Timeshare. Anfi Beach. Recent rulings in favor of consumers.

I recently had the opportunity to know about several judgments, namely five, ruled by the Court of First Instance number THREE, of San Bartolome de Tirajana, in which his lordship, Judge Mr. Armando Garcia Castellano, changing his approach so far, declared null and void the contracts signed at the time by my clients -I acted in these trials in substitution of my colleague Miguel Rodríguez- with Anfi Sales SL and Anfi Resorts, SL.  The nullity is based on lack of object of the famous and so called "floating system". Indeed in Ordinary Proceeding numbers 942/2011, 1010/2011, 1215/2011, 1308/2011 and 1388/2011 the decision was the same: the contracts signed are null and void and the defendants have to return the money received plus interest from the filing of the demand.

It is in its THIRD Legal Ground where his lordship analyzed in depth these contracts that sells "floating weeks" in "floating suites" as he believes that they are contrary to Article 9.1.3. of Law 42/98. He thinks so because the contract does not specify the specific week, object of the contract, indicating the days and times that starts and ends as required by that article. Such failure is not a mere lack of information, it implies a lack of determination and realization of the object of the contract, which is clearly contrary to Article 1261 of the Civil Code. He also highlights the difficulties experienced by consumers in order to know when they can enjoy their purchased weeks. They must first go to clause eight of the Terms and Conditions of the contract and subsequently to Annex E. Finally it turns out that the week and the suite are always subject to "availability", which means that the execution of the contract is at the discretion of only one the contracting parties, in this case Anfi, and therefore there is not a true object. For these two final reasons the judge has declared null and void the contracts, having the defendants the obligation to reimburse the sums paid as the purchase price of the floating weeks.

It is equally true that, so far, this same court had ruled, on multiple occasions, against customers who wanted to terminate their contracts, so this change of position, along with the recent judgments of the Audiencia Provincial (Court of Appeal) of Las Palmas, is to be welcomed.