Lawyers Practices / Fees

Hi and thanks for reading.

We instructed our lawyer some 18 months ago to pursue Unicaja for applying a floor rate on our mortgage.  Our lawyer advised this would be a trivial case taking no more than 1-2 months and we paid several hundred euros.  However, to date we have received very little by way of updates on the progress of the case and our most recent email (November 2015) remains unanswered.

Back in the UK where I live, lawyers are obliged to meticulously maintain records of actions taken in the cases they handle.  There is also a great deal of transparency on their rates with rate cards for things like telephone calls, letters sent, photocopying, etc.  Here is my question.  Are Spanish Lawyers under the same kind of obligations and is there a governing body that can be approached with regard to complaints, should that situation arise?

Thank you in advance.

Chesterpants:

Lawyers in Spain are subject to transparency and clrearity rules according to European Standards of Consumers Law.

Pronvintial Bar asssociations for regulating loyal competency among colleagues, establishes minimums that cannot be broken with lower prices.

An initial, orientative budget of legal costs is always the best tool to regulate lawyer-client relationship.

Kindest

María

Thank you for this information.

I emailed our lawyer asking for an update on the case and requesting a list of the actions taking so far so that we could make the best decision on how to proceed.  I receive a brief one sentence response along the lines of this would be provided within the week.   That response never arrived.  I again mailed the lawyer expressing my dissatisfaction and disappointment and demanding an immediate response.  Almost a week has passed with nothing.  I am appalled.

What would be the best way to force this lawyer to provide an update as to the state of the case that we have paid several hundred euro's for and received virtually nothing in 18 months?  Is there a formal complaints procedure we can go through?

Thank you in advance.

Where is the lawyer located?

Their offices are in Arroyo-de-la-Miel in the Malaga province.

Sorry to hear about your problems.

Lovely little place, Arroyo, spent many a summer there as my grandparents lived there.

My original solicitor was based there, he was pretty useless too!

This is the email of the Mediation Services in Malaga Bar Association. I am sure they will be of great help:

ccrespo@icamalaga.es

Thank you very much Maria.  

This is all about trying to have the floor clause removed from our mortgage with Unicaja.  It baffles me why banks like this aren't just removing these illegal clauses and refunding the overpayments given the rate at which they are losing cases and the suggestion by the European Commission that they be removed.  Very frustrating.

Good luck!

So, today my lawyer has been in touch to advise that our bank would be prepared to nullify the floor clause in exchange for us agreening not to pursue the overpayments we have made.  What a disgraceful approach because this indicates we will have no alternative but to pursue them through the courts.

I have two questions:

1) The recent court ruling in Madrid imposes a limit of 3 years that can be claimed but I have also read that the European Commission may remove this limitation.  

2) If we win the case, can we claim back our legal costs?

Thanks for reading.

Answers below in bold green ( same text as your email): 

1) The recent court ruling in Madrid imposes a limit of 3 years that can be claimed but I have also read that the European Commission may remove this limitation.  Yes, the European Decission might establish a legal timeframe for this actions ( 15 years)

2) If we win the case, can we claim back our legal costs? Yes, you can of course.

Hi Maria,

In our recent success using the new ruling I was charged over [**60% in your fees.*]  Will this be claimed and returned and if so how long do you estimate this will take.  I don't seem to be able to get a staight answer from the office. 

What is your name and lastname so I can review it?

It is possible we have been representing you for years: first against the developer and then against the Bank? Have you reviewed our General Information  Budget documents where all is clearly explained?

I guess this public forum is not the place for questions to a private practise ( it could get fill in with them). I have no problem about answering this one of course, now that it is out.

So, yet more inaction by my 'lawyer' but finally a response to an email I sent on 15th July for an update.  Here is is:

//--------------------

"Despite having the documents to probe that your mortgage does not have a minimum amount, the bank accepts to directly cancel the minimum,  but not to reimburse the amounts paid unless you start a court case against them.

So I recomendó that you go to the bank and ask them to simply cancel the floor clausal that they are applying,  or to get in touch with a litigating lawyer to take care of the matter. "

//--------------------

So, the mortgage deeds do not contain any floor clause and yet there it is on the banks computer system.  Now, what kind of professional organisation would not recognise and rectify the situation without us having to take them to court?  Gob smacking.  And what kind of lawyer isn't capable of performing litigation?