Responsibility of financial entities in light of the Law 57/1968. Current positioning of the Jurisprudence

Abstract

Law 57/1968 takes into account the abuses within the sector of property development registered during the sixties. Even though its composition has been kept almost unchanged during the last forty-seven years, the interpretation of the provided jurisprudence as stated in Article 1 has transitioned. It mentions that the precept contains a possible responsibility from the depositary institution of the delivered amounts on account by the buyers of the houses under construction, and above all its imprecision, has generated multiple controversial doctrines regarding the requirements that have to be fulfilled for the financial institution to respond, and the range of such obligation. The Supreme Tribunal has responded to some discussions such as the nature of actions that buyers have with the depositary institution, the annulment of quantitative or time limits on a guarantee, the redundancy of the previous contract termination, the termination of the guarantee in case of consensual termination of the contract, or the unenforceability of the special provisions of Law 57/1968 to the entity that has made the discount of the exchange effects that has served as an instrument of delivery on account. Yet the responsibility of the financial institution, when no guarantees was provided nor any special checking account have been opened, is at the moment a gray zone that forces to analyze the intent of its action.