How to claim back a Spanish mortgage floor clause and your mortgage costs

The clausula suelo (floor clause) is a term that sets a minimum interest rate on variable-rate mortgages. Even if the Euribor falls, you carry on paying that minimum, so you do not benefit from falls in the market. In many contracts it was included without a clear explanation of what it meant in money terms.

The Tribunal Supremo (Spain's Supreme Court) ruled that these clauses are void when they fail the so-called transparency test: the bank had to make sure you understood the real financial burden of that floor, not merely that the clause appeared in the deed. If that information was not clear and understandable, the clause is unfair and is treated as never having been written.

On the repayment of the amounts overcharged, the Court of Justice of the European Union (judgment of 21 December 2016) imposed full retroactive effect, and the Tribunal Supremo adopted it in its full bench judgment of 24 February 2017 (STS 123/2017). In practice, the bank must return the difference it overcharged from the day the loan was signed, plus the corresponding interest.

The clause that passed all the formalisation costs on to the customer was also declared unfair (Tribunal Supremo, judgment of 23 December 2015). From then on, the Supreme Court set out how each cost is shared in mortgages signed before Ley 5/2019 (the Spanish real estate credit act).

For those mortgages, and under the case law settled by the Tribunal Supremo in January 2021, you can recover 100% of the Registro de la Propiedad (Land Registry) fees, 100% of the gestoria (administrative agency) fees and 100% of the valuation fee, plus 50% of the notaria (notary's office) fees, since the other half is treated as being for both parties.

The Impuesto de Actos Juridicos Documentados (AJD, Spain's stamp duty on documented legal acts), usually the largest amount, cannot be recovered this way in the mortgages concerned: the law and the case law assign it to the borrower. Managora works out, in your particular case, which items can be claimed and for how much.

If your mortgage was signed on or after 16 June 2019, the date Ley 5/2019 on real estate credit agreements came into force, the split is already fixed by law (the bank takes on the notary, registry, gestoria and tax, and you only pay the valuation), so normally there are no unfair costs to claim.

The first step is an out-of-court claim addressed to the bank. Real Decreto-ley 1/2017 created a specific procedure for floor clauses which is voluntary for the consumer but compulsory for the bank, and free of charge.

Once the claim is filed, the bank has a maximum of 3 months to calculate the amount to be returned and send it to you, or to tell you why it considers that no refund is due. During that period neither side should start court proceedings on the same matter.

This procedure is designed for consumers (individuals). Many banks reject the claim or reduce the amount offered, so it is worth checking the calculation carefully before accepting it. Managora prepares the claim, checks the bank's figures and tells you whether the offer is correct or whether it is worth carrying on.

If the bank does not reply, refuses the refund or offers less than it should, the next step is a court claim. You ask the court to declare the clause void (the floor clause or the costs clause) and to order the bank to return everything it overcharged, with interest.

On floor clauses, if you first used the prior claim procedure, rejected the bank's offer and the judgment turns out to be financially better for you, the bank may also be ordered to pay the costs of the proceedings, as Real Decreto-ley 1/2017 provides.

How long the proceedings take depends on the court handling them. Managora gathers the documents, quantifies the claim and files and follows the case for you, without you having to deal with the paperwork.

Two things need to be kept separate. The action to have the unfair clause declared void does not expire: it can be brought at any time. What does have a deadline is the action to claim the money back (restitution), which in most of the country is 5 years.

The doubt has been when that period starts to run. After the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 25 January and 25 April 2024, the Tribunal Supremo settled the case law (judgment 857/2024 of 14 June, confirmed in later decisions): as a general rule, the period of 5 years runs from the date on which the judgment declaring the clause void becomes final, unless the bank proves that you could have known earlier that it was unfair. The Court of Justice of the European Union itself confirmed this approach in its judgment of 13 February 2025 (case C-240/24): the action to claim the money back is indeed subject to a time limit, but that limit cannot start to run before you were in a position to know that the clause was unfair.

The practical effect favours the customer: in many cases the costs can still be claimed back even if the mortgage was signed 15 or 20 years ago. As this is a technical area, Managora reviews your particular case to confirm that the claim is still in time before filing it.

Managora takes care of the whole process from start to finish. We review your mortgage deed and your invoices, check whether it contains a clausula suelo or an unfair costs clause and calculate the amount you are entitled to recover.

We then prepare and file the prior claim to the bank on your behalf and, if the bank does not pay what it owes, we file and follow the court claim. You only provide the initial documents; we handle the procedure and keep you informed.

You can start on the Reclamacion de clausula suelo (floor clause claim) service page, where you will find the current price of the service and what it includes. The quote and the specific terms are always shown on the service page.