Spanish Lawyers

Contents

Peek at Spain SL - Introduction

Peek at Spain SL have never believed in using a lawyer since our own bad experiences when we moved in 2002.  We wasted £2,000 on a UK lawyer with a Spanish Affiliate practice.  The Spanish end was a lawyer that did not add anything to the process, did not obtain a proper surveyor's report and left us uninsured and totally unclear of the process.  He was asking questions immediately before the Notary Meeting that he should have found out previously, which nearly caused a walk out of the sellers and the agent, due to the unnecessary delay he caused on the day.  All this time, our furniture was parked outside the house waiting for us to finish at the Notary.  Due to several hours having been wasted, as a result the seller did not come back and show us how everything worked!  We dare not think what would have happened if it had fallen through as a result of his behaviour!  The final insult was that the Spanish contact at the UK end had never been to a Notary meeting, so did not know what happened!  It was in our view a huge “con” and one we were anxious for our clients to avoid. 

We realised that the Notary is the man in charge of house purchases in Spain.  In the UK two solicitors complete the sale, having checked everything, but here in Spain it's the Notary that does all this for you and Solicitors cannot do this task!  In fact, many Spanish people and the Banks here NEVER use a lawyer - they rely totally on the Notary!  In all this time selling houses, I think we have only had two sales using a lawyer.  Even all those requiring a mortgage with Banco Popular never required a lawyer.

However, recently we have felt that with more properties being sold in the country there are certain things that the Notary does NOT check with the local town hall and we felt that a solicitor would add value to this process.  For instance, a property can be marked up at the Town Hall as an "Irrigation House" for an orchard.  This would mean that the electricity company also class it the same and so would not upgrade the supply unless the Town hall upgraded the status of the house.  The Town Hall may refuse to do that, which would provide for future problems!  A solicitor on the other hand CAN check all this in advance.  We have therefore somewhat changed our minds on this matter as a result, feeling that we should offer the client the option to use a solicitor.  In fact on country properties we now recommend that our clients use a solicitor.

So, we discussed our concerns with an Independent Lawyer in Valencia and he confirmed that they can check more than the Notary does and then wrote this article for us below for us to bring to your attention.

Why USE a lawyer when buying property in Spain?

You simply wouldn’t dream of NOT using a lawyer when buying property in England and when buying property here in Spain it shouldn’t be any different!

Investing in Spain can be a very daunting process with many pitfalls that just don’t exist in your own country. In your rush to secure your place in the sun you need to be careful that you don’t fall into one of those pitfalls or become the victim of fraud. Add to that the fact that you will be dealing with an entirely different culture and buying process, all in an unfamiliar language and you might well just think of staying put in your own country, but it needn’t be so.

An independent lawyer is essential to protect your interests and ensure the conveyance process runs as smooth as possible. Avoid the pitfalls and problems before they happen, as they say, prevention is better than cure.

They will also be able to act on your behalf under a Power of Attorney for the signing of documents etc. This may be useful to you if you do not plan to be in Spain during the singing of important documents, for example at the Notary’s office.

A good lawyer will also provide the help and assistance you will need in obtaining a NIE number (fiscal identification) which is a legal requirement for foreigners to be able to purchase property here in Spain. You will also need this NIE number to buy a car or work in Spain.

When you buy a resale property in Spain the lawyer will check the following:

Every property is different, many other background legal checks will need to be made, for example, ensure the construction itself is legal and has the appropriate licenses or water rights, before you sign anything or hand over a deposit.

Rural properties are particularly problematic here in Spain, checks need to be made that the property is registered in the ‘Registro de la Propiedad’ or Land Registry as a home. There have been many cases of properties that were registered as farm buildings for example, or illegally constructed and therefore not registered. In these cases the Town Hall or ‘Ayuntamiento’ may deny the required licence’s to recognise the construction as a home. This can then pose other problems when contracting utility companies for the supplies of electricity, water or gas.

An independent lawyer will foresee this type of problem and may be able to suggest ways in which the construction can be legalised before you commit to buying the property or handing over a non refundable deposit.  The lawyer should also attend the signing of the deeds at the Notary office and register the change of ownership in the Land Register.  They may also assist you in the transfer of contracts with the utilities companies.  What costs are involved when purchasing property in Spain? Based on a purchase price of 150,000 € and using an independent lawyer the costs would be:

Many Estate Agents will claim that it is not necessary to use a lawyer when buying in Spain; we can only suggest they have their own motives for saying this but I’m sure protecting your interest is not one of them. Others may claim to have an ‘in-house lawyer’ who will ‘see to everything for you’, again, be very wary of this as it constitutes a conflict of interests.

The region of Valencia is a great place live and buying a home here should be as safe as buying a home in the UK, provided you speak to a qualified INDEPENDENT Spanish lawyer before signing anything or handing over a deposit… Why use a Spanish lawyer when buying property in Spain? Can you afford not to?

 Andrew Weeks (Client Services Manager)
Company name withheld at their request as they wish to remain Independent of Peek at Spain SL.
Full information will be provided if requested at any time, so you can make contact, or will be provided at the time of purchasing a property through Peek At Spain SL.

Peek at Spain SL - Conclusion

The lawyer above charges a base price of 1,500 € plus IVA, so this is a lot less than we paid in 2002 to the UK lawyer for that terrible service that we got.  The Lawyer above also provides a regular update report to his client so they know where they are with the process at any one time.  He makes them aware immediately of any problems.

We are quite happy to put you, our client, in touch with this Independent Lawyer and can almost guarantee that the fee mentioned above is already taken care of in the ALL INCLUSIVE price we quote!  Normally we give quite a lot of money back to our clients, but we would obviously have to ensure that the lawyer’s fees were covered FIRST!

Who knows, we may now be the only agent who recommends a lawyer?

When you purchase through us, let us know if you do NOT want us to put you in touch with this Independent Lawyer. 

UK phone number: 0844-837-8945
UK phone number: 0871-990-3-550
Spain Office: +34-96-299-8133
mailto:enquiries@peek-at-spain.com
© www.peek-at-spain.com
© Peek at Spain S.L.
06/03/2006