Time Needed For Completion Etc.

Hi All... Need to pick your brains please.

I've just received an email and phone call from PW to advise that completion on our place on  La Isla will be '"Soon" and most likely in the first two weeks of June which is just about what I have been anticipating for the past 3-4 months. Obviously, I won't be making any plans as such until I have something through officially from their Completions Department but just thought I'd start looking at options available to me.

So what I was wondering was, from experience how many days have you guys that have already completed allowed for the completion process etc in Spain when you went down there..??  4-5 days..??  A week..?? 10 days..??  If it helps, I'll be looking to get just about everything sorted in the one visit, i.e. completion, NIE numbers, buying & receiving furniture, ordering & installing air-con, setting up another bank account, sorting out a key holder, etc..etc..  Oh, and not forgetting of course a few days in the sun with a cold drink in my hand.

I know everyone will probably have different experiences but any ideas will help.

Thanks in advance.

Julian

Hi Julian,

We have visited our place 3 times since completing and still not finished.  The first time was for a week in October and we completed without the Hab Cert, we purchased our lights, furniture and kitchen equipment on that trip.  We then return just before Xmas for 5 days to make up beds, sort out arrangement of furniture and  buy even  more things. Si was building drawers, putting up shelves and mirrors.  We then returned for another week at Easter and again purchases were made bathroom cabinet and towel stand, tie backs put up, pictures hung etc, just all the small things.  We still haven't finished, we are now trying to make it into a home as opposed to somewhere you rest your head and that takes time.  I would get yourself a good keyholder and arrange for you aircon to be installed when you are not there, same with lights and any other modifications you intend to make.  Furniture may have to be ordered depending on where you purchase it from.  If you want a relaxing time purchasing everything I would give yourselves at least two weeks, but if you want it over asap 5-7 days should be enough.

Good luck and best wishes

Ali & Si 

Hi,

We completed on Los Naranjos in November 2008. We had 4 days out there. Day 1 was for snagging. Day 2 PW helped us with collection on NIE number, took up a good few hours & lots of hanging around. Day 3 went to sign deeds, we were in the offices for over 3 hours hanging around. Day 4 Just enough time to have a quick look around our "new home" then off to the airport & back home to the UK. I would say at least 5 days, but if you are looking to do lots more while you're there, then you will need a few more days!

Best of luck, Carla

julian

couldnt agree more with,ali & si, and carla, takes 4 days to just complete and sign etc, dont expect to get anything done in those 4 days, have another 4 days or so to fit lights, curtains shower screens,mirrors etc, take another 2 days to walk around the furniture stores, etc(dont expect speedy deliveries), get air con done while your away, might be wise to by furniture in the uk and ship it over, it will be cheaper and you know what to look for and where to look, i wish we done it ,we done 50/50 here and there, also save a lot of sore feet and getting lost( and falling out with the navigator), other than that enjoy the experience, you will get there, and that cold one is all the more aaahhhhhhhhhhhh!

best of luck in your completion it is all worth it,

cheers ant

Hi Julian

We spent a total of 8 days sorting things out in Jan. As most people have said the first 4 days were spent doing the legal stuff, then the next four days were spent  making and fitting all the stuff we had bought after driving all around the area (Main places being Nueva Condamina, Leroy Merlin etc) buying stuff,  we must have been to Murcia and back at least 20 times in 4 days, we still havent bought everything we need as time ran out,  back out in May to hopefully get everything sorted.

If you want to do it in one go Id recommend at least two weeks.

Cheers

Ged

Hi all

I note that Ant and Andi wished they had got some of their furniture in UK and had  it shipped over.  We were thinking of doing this as furniture at the moment is cheaper in Britain besides which we have trawled Spain and cannot find a Harrods anywhere (joking).  Does anyone know Alan who has been talked about on this website so we could get a quote from him and find out how he goes about getting our furniture from Cardiff to him and then Condado.

Look forward to hearing from anyone.

Jeremy and Jane Price

We completed in March by Power of Attorney so did not even have to attend the completion. We got all our furniture from DFS in San Javier they were great. Really pleased with all the furniture and they delivered and fitted everything on one day as arranged and fitted all mirrors, headboards etc etc. Highlt recommend them and Polair for Air Con. Has been a fairly easy process al lin all.

Rgeards Paula

Hi Julian

I opened a bank account with Halifax.es. You have to open a current account here,  I did it online, there is a number you can ring and they will do all your transaction ,if not do it all on line, they all speak English .   Any monies transfered from England to Spain there is no charge!!   There is a Halifax branch in Mazarron too.

Good luck with your completion which ever route you take!

Hi Jeremery & Jane Price

Alans email is juliegraham1@ntworld.com  his user name is nozzer.  His wifes name is Julie. I used him for some bits and pieces and I would recomend him

We bought in Spain from various sources including PW and I compared prices and didnt find it to be any different than the UK , or any more expensive for that matter. We didnt do a furniture pack and did it all for far less than our many quotes plus we rather enjoyed sourcing all our own things although my husband wont be sorry to never see an IKEA again.

I think our biggest problem was co-ordinating an electrician/ handyman for when we were going to be there 1st time to stay in the apartment but there are plenty of recommendations for that job now.

I have to say I really enjoyed doing it ourselves and we find Gines Navarro in Mazarron a really good place to shop but you do cover alot of miles sourcing everything but there are plenty of different stores at different price levels to select from.
 

Hi,

We bought in the UK and shipped over - very pleased with the result.

Suggest any recommendations are made via private message as we don't want another thread deleted when everyone starts expressing their heated views one way or another !

Jeremy - I've pm's you with my views.

Hi Julian,

Congratulations on your forthcoming completion - you will probably find the next couple of months quite stressful but very exciting and as others have said, it is all worth while!

How long you need in Spain depends on how you choose to do things particularly with regard to furniture.  One thing which you may need to consider though is that once you have done your snagging (whether you do it yourselves or appoint a professional snagging company to do it for you), Polaris then have 30 days to rectify any items identified on your snagging list.  They recommend that the property is free of furniture whilst the snagging is done and I seem to remember that they refuse to accept liability if any items are damaged etc whilst work is being done in the apartment. 

This would make it a bit difficult to furnish the property at the same time as doing your snagging/NIE numbers/completion etc.

We completed in June 2008 on our apartments in Jardin 12.  We flew out to Spain at the weekend and then Monday morning was the trip to Murcia in the PW minibus to collect NIE numbers.  We were then returned to PW Head Office where the Parador Properties rep met us and took us to Cam Bank in San Javier to sign the mortgage papers.  He then took us to Condado to do the snagging.  The following day (Tuesday) he collected us first thing in the morning and took us to the Notary's office for the completion - unfortunately the Habitation Certificates were not available so we signed Power of Attorney (paid for by PW) to enable our solicitor to complete on our behalf.  We then flew home the following day, so you would be looking at about 3 days.

The solicitor completed for us about two weeks later and confirmed to us by e-mail that everything had been done. In the meantime, PW were getting on with the snagging.

With regard to furniture, we bought everything here in the UK and shipped over to Spain in August 2008 using a company called Elite European who were extremely good and I would definitely recommend them.  A number of other forum members have used them and have also been impressed.  By that time, PW had dealt with all the snagging issues.  We found it easier to get everything together in this country, as we knew where to look for things, prices were cheaper and we were not working within a restricted timescale.  I had a fantastic few weekends and lunch hours shopping, shopping and more shopping!  We rented a storage unit just for one month and were able to have furniture delivered directly to the unit.  We boxed up the smaller items at home, and then took them down to the storage unit.  Elite European collected everything from us about four weeks before we were due to go over to Spain in August and arranged delivery for after we had arrived.  We rented an apartment for the first week whilst we got everything sorted out in our own apartments and we were then able to relax and enjoy our new place in the sun, with the all important cool drink!!!

This is just one way of doing things and other people have had some very good experiences with furniture packs bought in Spain, delivered and installed for them in their absence, so that they arrive to a fully furnished and equipped apartment that they can enjoy from day one.

With regard to air conditioning, we used Gary from Polarair and he fitted the air con the week before we arrived in August.  He was quite happy to wait for us to pay him once we had arrived and checked everything was to our satisfaction.  He had done a fantastic job and it was one less thing to worry about trying to organise whilst we were out there, using our very valuable holiday days.  We just needed to send an e-mail to PW authorising them to release the keys to Gary. 

If you need any more help or have any questions about what is involved in shipping furniture over from the UK, please do not hesitate to get in touch - you can contact us through our website address below.

Good luck !

Debbie

Hi All,

Just to say a A big Thank You to everyone for your replies, thoughts and best wishes etc.  At least I now have a better idea of what's what so all I've got to do is to wait for the official confirmation from PW.

Thanks again.

Julian