On the 29th September, a further 16 resolutions were successfully executed at the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court against the RDO Member, Anfi Group, due to evidence having been found of irregularities in their contracts.
Anfi Resorts was established back in 1989 by Norwegian owner Bjorn Lyng. To date the courts have ordered Anfi to return 1.5 million euros to mis-sold consumers. More than 50 judgements were made against Anfi in the first 9 months of this year alone.
Currently there are 200 active cases with a further 300 at the stage of preparation. Should Anfi be found guilty of all claims against them, the settlement amounts will total around 20 million euros.
The final decision from the Supreme Court professed that 2 contracts which were signed in 2004 & 2009 to be null and found Anfi guilty, therefore, confirming that they must return to consumers 50,000 euros.
Anfi were found to be guilty of not stating the length and object of their contracts, in this particular case, consumers purchased a ‘right of association’ into a ‘private’ club for the use of an apartment with no affirming any details of the apartment nor the term time.
These are known as floating weeks, which the company does not stipulate the exact week nor which apartment you are to use to enjoy your holiday. The selling point to the consumers was that you were not tied to a certain week and could use your ‘floating week’ any time you wished. When it came to making a reservation for the week required it proved almost impossible to accommodate the consumer. The courts therefore recognised that the consumer’s rights had been limited. The ruling was that these contracts do not meet the needs as they do not outline clearly the contents of the contract.
Due to the claimants, only being able to enjoy the first 6 years of their contract, it was therefore concluded that Anfi would have to repay the consumers their remaining (44) years as now the legal maximum limit is 50 years.
The Law today, Law 42/1998 clearly states that contracts must last between a period of 3 & 50 years. In 2015 the Spanish Supreme Court announced the new ruling, stating that life timeshare contracts are declared illegal under perpetuity, this been a common practice at the Anfi Resort. The Majority of timeshare owners at the resort are owners from Germany, the UK and Scandinavia.
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk