Complete at last

We finally completed yesterday on our apartment in block 17.  We only got access to the place the day before and at first we had very mixed feelings. Our main concern was the size and shape of the living area, which in the type 3 apartment is very oblong.  Our main concern was what furniture to purchase to make it look cosy. We were also warned about the light fittings, but to see so many bare cables hanging from the ceiling and not knowing what lights to fit just increased the anxiety.  But we had Trevor from SnagItMurcia with us, who was a great help.  Trevor picked up things we would not have thought of. So the investment in a snagging service was worth its weight in gold.

Hi Steve,

Having never bought property in Spain before I'm a bit unsure of how it all comes together at the end. Ok so PW finish the building work on all the units in your phase and then have to wait for a habitation certificate before arranging a completion/handover date with you. Can your snagging company go in at this point and do their thing? Your Spanish attorney has been appointed in advance, and I assume he prepares transfer documents. Once a date is set do you just fly out and sign the papers with your solicitor and transfer over the balance into PW account - job done?  How do you get the keys?  I've heard you need to apply for an NIEE - what is this and how do you get it?  I'm assuring the same utility & phone provider service all the units. Do PW arrange for everything to be working on completion? You say you had no light fittings  just bare wires, did you have the option to provide these for their sparky to install? And what about air conditioning units, are there just bare wires here as well or could these have been provided in advance? 

ewelmedave

Our experience was as follows:

I heard from my solicitor that they had been notified that Polaris had received the habitation certificate.  About three weeks later I received an e-mail from Polaris out of the blue with loads of forms to complete and a completion date, which had been agreed with my solicitor but I had not been consulted.  This is a problem if you have given a POA.  Things get arranged without the courtesy of you being involved.

Personally we were not prepared to complete before we had seen the apartment, but we were not allowed access until we had agreed a completion date, and we had to go in at the same time as the snaggers. This was the day before completion.  Now I have heard that Polaris have allowed snagging teams in long before completion, but now they have the habitation certificate they are trying to use strong arm tactics to force people to complete.  I have still not received an answer to my question as to why a buyer has to complete within 20 days under Spanish law, but Polaris can remain in breach of contract over the bank guarantees because it suits them.

All the paperwork for completion is done on the day at the notary's office.  This included signing for the mortgage as the bank was also present. We got to read through the draft deeds and make some changes, and then when they were agreed they were printed on official paper.  The Notary and Polaris then joined us in the room, the Notary read through the documents checking our passports and the NIE numbers, and then stopped proceedings as there was an error with the payments.  When the problem was corrected the documents were reprinted and Notary re-joined us to continue to read through the deeds, making some changes as we went through.  At the end we all signed the deeds (Buyers, Polaris, Bank, Translator and Notary), and we were handed four sets of keys (Polaris holds on to a fifth set so that the snagging corrections may be completed).

On the NIE number we got our solicitor to apply for this for us, but Polaris will also do this for you as a service (I don't know whether they charge or not but the cost for two of us was 190 Euro).  You can do this yourself, but it involves going to some official building from around 5am in the morning to get a place in the queue.

Two of the documents we were sent were the form for the community charges and for the utilities.  Both are completed and handed over to Polaris on completion.  It takes between 30 to 60 days to get both the water and electricity connected and the cost is around 400 Eur.

In terms of having air conditioning and lights, Polaris will allow nothing to be done until completion.  In fact, they prefer that you don't do anything to the apartment until the snagging has been signed off.

Hope this helps,

Hi Steve,

Your comments have been a great help and thanks for taking the time to give an account of your completion experience. I'm really surprised PW didn't want you to supply lights & air conditioning units before completion. I thought if they were made available their electrician would put them up as a means of checking there were no problems with his wiring. I wonder how he signs of the apartment without testing everything. You say you completed the day after snagging, I didn't realise PW expected you to complete before everything on the snagging list had been attended to. I assume they promise to attend to everything within a set period of time. Your comment about PW expecting you to complete within 20 days, is this 20 days from them receiving the habitation certificate? I did expect the water and electricity to be connected within 7/10 days of completion not 30/60. I guess this waiting period is when the furniture company go in and do their stuff and the tradesmen work through the snagging list. You mention you signed documents for the community charges but didn't say if these also had to be paid on completion. Do you know how they're calculated and if they're paid monthy or quarterly.  Do you know anything about the Spanish equivalent of our domestic rates and if these charges apply to us if we're not in full time residence?

Thanks again

We have had to delay our completion until 20/3 because our solicitor could not attend PW's appointment. We have also been told 30-60 days for water and electricity but have asked if we can use Builders' power & water which we were offered if we completed without the Habitation License! Have not yet had a reply on that one am still hoping to use apartment during April.

David

This message was last edited by SteveT on 2/28/2009.

Steve

Good to hear that the resort compares favourably. We just need to get it all finished. When you are out to Spain next.? We are there from 4/4 for a fortnight and thought it would be nice if new owners met up. We are in Block 19 nearby. Even if we don't have power we are going to be there during the day so could meet up with any interested new owners. 

Regards

David

We are planning to go across in May for a few days to start getting the apartment ready.  But we will definately go to Spain when Polaris call the community meeting.  I think as many people as possible need to be there.

Hi thanks for the information, nice to see some progress.  We also are getting strong arm tactics and unfortunately our solicitor does not seem to want to tackle polaris on them.  Been told we have to complete by 12/03 but there is no way we can meet those timescales, 20 day rule being used to try and force us.

Can you let me know the notary you have used, nice to see someone prepared to make sure everything is correct.

Thanks

If it helps, we had the same problem.  We wanted to delay completion mainly because we were so annoyed about the bank guarentee, but my solicitor kept telling me that there was nothing we could do to slow th process down.  They even leaked to Polaris that we had the mortgage approved so we could not clai that we did not have the finances.

However when we went to Spain and spoke to the solicitor in person (and not the office staff who were answering my questions by e-mail), they said that they could delay completion by a couple of months as Polaris do not want any contracts cancelled. They are prepared to wait.  Even if you have given a POA, you can withdraw your permission for the solicitor to sign on your behalf, and so you cannot complete until you can travel to Spain in person.  As we all know, the flights are full for months!  Our sugegstion therfore is to speak to the actual solicitor and not the office staff.

We decided to go ahead with completion when we discovered how long it would be before we could start to use the place, with the need to get connected and get the furnishings.  But we did have the option of delaying it.

Hi I am due to sign for completion on 27^th march  and I accept that property prices have fallen my major worry is will the resort be completed ,could someone tell me how many apartments are on phase one.   

I was out for 3 days last week and have bought on phase 2 but still no sign of any building. i have been told it is April but who knows. i am also an agent and am trying tobe positive but anyone on phase 1 can expect to have temporary facilities for at least 1 year. i have clients in hacienda which is almost completly sold out but town centre not even started. the whole concept and resorts are still good but lack of facilities could be a long term problem due to sales.

colin

Glad to say we completed yesterday (by POA) with no problems!

Relieved after 3 years waiting! (originally bought on Condado).

We will be going over in May, hopefully when the utilities have been connected!!