Today we bring you the sixth podcast recorded with Maria de Castro of Costa Luz Lawyers answering your legal questions relating to you and the law in Spain.
Due to popular demand, we have broken up this podcast into separate audios, one for each question. That way you can go straight to the questions that most interest you.
Simply click the play button in the player for the question that you are interested in listening to.
If you would like to submit your own questions for Maria's next podcast then please follow the instructions at the end of this post.
Q1: Under what legal authority are we able to see the books and records used to prepare the accounts for the Community?
Q2: We brought our property 6 years ago and became residents 5 years ago we are over 65 will we still be liable for capital gains tax some people say we are some say not. Any advice would be appreciated.
Q3: We have a Spanish registered car that we bought when we lived in the Alicante region, we now live if the Murcia region. What do we need to take to trafico in Murcia/Cartagena to register the car to our current (rented) accommodation?
Q4: Hi Maria, We want to hand our apartment back to the bank and use dacion en pago to do so. I have been told by the bank that they will still chase me to the uk for the remaining money outstanding on the loan. I was lead to believe this will only happen if i was in negative equity or i was being repossessed. can you help with this matter?
Q5: What legal procedures is it best to follow in renting a home long term in Spain and paying a full years rent up front?
Q6: I want to know that my bank guarantee is with cajamurica bank as builder did not build me my house, the bank had refused to return my money?? Is bank breaking the law????
Q7: I have read on Eye on Spain that we need to pay two taxes. The Council Tax which is taken out by direct debit and also Income tax. Nobody told us about the Income tax when we purchased our property. How do we pay this?
Q8: Please can you tell me Notario charges for registering 85k property in Spain? Also the cost of Land Registry for same.
Q9: My husband, myself, my brother and sister in law have an apartment near Granada. All our names are on the mortgage. When we receive our annual fiscal liability tax bill we pay €130 in tax and €495 in charges. Is this a tax on each person or is it to do with our apartment? Is there any way we can reduce this annual bill?
Q10: We are in the middle of a lawsuit against Aifos regarding an off plan property that has never even been started in Torrox. They owe us over 30,500 Euros including expenses. We have had two court cases in Malaga and do have a solicitor in Nerja but would like to ask you Maria, if you have heard anything about the position of Aifos to date? We know that they are in voluntary administration.
Q11: Myself and a friend have a joint spanish mortgage on a apt in Spain taken out 5 years ago, since then we have both married our long time partners and have never had a spanish will made, can you advise us of what we should do next?
Q12: Having won a case in the Supreme court of Alicante against a promoter (san juan Urbana) we have been told that it is unlikely that we will be successful in getting our money back as promoter is missing. Even though an embargo was applied our legal rep is saying (exact quote) 'all our requirements to the court to get information about assets free of charges are in vain'. I would truly value your opinion on this statement. I am sure there are others in a similar situation to us you may already know of this ongoing case against Gran Mirador.(4years now)
Q13: It was interesting to hear that a constructor has only one vote even though he may still own many properties. Does this also mean that if a property is is owned equally by three family members then they all have a vote each (3votes) at an AGM and also for any issues the owners agree to vote for?
Q14: I live on urbanization where we have finally each owner have received: "La Licencia de Primera Ocupacio'n -Ce'dula de Habitibidad." I have been paying annual payment - "Suma" for my home for the last five years even though we did not have the above Certificate. Can I claim this back now and with interest? If Yes Whom do I claim it back from and how as this amounts to a substantial amount?
Q15: What action can we take as our developer has now told us that as it is now 3 years since we signed for our property they will not complete any of the outstanding snags we have already reported.
Q16: We have a community where one of the residents is using her home to carry out 'castings'. She will interview and photograpgh up to 40 people in a day (sometimes all children, sometimes guapas, etc) I believe she is narrowing down applicants for adverts and the like. She only carries these out 4-6 times a year. And no one seems too bothered, until now. Another resident has taken great exception to this activity, and is asking me to ban it (I am the President). I have heard differing views as to whether or not I can put it to the Community to ban. What is the difinitive position in law?
Q17: We placed a deposit on an off plan property in 2005 with an expected completion date of summer 2007. the property was eventually finished summer 2009. In the mean time I have become a victim of the recession and gone from a very well paid job to now working part time at minimum wage. I cannot get a mortgage for anywhere near the amount now out standing to complete. What options do I have, if any?
Q18: We are looking at purchasing a company currently trading as an S.L. (sociedad limitada) registered in Spain. We will obviously need the services of a corporate lawyer if we proceed but would be grateful for any advice on the procedure and any pitfalls we should be looking for in the early stages of negotiation?
Q19: My apartment has various water leak and damp problems and as the building is within 3 years old my home insurance and the community insurance have advised me that the developer must carry out all necessary repairs inside and out. The developer is refusing to do all of these repairs and as advised by my home insurance I have sent a burofax (certificated) a couple of days ago to inform them that they must carry out all the repairs and also replace a damaged cabinet in one of the bedrooms that has been damaged due to the damp. My question is.. what should I do if I do not hear from the developer and if they still refuse to carry out the repairs and replace the damaged unit?
If you would like to submit questions for Maria's next podcast you can do so at:
http://www.eyeonspain.com/podcasts/maria/questions.aspx
We are sorry that we cannot discuss every question submitted due to podcast time constraints.
We hope you enjoy this podcast.