The Impact of the Mortgage Credit Directive in Europe: Contrasting Views from Member States

How has European Private Law responded to the property and mortgage markets crisis? And in what way is this reaction likely to model domestic systems? The financial and economic crisis that has marked the beginning of the century has had a devastating effect on the property and mortgage markets in many Member States of the European Union. Despite this, the European legislator took its time to respond.

This book analyses the impact of the Mortgage Credit Directive (Directive 2014/17) in twelve different jurisdictions: Belgium, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain. The reports show how in some instances only certain products (such as foreign currency loans) or practices (irresponsible lending, homeownership promoting policies, the use of unfair terms) were factors that triggered the property crash; in other cases, the system completely failed to address an exceptional situation and, finally, in some instances, prudent lending explains why the market was virtually not hit at all.

This book aims to find out whether the two goals of Directive 2014/17 (financial sector stability and enhanced consumer protection) can be achieved in light of its provisions and of the transposition carried out by the different Member States, and whether the changes it introduces have a significant impact in the jurisdictions here considered. Some systems are already showing signs of yet another property bubble. There is room for hope: perhaps we have learned from the past, perhaps the Directive is a step forward, but more importantly this book shows that we can learn from each other.