MADRID — Manolo Marban, 59, is still living in his house in Toledo and going to work in the small, pink-and-aqua pet grooming shop he bought here in 2006, when he got swept up in Spain’s giddy real estate boom.

But Marban does not own either anymore. The bank foreclosed on both properties in April, and he is waiting for the courts to issue the eviction notices.

For most Americans facing foreclosure, that is the end of it. But for Marban and thousands of others here, it is just the beginning of their troubles. When the gavel falls on his case, he will still owe the bank more than $140,000.

“I will be working for the bank for the rest of my life,” Marban said, tears welling in his eyes.

Spain now has the highest unemployment rate in the euro zone — 20 percent — and real estate prices are dropping. For many Spaniards, no longer able to pay their mortgages, the fine print in the deals they agreed to years ago is catching up with them.

Not only are Spanish mortgage holders personally liable for the full amount of the loan, but throw in penalty interest charges and tens of thousands of dollars in court fees and people can end up, like Marban, facing a mountain of debt. Bankruptcy isn’t the answer, either. Mortgage debt is specifically excluded here.

“Effectively, you can never get rid of this debt,” said Ada Colau, a human rights lawyer who works for Plataforma, a new advocacy group formed both to give legal advice to homeowners and to push for reform of the country’s foreclosure laws. “Other countries in the European Union also have personal debt mortgages, but you can go to the courts and get relief. Not in Spain.”

Several opposition parties in Parliament have been pressing for amendments to the country’s foreclosure laws, including letting mortgage defaulters settle their debts with the bank by turning over the property.

But the government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has opposed such a major change in lending practices. Government officials say Spain’s system of personal guarantees saved its banks from the turmoil seen in the U.S.

An estimated 1.4 million Spaniards are facing potential foreclosure proceedings, according to Spain’s consumer protection association, known as the Adicae.