The Supreme Court closes the distribution of expenses in abusive mortgage clauses: the appraisal also corresponds to the bank

The Supreme Court has finished clarifying what expenses users can claim from financial institutions after declaring null the clause that imposed all payments related to a mortgage. The Plenary of the Civil Chamber has agreed that the appraisal expenses correspond to the bank, contrary to what was included in the mortgage contracts for decades.

The Alto Tribuna thus ends clarifying the distribution of expenses after the declaration of nullity of the clause. Thus, financial entities may claim those of the property registry, management and appraisal, and half of the notarial expenses.

The decision on the appraisal expenses does not affect the mortgages subscribed after the entry into force of Law 5/2019, of March 15, regulating real estate credit contracts. It specifies that the appraisal is paid by the borrower, not the financial institution.

In the case resolved, the Supreme Court partially ruled in favor of a user and condemned Liberbank to reimburse the registration fees (226.56 euros), administration (508.20 euros) and appraisal (296.53 euros), as well as half of the notarial expenses (304.60 euros).

The client, however, must face the main expense, the one corresponding to the Tax on Documented Legal Acts, which in that case was 1,953 euros. The Supreme Court went so far as to maintain that the entities should pay for it, but finally confirmed that they were the users and closed the way to claim their refund. In 2018, a royal decree established that from now on the banks had to pay it.