Main ground of Law 57/68 is the protection of money advanced by individuals before construction work begins or during it, in many cases the savings of a lifetime.
The actual preamble or exposicion de motivos of the said Law establishes that all the "abuses in this type of businesses have made as necessary the establishment of general preventive rules which will guarantee both the real and effective application of money advanced by purchasers and prospective customers to the building of the house and to the refund in the event that the building does not take effect".
One of the preventive, general, inalienable obligations that the Law established was for banks or savings banks, where money was paid to by buyers, to secure the establishment of Bank Guarantees or insurance UNDER THEIR LIABILITY. Banks were therefore here established as guardians of legality.
There are therefore two responsibilities of Banks and Savings Banks:
1. - Common due diligence and professional duty.
2. - Special obligation of provision 1.2 of Law 57/68.
This means that if you were not provided a Bank Guarantee according to Law 57/68, you might have an action against the Bank where you placed your deposits
This message was last edited by mariadecastro on 20/05/2010.