Julie Jordan
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Re: “One thing worth noting is that the British owners at Gran Anfi owe €136,957 in unpaid maintenance from 2018 and €78,247 from 2017. Assuming those lists include some of the same people then it suggests quite a few British owners could be about to have their apartments repossessed or be chased for debts.”
As Anfi are still sending maintenance invoices to members whose contracts have been declared null & void by the Court, I would expect these sums include quite a lot of owners who are just waiting for their claims to be concluded.
Have Anfi specified how much of this related to contracts where there has been a claim?
Also re “If you do not want to keep your apartment it is always better to sell it, even for a low amount, to someone that wants it and will pay the fees rather than hand it back to Anfi.”
That’s all well and good if you have a sellable fixed week but it was always my understanding that most Gran owners have floating weeks or points which are nigh on impossible to sell.
Hi Michael. We’re not using the Claims Forum of Anfi Uk anymore due to confidentiality issues. If you want to join our claiming members’ private group please email me care of secretary@anfiukmembers.co.uk. Otherwise I will try and answer your question in response to your email. Julie
Thanks for this Ruth – I could not have put it better myself.
Yes, Robert I had a ‘link’ with JLCA. For 12 months from the latter part of 2015 I worked with them to try and build their timeshare claims business in relation to other timeshare operators, e.g. CLC, Silverpoint, etc, carrying on business in Spain. It was not very successful and the contract was ended by mutual agreement after 12 months.
My liaison with them in relation to AnfiUK members’ claims was not included within that arrangement as there was an obvious conflict with my position on the Committee of Anfi UK.
When the arrangements were made with JLCA we did not agree any routine reporting back. JLCA set up their online system so members could check on the progress of their claims that way and agreed to provide general updates to the AnfiUK Committee on each occasion that it met, i.e. 3 or 4 times a year. This has been complied with and reports are included in the minutes of the Committee meetings. I also post on this Forum where there is information of general interest. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and, had we known the claims were going to drag out as long as they have, we could also have asked for minimum reporting to individual clients, but as Ruth so eloquently puts it below, this would have increased the fees charged. You pays your money and you takes your choice.
Assuming this is the first appeal, it will be to the High Court in Las Palmas. I am told that Anfi are not appealing all claims from here to the Supreme Court in Madrid, so yes, this could be the last ‘hearing’ of your claim. However there may still be execution proceedings to go through to obtain the final payment due to you. If Anfi do appeal further then there could be a further appeal to the Supreme Court.
That does seem a long time for nothing to have happened but you are not the only one whose case appears to have stalled for many months. JLCA assure me that they contact individual clients as soon as there is any progress in their case. There is no point them constantly contacting clients to report there is no news, is there? If you wanted a weekly ‘no progress’ report, your legal fees would have been significantly higher that those that JLCA charged us.
I have complained to JLCA about them not advising us of possibilities of the Courts accepting guarantees instead of ordering payment of sums awarded at First Instance. I have asked them to update us all on this.
The legal costs issue is a thorny one. You would think that evidence of your having complained early on in your contract term would be relevant to whether you were awarded legal costs BUT I am told that legal costs are not being awarded by the judges because our claims have not been ‘wholly successful’ on all points. Eg if a case included a claim for maintenance fees and had already been through the pre-trial procedure before the date of the Supreme Court decision (referred to by Wolfgang below) that disallowed maintenance fees claims (my own case is one such example), it is too late under the Spanish procedural rules to drop the maintenance fees element of the claim, in the same way that it is too late to introduce additional evidence to the Court. The case therefore goes to Court including the maintenance fees claim and fails in that regard. Then, because it is not a wholly successful claim, it is considered reasonable for the judge to exercise their discretion and not to award legal costs. It seems totally inequitable to us in the UK that the maintenance fee claim cannot be dropped in response to a subsequent Supreme Court decision, but those are the Spanish Courts’ rules. On appeal JLCA will ask the High Court to reconsider the question of legal costs taking account of the fact that there was a new decision blocking part of the claim made after the claim had been through pre-trial review, but again it is in the appeal judges’ discretion as to whether they are awarded. I am told that appeal costs may be awarded separately in these circumstances, even if the legal costs of the original claim are not awarded. In the UK you would expect to be awarded at least a proportion of your legal costs, but in Spain it does not seem to work that way. We are dealing with a different legal system.
I would agree that it might have been better explained to me and all of us at the beginning of all this, but JLCA argue that this is why they advised us to make claims as soon as possible and not to wait and see what the outcome of the first claims would be. Those claims that went through the Courts first had the best outcomes in terms of awards made and some were even considered to be ‘wholly successful’ and were also awarded legal costs. It was totally potluck as to whether your claim was one of the first to receive a decision or you are still waiting for a decision. I hope this helps to explain the position to you but you are of course free to seek more information from JLCA.
Hi Trevor
I do appreciate that the timescales are frustrating, but JLCA cannot force the Courts to deal with our cases any quicker than they are dealing with them at present. Constantly contacting JLCA for news or asking for information related your case, which makes no difference to how fast it is progressing, will not speed things up at all.
I don’t understand what you mean by ‘when you [ie JLCA] gave Anfi the time to response in crown court’. If one party appeals a decision, the time within which the other must respond will be laid down in the Court procedures. If the party cannot meet those timescales it has to apply to the Court for extra time and explain why it is needed. JLCA would oppose any such application on your behalf, but the decision of whether to grant the extra time or not is the judge’s, not JLCA’s. Also I think you mean the High Court, not ‘crown court’. The Crown Court in the UK is a criminal court, not one that hears civil claims like ours.
Although I share your scepticism as to the GC Courts’ willingness to support Anfi, most of the significant decisions made in Anfi’s favour since we started our claims, e.g. the discount for time ‘enjoyed’ at Anfi and the dismissal of claims for maintenance fees, have been decisions made by the Supreme Court in Madrid, not the local Courts on GC.
Thanks to Mark and Hanne, David and Susan for sharing their experiences. I’ve not been alerted to this possibility of guarantees being put in place instead of interim payments pending the final outcome of the claim and will be contacting JLCA this week for more information. My claim was also heard in Court 5 so I am now expecting a similar outcome in my own claim.
I am of course sympathetic to everyone who is in the position of just having to wait and wait and not getting the outcomes we were all lead to expect – I am in the same boat as you all. I remain confident in JLCA’s commitment to fighting on all our behalves, but it has to be acknowledged that slowly inch by inch Anfi are achieving small successes in the higher Courts which, when added together, eat away at the payments we all hoped we would receive and delay the finalisation of our claims. Nevertheless the Courts continue to hold that our contracts are null and void and confirm that Anfi was in breach of Spanish law when it enticed us to enter into contracts on these terms.
Hi Sean I am sorry that you feel this way. Be assured that as soon as JLCA have any news for you they will contact you. They cannot predict exactly when the High Court will deal with the appeal and notify JLCA of its decision in your case. They can only give you their best estimate based on timescales in previous cases. Unfortunately the High Court is now overwhelmed by Anfi’s appeals against all the first instance decisions in our favour and taking longer and longer to deal with appeals. As to whether you could have renegotiated your contract with Anfi – from my own experience and what others have said I doubt you would have got what you wanted without paying about £11k to Anfi – that seems to be the going rate for making any changes. We wanted to swap a floating week for a fixed week back in 2011 or 2012 and were quoted that sort of sum back then. Of course Anfi are taking every action they can legally and goodness knows how else to avoid or delay making payments to anyone bringing a claim. JLCA are fighting them on our behalf as best they can but they cannot determine the speed at which the Courts deal with our cases – it is simply out of their hands.
Just to say I have now had the decision in my own claim – Court case was on 20 December 2017 in Court No. 5.
Like many other members I have ‘won’ my claim in that my contract has been declared null and void. I have been awarded the original purchase price less about 25% for weeks ‘enjoyed at Anfi (following the Supreme Court decision of March 2016) and legal interest.
Also like many others I have NOT been awarded double payment, despite providing clear uncontested evidence of payment within 3 months of signing the contract, OR maintenance payments OR legal costs.
On this basis I will not recover even half the total of the purchase price and my subsequent expenses (notarial and legal expenses and costs of attending Court), which of course is disappointing. I will cover my legal and other expenses with some to spare and have the satisfaction of not just handing my week back to Anfi. I know many of you are in the same boat!
As regards the failure to award the double payment, JLCA’s view is as follows:
“4º) They do not award the double amount, despite the justified documentation and under article 11 of the Law 42/1998, the Judge considering that it should not be applied after so many years, calling it a “retraso desleal” [“unfair delay”]- indicating that it is too long a time from signing the contract to making this claim.
Obviously we would be appealing this point, and the laws clearly allows this double payment for payments made within the cooling off period.[…]
The issue of point 4. The law specifically allows for the claim in double for the payments made in the cooling off period, and sufficient proof of these payments was submitted within the claim. The Judge[‘s ….] consideration of double payments does not follow the legislation. This is clearly an error on [his] part, and as such [we] would expect it to be overturned in the appeal.
José-Luis asked me to emphasize that neither the other party nor the Judge contested the payments being made during cooling off period, which means he is confident of winning in the appeal. We are sorry that this Judgement was issued, but know you appreciate that this is beyond our control, and we will of course endeavor to ensure you receive the maximum compensation possible.”How it can be “unfair delay” when my claim was filed within 6 months of the Supreme Court’s original decision to allow such claims beats me. So off we go to execution and appeal…I’ll keep you posted.
Quite possibly, Roger but in Spain it appears that events that occur after a claim is filed are still taken into account when a decision is made.
As a result our members’ claims filed long before either the Supreme Court decision about deductions for time ‘enjoyed’ at Anfi (March 2016) or the Supreme Court decision about maintenance fees not being claimable (Sept 2017) have affected the value of our claims. Further those claims that had already been through the pre-trial review process by the time either of these decisions were made, could not be amended to take account of either of these decisions resulting in only partial ‘success’ at Court and no award of legal costs as a result.
On this basis I would expect that Anfi are trying to use the Clubs’ constitutional changes even if made after the claims were filed and that the Spanish Courts are taking account of them – but are disregarding them and consider them to be ineffective.
Hi John
Yes, you are correct this was JLCA’s previous advice but they have recently changed their view – probably as a result of points that Anfi have made in appeals. Unfortunately the goal posts keep moving in this saga.
Obviously I do not know if this point was made by Anfi in their appeal against your claim, so you need to ask JLCA directly.
It will be interesting to learn the outcome.
Best wishes
Julie
Yes Wolfgang, but our advice is that, although the contracts may have been legal when signed, after the two years expired the timeshare scheme should have been amended so the contracts complied with the new law.
Me too, Tony!
I’ve made changes to the main post above so please re-read if this applies to you. Please address any queries about your own personal circumstances to JLCA.
It sounds like JLCA are doing everything they can to progress your case. Two years is a long time but some of the Courts are slower than others. My case took over two years to get to the first instance hearing. I do hope you get a date soon.
Julie
There’s a charge for a guest certificate but that’s only 25 Euros. That just changes the booking to your daughter’s name.
It sounds like the charge is for carrying forward a week from an earlier year. They have always charged for this. It’s to cover additional admin charges – i.e. for the AVC staff to do their job!
If your client data has not been updated please send JLCA a screenshot and tell them. If they want us to stop phoning and emailing them for news they should attend to this. However there may be no news since your claim was filed at Court – if so, no update.
Hi Tony – sorry for the delay in replying. Anfi’s view is that you should pay maintenance and use your weeks until the appeal is concluded and the claim is closed. So you are not likely to have problems with Anfi.
However it may be they want you to do this so they can argue that you have ‘affirmed’ your contract. It is best to take JLCA’s advice if you want to use or rent out a week that falls after you receive your decision. Their view is that you should not pay maintenance or use or rent out any weeks after you receive your decision as this could compromise the defence of any appeal made by Anfi. Best to book the earliest week you can and use or rent it so you have done so before you get your court decision. I”ve been waiting since 20 Dec 2017 for my decision and some have waited longer than me so you should have time to do this.
Thanks for the update Harry. Points 1 and 2 are old news I’m afraid but point 3 is more topical and very interesting. It certainly explains the deteriorating standards at Monte. I noticed how shabby my apartment was when I was there in April 2016 and no doubt things have not improved since then.
I wonder of any of the Monte liaison reps past or present (Richard Weston – please respond) had any knowledge of this issue from the information they are given at liaison meetings.
It would also be interesting to hear from the other liaison reps past and present in relation to the other resorts – Roger Byatt, David Ledger, Karen Pearson and Wolfgang Maerz may have more information on this point. I think only Roger is currently on a liaison committee (Gran Anfi).
Hi Pat
Lots of members have used their Anfi timeshares while going through the claims process without any difficulties at all. I did so myself in 2016 and booked a week which I rented out in 2017.
JLCA ‘s advice is to pay maintenance until you receive a Court decision that your contract is null and void. After that they now recommend that you do not pay maintenance or attempt to use your weeks.
As your hearing is coming up and you have paid this year’s maintenance I would get a move on and book some weeks for later in 2018 either for your family to use or to rent out. As you have paid 2018 maintenance I would not expect Anfi to give either your family or your renters any grief.
Good luck for your day in Court.
Hi Sheila
When you instructed JLCA they gave you a login to their internal system which enables you to check for any progress on your claim before ringing them. Be assured they will contact you as soon as there is news but there is no sense in them spending all day on the phone calling clients to tell them there is no news.
I am waiting impatiently too, but I understand my hearing on 20 Dec was on the Court’s last working day before the Christmas/New Year break so there has been a delay in my receiving news of the outcome of my claim. Let’s hope we both hear something soon.
Julie
Hello Sheila
My personal claim was lodged in October 2015 and my pre-trial hearing took 18 months. Some Courts are slower than others and unfortunately JLCA can do nothing about it.
All I can say is that at the last report in January of the 126 claims lodged for AnfiUK members, only 27 have yet to reach the stage of the pre-trial hearing. Of the other 99, all have had their pre-trial hearing, 94 have had their full hearing and 91 judgements have been issued in the first instance. Mine is one of the three cases awaiting judgement.
I am afraid it is just a case of being patient. The Procuradors engaged by JLCA on our behalf has the job of dealing with the progress of the claims through the Courts but they too are in the hands of the Court administrators. There are many many cases going through the courts – they are quite overwhelmed.
Julie
With regard to Anfi’s email to all owners today i.e.
Dear Member,
If you have not already done so, we strongly suggest you watch a recent BBC programme called Rip Off Britain. In its latest episode (series 6, episode 5 – from minute 26:30 until 28:31), the programme investigates the serious issue of fake lawyers claiming to help with timeshare problems. The episode can be viewed on BBC iPlayer until Tuesday 6th February. If you are unable to view the episode, we are more than happy to send you a summary.
The programme follows the case of a family from England who owned a timeshare in Tenerife. They were approached by a man pretending to be a lawyer, who said he could get back the money they originally paid for it. However, he scammed them out of thousands of pounds by making up fees that did not exist, and the family never received the money they were promised. The programme goes through the frustration and pitfalls this family experienced by putting their trust in this fake lawyer. Further investigation found that the address he gave of his office did not exist.
We urge you to watch this programme, so that you do not fall for these scams. It is advised that you ignore all unsolicited contact from people claiming to be lawyers, as this is against the code of contact of the Spanish Lawyers Association.
etc etc
I have to agree with what they say about fake lawyers – as I’ve been saying for years CLA are NOT a law firm and therefore not regulated by the Spanish legal profession – they are a claims company that employs lawyers to represent you. Anyone who cold calls you is not to be trusted as they are breaking the law.
JLCA, on the other hand are a genuine Spanish law firm registered with not only the Spanish professional body but also with the SRA, the UK professional body, as European lawyers.
Hi Brian and Linda
My case was heard on 20 December and I am hoping for a decision before the end of January so I can tell them to stuff their maintenance invoice.
If you have had your decision already and still received an invoice for 2018 then Anfi are just hoping you will pay and book until your appeal is finished.
JLCA say it’s OK to do this if you want to – but if you don’t want to, you can ignore the maintenance invoice for 2018 – Anfi is not going to pursue you for payment when a Court has declared your contract null & void.
