessly appeared in Court and after saying she had no interest in the case, proffering an orchestrated litany of lies, half-truths and manipulated statements despite being…under oath.

According to Christel:

  • When asked if Nykredit and Sydbank did work together, she said it was the borrower who put them in touch (despite both being Danish, the former holding a stake in the latter’s shareholding and the various meetings between the managers of both companies and the client).
  • When asked if Sydbank had to give a guarantee to Nykredit for 33% of the loan, she shamelessly answers “YES and NO” (despite it being a contractual obligation of the former to the latter).
  • When asked if Nykredit paid a commission to Sydbank, she dodged the question a very arrogant Danish-bank style (despite it being a contractual obligation of the former to the latter).
  • When asked if she knew if Nykredit’s loan had to go to Sydbank she said that yes, but only because she had seen it in other Court cases, and not because there was an agreement signed by both banks.

Nykredit had already foreclosed on the loan and repossessed the property at the time of the ruling although it is not known if they have sold it on. If they have, the bank will have to pay compensation of €1.7 million to the victims of their fraud.

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ERVA FOUNDER EUAN ARMSTRONG WINS IN COURT!

16th January 2022 by admin under Legal Action     

Euan Armstrong, President and Founder of the Equity Release Victims’ Association, has finally succeeded in having his 2004 mortgage loan rendered illegal by a Spanish Court.

When in 2010 Danske Bank foreclosed on the loan and attempted to rob Euan of his Alhaurin home, he could not imagine what a long road lied ahead; immediately upon being served Court papers, Euan’s lawyers instituted criminal proceedings at the Fuengirola Court denouncing the scam he had been a victim of.

When 5 years later the Courts dismissed all criminal proceedings -as a result of a controversial decision by Spanish judiciary governing bodies to not pursue bank contracts criminally- and Danske Bank attempted to foreclose again, lawyers acting for Euan made an almost unheard -and very risky- legal decision: they filed a criminal case against a judge in Coin for admitting a loan foreclosure claim with blatantly insufficient documents.

The Granada High Court in charge of reviewing the case against the judge dismissed the allegations in 2018 -they were described as merely civil- but not before noting, in a short paragraph, that Euan’s allegation of a flawed civil procedure had merits in it. So whilst no charges were brought against the judge, a new Coin judge dealing with the case -who had replaced the previous one for unknow reasons- dismissed all foreclosure procedures on the basis of a technicality.

In 2019, with the threat of loan foreclosure all but eliminated, lawyers for Euan filed the definitive civil claim against Danske Bank International S.A. and The One Life Company S.A. for devising, promoting and selling a misleading and illegal complex financial product, requesting that both the mortgage loan contract and the insurance policies were ruled null and void by the Courts, which is exactly what the ruling has granted.

Lawbird Legal Services S.L.P. (Antonio Flores in the initial defensive actions and Juan Martinez Soler in the latter -and hopefully definitive- Coin Court of First Instance ruling) have acted for Euan Armstrong.

(to be continued)

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International Property Finance (Spain) Ltd. loses right to file an answer to a claimant’s civil suit

17th June 2020 by admin under Legal Action     

International Property Finance’s bid to have its response writ accepted by a Fuengirola Court has been rejected for being filed late. “IPFSL”, an Rothschild’s offshoot that operated in Spain without regulatory clearance, failed once again to respond within the time limits of civil litigation procedural law.

Strangely enough, “IPFSL” registered its interest in the equity release case on the 19/11/18 but only submitted its response to the claim writ in February 2020, that is, almost 14 months later.

Lawyers acting for the claimant, Lawbird Legal Services SLP, believe Rothschild bank does not wish to have to defend claims filed against a non-regulated dependent entity -a decision largely based on reputational motives- and yet, are trying to delay the case as much as permissible under existing laws.

Co-defendant Swiss Life Luxembourg S.A., where the proceeds of the mortgage where invested through, is also in default and will not be defended in the up and coming trial, to be held within the year.

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Court 4 in Fuengirola voids 9 equity release mortgages taken out by British pensioners 

22nd April 2019 by admin under Legal Action     


Esperanza Broz Martorell, presiding over Court of First Instance 4 in Fuengirola, has declared that 9 mortgage loans worth close to 4 million Euros taken out by British property owners with Chesire-based lender SLM are totally null and void and makes an order to the land registry for the removal of the lender’s charge. Additionally, the Court makes a specific order preventing SLM from claiming the sums advanced to the borrowers, who will not be therefore forced to return any sums.

At the request of the claimants’ counsel (Lawbird Legal Services S.L.P.), the Court accepted the cross-examination of various witnesses -lawyers who acted for SLM, former Hamilton’s Financial Services’ employees, an ubiquitous Mr. Sam Atkisons, current SLM director- and substantial contractual documentation as well as promotional literature, none of which was contested by SLM.

The Court went to consider that the claimants had taken out -between 2006 and 2007- a single product denominated SITIRS (Spanish Inheritance Tax and Income Release Scheme), of complex financial nature, where the grant of a mortgage-backed loan (given to mostly pensioners of limited income) “was inextricably linked to a predetermined purpose for at least 95% of the loan, it being the purchase of shares in a fund that had been previously designated by SLM”, shares that were also pledged in favour of SLM.

According to the ruling, the following were applicable to this case:

  • SLM sold the product in Spain via agents, financial services companies such as Hamiltons Financial Services who, in this case, operated as a tele-sales company. 
  • SLM paid a one-off commission to the agents and for that very reason, cannot be described as “independent financial advisors”.
  • SLM was unable to prove that the investors understood the risks inherent to the product they were acquiring, nor did they establish -beyond reasonable doubt- any previous financial experience by the claimants.
  • SLM provided generic documentation on risks and did not specify all other potential hazards involving the complex financial contraption.
  • Claimants faced the brunt of the financial risk as SLM had secured its investment via a mortgage loan on the property and a pledge on the shares within the investment.
  • SLM held the shares within the investment, giving rights over those to the individual investors.
  • SLM operated unregulated and outside the legality, depriving customers from the protection offered by specific legislation.

The above circumstances satisfied the Court that these loans were illegal in Spain and therefore, should be set aside and declared void. In addition, the Court accepted that SLM committed civil fraud as they withheld vital information from their customers who, had they’d known the extent of it would have never signed up for the investment-linked mortgage loans. 

The ruling is not firm as SLM has 20 days to appeal to the Malaga Appeal Court.

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Rothschild lawyers prepare for Court war

16th January 2019 by admin under Legal Action     

Rothschild Bank International Limited Logo

N.M. Rothschild & Sons has taken the legal defense of the Equity Release (ER) cases in Spain as a matter of life or death.

In a very generous interpretation of Spanish procedural laws that allow parties to bring those witnesses deemed useful in support of their arguments, the following individuals have been lined up for an up and coming Court hearing to take place in Denia:

  • Dean Murphy, former boss of Hamilton’s Financial Services, in charge of selling hundreds of fraudulent ER contracts. Currently based in La Cala de Mijas, Málaga.
  • Stephen Dewsnip, former manager Rothschild Bank International Limited that operated, knowingly, without a license in Spain. Currently living in West Sussex.
  • Peter Rose, former director at Rothschild Bank International Limited, currently living in Guernsey.
  • Claire Whittet, currently working for Rothschild Bank International Limited.
  • David Shannon, currently working for Rothschild Bank International Limited.

ERVA lawyers have cast doubt over the convenience -for Rothschild- of deposing those who explicitly extolled the false virtues of the Credit Select Mortgages, namely:

  • IHT-friendly.
  • Fully apt for risk-averse pensioners.
  • “Different” from a normal mortgage, as Rothschild would “not look to treating customers as regular borrowers”.

In all logic, those no longer under the umbrella of Rothschild will surely feel that being subjected to harsh cross-examination from the victims’ expert counsel, after moving on with their personal and professional lives, will be both stressful and unnecessary, unless of course their is some financial gain in it.

The Denia judge has the right to use his discretion to decide on the pertinence of Rothschild’s witness requests.

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Landsbanki fails to transfer Equity Release cases to Luxembourg

3rd January 2019 by admin under Legal Action     

Landbanki Luxembourg

It has been a while since our last post, but things have been fairly quiet in the litigation front, save for Landsbanki’s cases.

Undeterred by recent rotund judicial response against Equity Release contracts, liquidators for the Icelandic defunct financial predator remain undeterred and a still trying to collect their investments or, if needed, steal pensioners’ properties from under their feet.

For Landsbanki, cunning has become a second nature and consequently, their very latest devious strategy is to contest the jurisdiction of Spanish Courts in favour of the bank-friendly tribunals of Luxembourg, invoking EU-bankruptcy laws.

So far though, ERVA lawyers have managed to throw out no less than 8 motions filed by Landsbanki to have the cases relocated to Luxembourg Courts. The Courts involved are in the Malaga, Almeria and Alicante provinces.

2 further motions were accepted by the Courts but are likely to be reversed on appeal.

On finding in favour of the victims of the equity release fraud, the Courts upheld existing case law on the matter (two rulings of the Court of Appeal of Malaga of 2013 and 2015) as well as legal precepts invoked by the counsel of the victims.

Specifically, the Courts have convened that:

  • EU-bankruptcy laws do not apply to contracts signed by consumers, who still have the right to choose to litigate where they live.
  • EU-bankruptcy laws do not apply to legal agreements or contracts that were entered with the company prior to it becoming insolvent.
  • Spanish laws grant exclusive jurisdiction to national Courts where dispute over property registered rights is concerned.

 

 

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Nykredit and Sydbank Cheated Foreigners with Mortgages Worth Millions

18th April 2018 by admin under Legal Action     

Oficina de Nykredit en Marbella

Two Danish Companies persuaded British property owners to take out mortgage loans they could not repay

Following the Appeal Court ruling against Nykredit and Sydbank where both defendants have been branded “clandestine operators” for operating without a license, Spanish national press have extensively covered this extraordinary story of fraud and deceipt. 

The following media have written about this deception:

 

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BREAKING NEWS: Malaga Appeal Court Demolishes Nykredit & Sydbank’s Equity Release Mortgage

3rd April 2018 by admin under Legal Action     

 

The Malaga Appeal Court has reversed an unjust Court of First Instance ruling and granted relief to two British pensioners victims of the “Spanish Equity Release Package” (SERP), peddled by Nykredit Realkredit A/S “and Sydbank (Schweiz) AG and sold by Offshore Money Managers.

The following is a summary of the ruling, received today:

  • Foreign pensioners were lured to Offshore Money Managers Equity Release proposal due to its attractive IHT reduction benefits.
  • Nykredit  and Sydbank associated themselves to produce the SERP.
  • Sydbank was not authorized to operate in Spain, in spite of which they opened -in contravention of mandatory laws- an office in Fuengirola.
  • Nykredit had no authorization by the Danish regulator to grant loans in Spain for investment purposes.
  • Chrystel Mark Hansen (mentioned twice) and Karen Egaa’s testimonies, on behalf of Nykredit, have been described as being extremely unreliable, when not openly untruthful.
  • Nykredit’s forensic expert’s conclusions are challenged extensively for being grossly biased in favour of the lender, besided deliberately ignoring fundamental aspects of contractual arrangements.
  • Nykredit’s mortgage loan is rendered null and void and Sydbank (Switzerland) is ordered to pay back 462,000 Euros to the claimants.

The Court findings represents a great disaster for both these banks because their conduct with existing clients is reported as irregular and dishonest, and to that effect imposed the maximum possible penalties in law.

(we will expand shortly)

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Court Orders Stay on Nordea’s Foreclosure Proceedings

22nd January 2018 by admin under Legal Action     

An Estepona Court has order an indefinite stay of proceedings in respect to a foreclosure case brought by Nordea against a Danish Equity Release victim.

Nordea’s aggressive stance was met with resistance from  lawyers acting for the customer, who invoked the abusiveness of the early maturity or redemption clauses and the pending resolution by the European Court of Justice, who will decide on their potential illegality.

 

 

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