23 · Register of Court Rulings: the case law behind the chapters
*This register pulls together every court decision cited across the glossary — each with its case number and an honestly stated verification status. Where we could not confirm a case number against an official source, we say so openly. Nothing here is guessed: for you as a buyer, verifiable substance is worth more than a tidy-looking but unsupported number.*
How to read the citations: In Spain, one and the same ruling often carries two identifiers — once as an STC or STS year-number (Constitutional Court / Supreme Court judgment), and once as a CENDOJ ROJ (the court database reference) or ECLI code (the European Case Law Identifier). The two formats look different but refer to the same decision. Don't let it throw you if your lawyer quotes a different number for the same case.
What to watch for as you read#
The status column is the most important thing here. A ✅ means we were able to verify the case number against an official or reliable source. A 🟡 marks a decision whose substance is documented but whose identifier has not yet been finally reconciled. A 🔴 appears where the legal position is settled as doctrine but a clean case number is still (or so far) missing, or only available through press reports. For you, the takeaway is: where you see 🔴, don't rely on the number alone — have the specific case checked by your advisor against the actual property.
| Topic | Court / Date | Case number | Status | Chapter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plusvalía (municipal capital-gains tax) — calculation method unconstitutional | TC, 26.10.2021 | STC 182/2021 (BOE-A-2021-19511) | ✅ official (BOE) | 06 |
| Plusvalía — no increase in value | TC, 11.05.2017 | STC 59/2017 (BOE-A-2017-6855) | ✅ official | 06 |
| Plusvalía — foral (predecessor ruling) | TC, 16.02.2017 | STC 26/2017 | ✅ official | 06 |
| Plusvalía — refund despite a final, binding assessment | TS Sala 3ª, 28.02.2024 | STS 339/2024 | 🟡 specialist sources + CGPJ note | 06 |
| Arras (deposit/earnest-money agreement) — restrictive reading of Art. 1454 CC | TS Sala 1ª, 17.10.2018 | STS 583/2018 (ROJ STS 3513/2018, rec. 1533/2016) | ✅ case no. corrected/confirmed | 01 |
| Arras — autonomía de la voluntad (freedom of contract) | TS Sala 1ª, 19.02.2025 | STS 270/2025 (ECLI:ES:TS:2025:726) | ✅ confirmed as genuine | 01 |
| Arras — developer's withdrawal | TS Sala 1ª, 09.04.2026 | STS 538/2026 | 🟡 (several secondary sources; ECLI/Ponente open) | 01 |
| Arras — defaulting seller, implied withdrawal | TS Sala 1ª, 09.02.2026 | STS 178/2026 | 🟡 (to be kept distinct from 538/2026) | 01 |
| IBI (annual property tax) apportioned pro rata in the year of sale | TS Sala 1ª, 15.06.2016 | STS 409/2016 (rec. 2110/2014) | ✅ confirmed | 05 |
| ETV (tourist holiday-let licence) ban by the community of owners (3/5 majority, Art. 17.12 LPH) | TS Pleno, 03.10.2024 | STS 1232/2024 & 1233/2024 | ✅ confirmed | 11 |
| Gastos hipotecarios (mortgage set-up costs) — allocation of costs | TS Pleno, 23.01.2019 | STS 44, 46, 47, 48, 49/2019 | ✅ (not 101–105) | 15 |
| Gastos hipotecarios — restitution | EuGH (TJUE / Court of Justice of the EU), 16.07.2020 | C-224/19 & C-259/19 (referral from Palma) | ✅ official (CURIA) | 15 |
| Valor de referencia (reference value for tax) constitutional, but open to challenge | TC, 12.02.2026 | STC 13/2026 (cuestión 3631-2025) | ✅ number clarified | 04 |
| Valor de referencia — evidentiary requirements for the valuation report | TS Sala 3ª, admitted by Auto of 29.04.2026 (from TSJ Canarias 15.07.2024) | rec. 8442/2024 | 🟡 pending, judgment outstanding | 04 |
Palma — ban on ETV in plurifamiliar (multi-family) buildings | TS, 2023 | (Palma ban upheld) | 🟡 confirmed | 12 |
Limitation period for building breaches on suelo rústico (rural land) (Ley 12/2017) | TSJ Illes Balears | no clean case no. | 🔴 doctrine settled, case no. open | 09 |
ADT demolition on suelo protegido (protected land, Tramuntana) | Juzgado C-A nº 1 Palma, ~16.07.2025 | no case no. published | 🔴 press only (Última Hora) | 21 |
Hidden defects (vicios ocultos) — distinguishing the available remedies | TS Sala 1ª, 19.11.2014 | STS 635/2014 (rec. 467/2013) | ✅ (correction: not "35/2014") | 01 |
Demolition of illegal builds on suelo rústico (Montuïri) | TSJ Illes Balears, 31.05.2021 (Ponente Frigola Castillón) | STSJ IB 326/2021 | 🟡 (vLex; ROJ/ECLI open) | 09 |
What's still open (🔴 — targeted follow-up needed)#
We deliberately flag four points as unresolved, transparently. If one of them touches your specific case, that's the moment for your Spanish lawyer to pull the original decision from CENDOJ before you rely on it:
1. "STS 538/2026" (arras / developer) — to be reconciled against CENDOJ. 2. The leading TSJ Balears ruling on non-limitation on rústico — a clean case number is still outstanding. 3. The ADT demolition case in the Tramuntana, 2025 — so far documented only through the press; the case number is missing. 4. Final ROJ and ECLI check of all 🟡 rulings directly in CENDOJ (poderjudicial.es/search) before any binding use.
Sources of the supporting material (selection)#
- Tribunal Constitucional / BOE (STC) · CENDOJ poderjudicial.es (STS/ROJ) · EUR-Lex/CURIA (EuGH / CJEU)