Two years ago when we ‘discovered’ CostaLuz, we had been badly treated by both the Spanish legal system in general and more than one Lawyer in particular. Our confidence in ‘the system’ was understandably frail. We were hesitant in starting a relationship with yet another firm of Lawyers, fortunately for us we have some professional friends in Spain who were happy to give their very favourable opinion of CostaLuz.

Having been tied up for over 15 years trying to reclaim what we had lost from our ‘property adventure’ in Estepona, we had virtually given up hope of a successful outcome.

We cannot thank you all enough for the good advice, persistence and efficiency with which you treated us and our family over the last two years and for getting a good result for us.

Maria Luisa asked if we would express our feelings about our situation to your ‘PR’ people, this we have already done and we attach a copy of what we said in case you did not get to see it.

Thank you all again

Please stay safe, our very best wishes

Robert and Barbara Sharpless

A big thank you to you and your dedicated team at Costaluz Lawyers for getting my money back + Interest from my case against Banco Popular for an Aifos developement in 2004. The service and advice from you and your team has been excellent throughout the case and I sincerely recommend you and your firm to anybody out there who finds themselves in a similar situation or need any legal advice Kind regards David Shorthouse

“Maria and her team recently won my case and I am now £46000.00 better off with costs still to come. I have been waiting 12 long years and had almost given up hope until I spotted Maria giving out FREE advice on the Eye of Spain website about 5 or 6 years ago. I knew instantly that if anyone could win my case it would be Maria and her team. She is honest and upfront about everything. Always very quick to respond to any queries you may have. I would not hesitate recommending her company to anyone. Well done Costa Luz Lawyers xxx”

Maria, Keith & the team helped us through this extremely difficult and stressful time. we invested €63,000 and without them we would not have received any of our money back. after a long hard fight with court cases and appeals they eventually succeeded. this year we were delighted to get back over €55,000. i would have no hesitation recommending costaluz to anyone in the same situation. best of luck to them and anyone trying to get their deposits back ?

dear KEITH Thanks to your efforts in discovering LEY 57/68 and Maria and costaluz lawyers using this law you have had many successes against the banks. My wife and I are amazed by the success of our victory against BANCO DE SABADELL. We must admit that we were expecting to lose. It took 12 years to get our deposits back if anyone has a similar story get in touch with Keith and Costaluz lawyers’ They have the experience, knowledge,and expertise to help with many situations. We are still on a high and hope you can help other persons in the same situation. Once again many thanks for all your help and encouragement. Best regards and many thanks again Dave and Di Risdale.

Just received money back from ACC. We were recommended to MARIA LUISA CASTRO COSTALUZ LAWYERS,and we were not let down, any time I needed some information, got reply almost right away. Great relief after 14 years. I would certainly recommend them.

Dealing with Maria from Costaluz Lawyers was a pleasure from start to finish. They are very professional, understanding and have a great handling of English. At no time did I feel pressured or misunderstood. They are a great company to do business with and their prices are amazingly good, too! I will be using Costaluz Lawyers again in the future.

In early 2006 my wife and I agreed to purchase a small (off plan) garden apartment in phase 2 of the Nueva Ribera Beach Club at Los Alcazares, beside the Mar Menor, Spain. During the construction we were approached by the developer’s sales agents that our aready small garden apartment had worked out even smaller, so they offered an alternative apartment. This we accepted along with new contracts and the exchange of our existing deposit bank guarantees with new ones which would follow. Within a month of signing new contracts disaster hit the developers along with many others in Spain, so the banks never issued our new guarantees. This would be the start of thirteen years of legal battles through the Spanish Courts. Without bank guarantees our existing solicitor felt he was not able to help us. Another solicitor considered it but without new bank deposit guarantees he too felt that we would not be able to recover our money. What could we do? Reading an article in Eye on Spain we found that Maria Luisa de Castro of Costaluz Lawyers was having success with just this type of problem, so we were very pleased when she agreed to take on our case. Maria and her excellent team provided detailed information, in English, on the process she would use from the outset and through the various courts stages and possible outrcomes. We were also provided with the costs of each stage and outcome and periodic updates following the process. From our perspective the Spanish Court process is substantially different to the English Court System, so Maria’s detailed handholding was a comfort during this protracted and stressfull time. We also found Keith Rule’s support, Costaluz UK contact, to be invaluable. Keith had had his own experience with the nightmare senario of Spanish banks’ reluctance to payout following the collaps of many Spanish Developers taking deposits for off plan sales. We have nothing but praise for Maria and her team. They helped us come to realise that we needed patience with the Spanish legal system and trust in her to navigate through it to our benifit. If you have the right legal team behind you, you can achieve the result you want – we did with Team Costaluz. David and Karen – Dorset

My wife and I have recently had cause to use lawyers in Spain to recover monies paid by way of deposit on an incomplete development in Murcia. The deposit was paid to the developer in 2006 and we had notionally written off the money and felt that the chances of recovery were slender. However, we joined a group action through Costaluz Lawyers following their success in earlier such actions. The action involved enforcement of a guarantee promised by a Spanish Bank in connection with the development.

Dear Maria, Thank you once again for all the efforts that you and your team have made to produce a successful outcome for me. As I said to Keith, I was not entirely confident that the courts would actually find in my favour, especially after such a long time, but your continued efforts have indeed won the day. Asefa is now concluded, and I await the final outcome from the Bahia case with anticipation. I will be very happy to leave a positive testimonial. I wish you all the best in you future endeavours, Iain.

Dear Keith, We would like to thank you and Maria and all the team for all you have done for us. We are so grateful. We can’t begin to explain how after all these years we feel that we may not have to sell our home. Martin (our son) saw the article in the newspaper that you had won your case against the bank and urged us to write to you, how glad we did, obviously he knows the worries we have had over all these years and wanted everything to be right for us. Thank you for your quick and comprehensive replies to his numerous questions. You must have helped many people over the years. Once again our heartfelt thanks to you and all the people who have helped us. Yours faithfully

We paid a supposedly reputable UK Company a deposit in 2006 for a lovely 2 bed 2 bath apartment in Terque. We then paid more money to a firm of Spanish Lawyers to look after the transaction for us. After we paid Inroal the bulk deposit, the contract build date came and went, and it was apparent that things were clearly not going to happen. Our existing Lawyer wanted a very large sum to investigate and try to recover our outlay. Nothing was forthcoming except demands for more money to continue the case! In 2011, we had all but given up but discovered María and CLL. She and her team appraised our case, and after exchanging documents and other formalities, told us that they thought we had a strong case. There were of course requests for more up front money, which at first we thought would be pouring good after bad. We decided to trust María and her team, and invested around €2300 in the case to pay theirs and procurator costs. Inroal contested, and we had to appeal, at a further cost in 2014 of €2400. We were advised later that year that we had won the appeal in the 1st instance. In 2016 we received a percentage of our initial deposit back, less costs. We were advised that legal costs and the contractual 6% interest would come later. We were advised yesterday that we can expect a bank transfer for these next week (Sept 18) So after 12 years of fighting, we are as happy as can be expected, as we are still out of pocket by the deposit to the UK agent, and the initial Spanish Lawyer etc, but we would strongly recommend María de Castro and her Company if you find yourself in a similar position. Her team’s communication has been excellent over the 7 years, and their advice to fight the case sound. I would also mention Mr Peter Firth who as a buyer, formed a group and was able to get some discounted up front legal fees for some cases. Thanks María

Hi Keith, I would just to say how pleased we have been with the services of Costa Luz Lawyers and in particular with the assistance that Mar Durio has given us with selling our house in Islantilla. I hope to buy another property in Spain in the future and will most certainly be giving you a call when I do. Thank you once again for the outstanding service and support. Regards

My sincere thanks to everyone at Costaluzlawyers for your professionalism in dealing With mine and my late husbands case. You have treated me with respect and kept me informed At every stage. I appreciate the breakdown you have given of all the charges. I really appreciate that all your correspondence was in English and Spanish. I would advise anyone with a similar issue to mine, to use your company. My three words for your company are: Professional Honest Transparent. God bless Costaluz Lawyers and all who work there.

Good morning to all our friends in Spain, Firstly on behalf of Emma, Karen, Laura and myself a BIG thank you, to you all for helping us to recover our deposits on our Holiday Homes. Never did any of us ever consider that 12 years ago when we signed for the Apartments would it all end up in court and the apartments never completed, but a mighty thank you must go to Keith Rule, who was the Path Finder in the recovery of his funds and set the way for many to follow. I watched his case very carefully from a far with fingers crossed and once he won, it inspired me to begin our campaign along with Emma and Karen we are all delighted to recover our deposits and the interest payment was a bonus. I remember travelling to Spain and drinking Tea with Maria in her house, where we agreed to begin the recovery campaign and you have all contributed very much and we have all worked together to achieve this successfully recovery of our funds, which I have to say, we all thought we would never see again, you should all be so proud of the work you have done. We wish you all the very best of luck and please continue the good work as there are many people like us out there who have not yet began the recovery process and should be encouraged to do so. Many thanks once again on behalf of:-

“Dear Maria, Thank you once again for all the efforts that you and your team have made to produce a successful outcome for me. As I said to Keith, I was not entirely confident that the courts would actually find in my favour, especially after such a long time, but your continued efforts have indeed won the day. Asefa is now concluded, and I await the final outcome from the Bahia case with anticipation. I will be very happy to leave a positive testimonial. I wish you all the best in you future endeavours, Iain.”

Hi Maria, I’d like to say thank you to you and your team on winning the court case for El Patio. All of your staff were very polite and spoke very good English. Your company is a credit to your country especially with everything going on around the world at the minute. All the best

I am extremely happy with the service I have received from Manuel Guerrero who has successfully managed to cancel my time-share contract which I have been struggling to do for many years. He kept me fully aware of everything that was happening and managed to conclude the work required very quickly. I would recommend this Spanish law firm to anyone, they have been brilliant.

I cannot praise Maria and her team highly enough. After being misinformed by the builders representatives and legal people it was very reassuring to speak to Maria and very pleased with the successful outcome.

We want to let everyone know how the lawyers at the Costaluz Lawyers – have really saved us! We bought an off-plan property on the Costa Blanca several years ago. As everything changed, and the developer didn´t do his part we had to make a breach of our contract. We really hoped that we would be able to get our money back which we had payed the company for the property. We were really not at all sure that it would happen. We saw some recommendation of the Costaluz Lawyers here on the Eye-on-Spain site and decided to talk to them about our trouble. To make a long story short, they really, really came through for us. We did not only get our money back – all of it, we got the interests and costs as well! We can´t say it often enough – but THANK YOU – COSTALUZ LAWYERS. We are ever so grateful. You did a fabulous job and we want you to know that we really, really appreciate your efforts which was a success! Best wishes from us,

We decided to buy a villa off plan in Spain, and all was going well until it was discovered the builder did not have permission and as it turned out the bank did not honour their obligation of a bank guarantee either. We started to think that this was another example of unscrupulous developers and banks purposely cheating us out of our deposit. We had the support of Keith Rule who formed FPAG and enlisted Mari­a Luisa De Castro of Costa Luz Lawyers who worked so tirelessly on the case…”

Are there a stronger words than thank you from the bottom of our hearts to both Keith and dear Maria. Getting our deposit returned is a great achievement and to us, my Wife (Shirley) and myself it is of so much importance. Best wishes to all who have been involved. Kind regards,

Maria and Jaime have shown nothing but professionalism and enormous enthusiasm in their litigation against Cam Bank. They were employed by a Consortium of approximately 60 members to retrieve their Bank Guarantees from the above following the failure of the Finca Parcs Project. This they achieved and both myself and Linda will be eternally grateful for their efforts. Regards,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Costa Luz Lawyers for all the hard work they have done for us and getting a good result in the end. We never thought we would see the day when we would get our deposit back which we put down for 2 houses at Fina Parces in 2006, but there it is in black and white. Thank you once again. What can we say about Keith Rule what we have not said already, not only is he professional in the work he has done for us, but he is so helpful and kind no one else could or would have given us the help he has, but not only that he is so genuine with it. Thanks again Keith. See you all at the party were we can Thank you all personally. Kind regards

We would like to give a big thank you to Maria and staff for getting us our refund of our deposit from the Corvera development. We were on Phase 3 and with no house being built we asked Costaluz Lawyers to look at getting our deposit back from the developer. We know it takes time ,however the result was perfect and we received our Money shortly after the decision was granted in our favour. We are pleased to pass on our recommendations to use Costaluz Lawyers for anyone looking for a hard working team to help with any Legal issue you may have.

I trust you are fit and well. Many thanks for your dedication to this whole task and for your tenacity to the very end, I’ve said it a few times before and I’ll never tire of saying it – I really really appreciate it Thank You!! Best Regards,

None if this would ever have been possible without your commitment and passion and I thank you very much. Kindest regards

Would like to thank Maria and her team for getting a positive result of my request for Dation (HBKeys). I had nearly given up hope as it had been a couple of years but I would urge anyone not to give up hope as it does take a while and patience is all that is needed.

We used Costa de Luz lawyers to negotiate with our bank to take back our property in Spain and cancel the mortgage. Whilst due to the banking and legal process in Spain this was protracted , eventually due to the efforts of Costa de Luz we got our wishes. We found Costa de Luz to be very genuine and are indebted to them in helping resolve our issue

Many thanks to Maria and her team. They helped us reach a fantastic settlement with our Spanish bank with regard to our property in Spain. I thoroughly researched solicitors in Spain before hiring Maria. I studied one of her previous cases in particular before hiring CostaLuz. Other solicitors had failed. Maria took on that very same case. This time with her know how and knowledge of Spanish property law, the court came down on the side of the property owner and not the bank. I can whole heartedly recommended Maria and her team at Costaluz.

Dear Maria L de Castro I would like to recommend this firm of Spanish Lawyers to anyone who is struggling with a mortgage or property in Spain they helped us resolve our problem with our mortgage/property in Spain which we could never of done ourselves. So to all the staff who dealt with us thank you very much.

would like to say a big Thank You to Maria and her team for negotiating with our bank on our behalf regarding the settlement of our mortgage with them. We were tied into the banks clauses after purchasing an apartment in 2007 just before the global financial crises and found ourselves with escalating mortgage interest rates, diminishing tourist and rental opportunities and a property that was worth 50% less than the purchase price had been. The situation was financially untenable and we thought we would be well past retirement before the economy gets back to anywhere near the booming pre 2007 years.

My wife and I would like to express our thanks for an excellent and extremely professional service. We have already passed on your details to some friends of ours. Regards

We discovered Costaluz Lawyers through the website Eye On Spain when the purchase of an ealier off-plan property failed to materialize. Our previous experience with lawyers both in the United Kingdom and Marbella had been fraught with difficulty. We committed the cardinal mistake, using law-firms recommended by the Promoters and Developer. All channels of communication were ignored, e-mails were rarely answered, we received no useful advice, and we never had confidence that our interestswere being protected. After four years and hundreds of e-mails, we achievednothing;Â and yet the cost to us personally was enormous. The best decision we made, having decided to purchase another property, was to to use the conveyancing services offered by Costaluz Lawyers. Initially, we had confidence in Maria’s commitment to the highest standardsof integrity and our experience the second time around could not have been more different. Patricia, who dealt with the conveyancing, was meticulous in her work. Every e-mail was answered directly, both in terms of time and also with honesty and attention to detail. Within a few weeks, all the necessary steps had been taken, the Escritura was signed and the title deeds were registered in our name. We cannot adequately express the difference between these two experiences; but we do want to convey our sincere thanks to Patricia, Maria, and all atCostaluz who were so friendly and helpful. We discovered how important it is to find a reputable lawyer; the service we received could not have been better! We have the highest confidence in Maria, Patricia and all in the office there, and so we have no hesitation in recommending the conveyancing services of Costaluz Lawyers. With grateful thanks

“I am very grateful to CostaLuz Solicitors, especially to Patricia Medina, who worked for me when I purchased my property in Spain. When I started considering buying a property I read and heard about problems that some people went through whilst buying in Spain (and in other countries as well) and this was worrying. Buying a property can be difficult in the UK let alone abroad! I was lucky that Costa Luz was highly recommended for their honesty and efficiency by a friend who had previously used them when they bought in Estepona. I now recommend them for the same reasons. Just to illustrate my own experience: my cash offer was accepted at the beginning of March 2010 and on the 1st April I took over the villa. I must say that the sellers were also keen to complete as soon as possible as well, but considering that I was in the UK and Patricia was working on the papers, getting my NEI and all other documentation on my behalf, completion within one month is pretty good. The only thing that did not work well that caused an unplanned trip to Spain was due to an error by the Notary in the UK in the way he sent a copy of my passport for the NEI number and POA. Within 24 hours I arrived in Algeciras, Patricia efficiently arranged all the appointments with the Notary and took me to the Police station where I quickly got the NEI, all sorted in one morning, and at such short notice. I really appreciate her work. Thank you so much.”

“We would like to say a huge big thank you to Costa Luz Lawyers team, especially Patricia, who made the purchase of our property stress free. Patricia kept us informed of what was happening and the options open to us, every step of the way, and respected our decisions. She also liased with the electric and water companies on our behalf, and organised the rewiring of the apartment, which would have been almost impossible for us to do living in England. We would highly recommend Costa Luz Lawyers if you are considering purchasing a property in Spain, and we would not hesitate to use them again should the need arise.”

Diane and I are very grateful and appreceative of all your teams hard work in carrying out the conveyancing of our property purchase and of the very proffessional manner in which your services were carried.out. Many personal thanks to Mar Durio.

Hi Keith, I would just to say how pleased we have been with the services of Costa Luz Lawyers and in particular with the assistance that Mar Durio has given us with selling our house in Islantilla. I hope to buy another property in Spain in the future and will most certainly be giving you a call when I do. Thank you once again for the outstanding service and support.

Keith: Lex and I cannot thank you enough for all your hard work. We owe you a huge debt of gratitude.

Thank you Keith, that’s good news, I will let you know as soon as I know when it is safely in our bank. We are so glad that you came into our lives, at the time you did. Take care,

Hi Keith We recieved the money into bank yesterday and can not thank you enough for all your hard work. Without you I am sure we would all have lost our money. Cheers!

Hi Keith, We confirm that the refund was credited to our account earlier today. We look forward to receiving the full final statement from Costaluz Lawyers in due course. Once again, many thanks for the huge effort that you have put into FPAG and the successful result would not have happened without you. We look forward to the payments party at Milton Keynes which hopefully will happen during the next few months. Kind regards

Hi Keith Just to let you know, we have received the money in our bank account from Costaluz Lawyers. It has been a long hard battle and without you I am sure we would not of got here, thank you so much for everything you have done for us, it is greatly appreciated, Kind Regards

Hi Keith At last we have a chance to respond. Both myself and Vivien would like to say an enormous thank you for all that you have done to get us to this stage. Without you we would still be banging our heads against a brick wall with no chance of getting our money back. Anybody who under values what you have achieved on our behalf should be ignored or reminded where they would have been without you and the time and effort you have put in to getting us to this stage. If at any stage a reunion of all the people involved is envisaged we would like to know but would understand if you said enough was enough. With regards and immeasurable thanks.

Both Shirley and myself are more that grateful for all the hard work you put into this almost impossible task that you fought. As I advised you, we are facing a problem that we are slowly getting through, so where we are concerned the money you got us has been quite a blessing in disguise, thank you so much. We shall never forget you and that is meant from the heart. We both wish you as a family have a lovely Christmas and New Year. So much love and best wishes,

Maria and her team at Costaluz Lawyers have been fantastic at recovering not only the deposits but also expenses on the properties we tried to purchase in El Pinet,Spain. Please feel free to use this testimonial on any website you see suitable….once again many thanks….

Dear Maria Words cannot express our thanks to you and your company for all the help and support We have received part of our money and hope to receive costs and interest soon Without your help this would not have happened It is sad to think we have had to have two previous solicitors whom didn’t act accordingly We we’re so thankful that your name was passed to us Thank you once again and hopefully we will receive the rest of our money soon Kind regards

I have been acquainted with Maria de castro for more than 11 years while I have been fighting to have my money refunded for non completion of property. From the beginning I was sure that I would eventually receive what was mine. Her company has kept me informed at all times with updates on a regular basis. Over these 11 years I have seen Maria implement improvements in communication,giving me more confidence in a good outcome. At all times they have dealt with me with complete transparency and honesty. Communications have always been courteous. When dealing with a difficult and complex legal system I have been comforted in the knowledge that Costaluz is on my side. I would and have recommended them to friends who are buying property in Spain.

Dear Maria Just to let you know we are very grateful and really appreciate all your effort in keeping us informed re changes in Spanish law which may or may not affect us .In our experience as non resident owners it’s been an education and sadly one not to be repeated simply due to the fact we feel non residents are unfairly treated in every way e.g tax just for owning even though we do not rent ect ect , I’m sure you are aware of the saying ” Killing the goose that lays the golden egg ” Ah well such is life ! Keep up the good work . Kindest Regards

My wife and I would like to express our thanks for an excellent and extremely professional service. We have already passed on your details to some friends of ours.

Diane and I are very grateful and appreceative of all your teams hard work in carrying out the conveyancing of our property purchase and of the very proffessional manner in which your services were carried.out. Many personal thanks to Mar Durio.

May I take this opportunity to express our thanks to all the team at CLL. We wish you all the best for in the future and hope you have further success in all the cases you have. All the best

Costaluzlawyers can not be praised highly enough! They, not only went where other lawyers feared to go, taking on the big developers, & even BIGGER banks, but WON, paving the way for others to follow suit, giving justice to the ‘little man’ for a change’. And all this was done with a high degree of customer service throughout’. Kind regards

Hi Maria I would just like to Thank you and your team again for the recovery of our deposit. We paid the deposit to San Jose in 2006 it has been a long road !! We had two solicitors before you which got us nowhere, Then I decided to give you a call , which was definitely a good decision , you were confident that you could get our money back which has proved correct ! It has been a very stressful time and I now look forward to receiving the interest back shortly . Thanks again and I know if I hadn’t contacted you I would have still not received any money back at all Very Best Regards

Many thanks to Maria L De castro and her team for their efforts and successful conclusion after many years of litigation. My advice to Maria´s existing and future clients is to stay the course, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I had almost given up any hope of recovering my deposit for an off plan property purchase in Spain until I discovered Costa Luz lawyers. They explained the law to me and how to recover my money through the Spanish courts which is something I would never have attempted by myself. I am very grateful to them for their persistence and professionalism in guiding me through the recovery process from start to finish. Well done and thank you.