Spanish Mortgage Set-Up Costs: the Claim Period Starts with the Final Judgment of Nullity (Supreme Court, 1 July 2026)

The question that was blocking thousands of claims

For months, borrowers and lawyers were waiting for a clear answer to an apparently technical question with enormous financial consequences: when exactly does the clock start running for demanding the refund of mortgage set-up costs from the bank?

The Spanish Supreme Court judgment of 1 July 2026 ends the debate.

The banks' position

Many lenders — and some provincial appeal courts — argued that the limitation period should run from the day the invoices were paid: notary, land registry, administrative agency and valuation fees.

On that reading, a huge number of claims, especially on older mortgages, were dismissed outright: if more than five years (or fifteen, depending on the applicable regime) had passed since signing, the right was treated as time-barred.

What the Supreme Court has decided

The Court holds unambiguously that the consumer's claim period starts only when the ruling declaring the clause unfair becomes final, not when the payments were made.

That is consistent with Court of Justice of the European Union case law on Directive 93/13/EEC: a consumer cannot lose the right to restitution before being reasonably able to know that the clause imposed on them was void. Tying the start of the period to the payment of the invoices would make the exercise of the right impossible or excessively difficult, contrary to the principle of effectiveness.

The one door left open to the bank

The judgment leaves the lender a narrow margin: limitation may still be raised if the bank proves conclusively that the consumer already knew the clause was unfair at an earlier date.

In practice that proof is extremely hard to produce. It is not enough to point to published case law or to press coverage; the bank must establish actual, individual knowledge by that specific consumer.