Nullity of the general condition of costs assumption in mortgage loans and the disputed imposition of payment the legal documented acts tax according to the judgments of the Spanish Supreme Court rendered on December 23rd 2015, March 15th 2018, October 16th, 22nd and 23rd 2018, November 27th 2018, January 23rd 2019 and the remaining case law from the said Court

Abstract

 Further  to  the  judgment of  the  Spanish Supreme Court  rendered in  December  23rd,  2015,  which declared  the  nullity of  the  general  conditions that impose on the consumer the assumption of all the expenses related to the execution and  registration of  the  loan  and  its  mortgage  guarantee indiscriminately  without justification, the  decision on  who  is the  taxpayer  and  its  corresponding obligation of paying  the legal documented acts tax have  continued to generate controversy and legal uncertainty because  there have  been rendered  very different judicial judgments on  this  matter by lower  courts. Case law had  traditionally considered that  the taxpayer  of this  tax was  the borrower.  But  since  the aforementioned judgment did not  stablish who  should pay the tax  imposed once  the  general  condition was  declared  null  and  void,  contradictory judgments were rendered  by first  instance and  the  provincial courts, establishing a few  of them that  the  lender  had  to pay  the  tax  (the  minority of the  cases).  But  the majority of judgments declared  that  the  borrower  had  to pay  it. In two judgments of March 15th, 2018, the Civil Division of the Spanish Supreme Court  established that  in the absence  of an agreement on this  matter, borrower  and lender  must assume by  halves  the  cost  of  the  stamp of  the  matrix of  the  deed  of the  mortgage  loan  (the  fix  payment of the  tax).  They  also  established that  the  variable payment of the  tax  of legal documented acts  had  to be borne  by the  borrower. But  on  October  16th,  22nd  and  23rd   2018  the  Division that  hears  administrative decisions of the  Spanish Supreme Court  rendered  three  judgments which declared that  the  taxpayer  for these  purposes was  the  lender. Three latter judgments of the same  Division of the Supreme Court  of November 27th,  2018  ratified  the  criterion that  the  borrower  must assume the  payment of the referred tax. Recently the  Civil  Division of  the  Spanish Supreme Court  confirmed in  four judgments of January 23rd,  2019  that  the  taxpayer  of the  aforementioned tax  is the borrower. Notwithstanding the above,  the Royal  Decree Law 18/2018 has established with- out  retroactive effect  that  the  taxpayer  of  legal documented acts  in  these  cases  is the  lender. This  article  aims to  thoroughly address  the  problem of the  abusiveness of the imposition on  the  borrower  of the  payment of the  tax  on  legal documented acts  in mortgage  loans,  analyzing the  current in  force  regulations and  the  case  law  that has  been  rendered  on  this  matter, to clarify  the  current situation, pointing out  the certainties, uncertainties and  possible  solutions on  this  controversial aspect.