Signed Your Mortgage 20 Years Ago? The Spanish Supreme Court Reopens the Door to Reclaiming Costs Many Thought Were Lost (Order 62/2026)

"It's too late, the claim has expired": the phrase the Spanish Supreme Court has just dismantled

For years, thousands of consumers in Spain heard the same answer when they asked about the possibility of reclaiming the costs of their mortgage: *"you can't claim anymore, too much time has passed"*. Those who signed their mortgage in the early 2000s, 2005 or before the 2008 crisis assumed any claim was time-barred and put away deeds, invoices and receipts.

The Order of the Spanish Supreme Court, First Chamber, of 11 June 2026 (Order No. 62/2026, ECLI:ES:TS:2026:5715A) confirms exactly the opposite: the mere passage of time since the mortgage was signed does not, by itself, extinguish the right to claim.

> Core thesis: unless the bank proves that the consumer was previously aware of the abusive nature of the clause, the limitation period to reclaim mortgage costs begins when there is a final judicial ruling declaring the clause null. Not when the deed was signed, nor when the costs were paid.

1. The origin of the problem: clauses that should never have been signed

For decades, financial institutions inserted clauses in their mortgage deeds that imposed all the costs of the transaction on the consumer:

• Notary fees (public deed).
• Land Registry inscription.
• Gestoría (administrative agent) fees.
• Property valuation.
• Historically, also the Stamp Duty (AJD).

These clauses were signed in standard-form templates without real individual negotiation, placing them squarely within the scope of general contract terms and therefore subject to unfairness control under Spanish consumer law (LGDCU) and EU Directive 93/13/EEC.

From Supreme Court judgment 705/2015 of 23 December onwards, Spanish courts have systematically declared these clauses null and abusive, obliging the bank to restore the amounts unduly paid, in accordance with [Article 1303 of the Spanish Civil Code](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-1889-4763).

2. The new battlefront: limitation period

Once the doctrine on the nullity of the costs clause was settled, banks opened a second defensive front: invoking limitation of the restitution action. Their argument was simple:

> *"Even if the clause is null, the costs were paid in 2002, 2005 or 2008. More than 5 years (or 15 under the pre-2015 regime) have passed. The right to claim the money has expired."*