Property deeds and ex partners

Hello, has anyone got any advice on the best way to get an ex partner of the deeds on a Spanish property.

Following a divorce my ex agreed that I take over our Spanish house and mortgage.

ive approached the bank and solicitor in Spain  and via the solicitor been told that I will need to pay 14000..00 euro in fees and taxes for this to be done. 

They have given me a breakdown (The property is valued at e250000 ) and it seems to me that they are "selling" me back my own house, hence the taxes .

i can't believe that this is the only way to do this so any advice will be greatly appreciated 

You are "buying" your ex's half share, which means you probably have to pay transfer tax on the assumed value of that 50% (8% of €125,000?), as well as plus valia, and notary, registry and your legal fees. It may be worth getting a second opinion (quote) from another lawyer or gestor, just in case the one you have has miscalculated. How was the property "valued", by the way? I don't think you use the market value for this type of transaction, it's more likely based on the valor catastral, and that could make a huge difference.

Hi and thanks for the reply. The valuation is definitely the market value . They've assumed it themselves, it's not been offered by me. Can you give me more information about the valor catastral you mentioned please.

The market value is anybody's guess, especially in the current market. How can anyone say what it's worth, without actually putting on the market to see if you can get a buyer? The valor catastral is the rateable value. You can find it on your IBI (rates) bill. It's usually considerably lower than the market value. I suspect that for this type of transaction i.e. where there isn't actually a monetary sale taking place, just a transfer of ownership, the value for transfer tax purposes is calculated based on a multiplier of the valor catastral, but what that might be I don't know, sorry. It could be that your lawyer has already done this to come up with a "market value" - but it may be worth checking. 

Klg     The assessed value appears to depend on the way the Region where the property is situated makes the calculation.

Any lawyer,  gestor or notary in the Region would be able to tell you.

In Andalucía I believe it is a multiple of the cadastral value.  That is what my gestor used when i asked her about what inheritance tax my wife might incur when I die

.

I have recently gone through this process myself, and it is referred to as a "dissolution of property" My property is in Murcia.  I have attached the solicitors email to me and breakdown of costs that were presented to me for your info.  Obviously as said elsewhere in the replies to you, costs will differ from region to region.  You also need to be aware that if your Ex lives in the UK and has no intention of returning to Spain to complete the process i.e. signing of documentaion, then she will need to appoint a Power of Attoney to act on her behalf.  Hope you find this helpful.

Unfortunately Stamp Duties has to be paid. They are due on any document to be signed before a Public Notary and to do the dissolution of joint ownership and register it at the Land Registry, it is necessary to sign a Public Title Deed.

I made a mistake because I calculated Stamp Duties at 2% rate when in these cases the rate is 1.5%. I have calculated the Stamp Duties on the declared value of your purchase which was 215.000 Euros, however I have accessed  the website of the Region of Murcia to find out the minimum value to be declared on a property like yours, and I have worked out a value of 88.026,47 Euros. You could declare that value and it would reduce highly the possibilities of being revised the value by Murcia Tax Authorities. However if you do so, you have to take into account that at the time of selling your property, the value of your original 50% would be half of 215.000 Euros which is 107.500 Euros, but the value of the 50% you acquire now would be half of that value 88.026,47 which is 44.013,23 Euros, and therefore, the capital gain tax on you sale will be calculated accordingly.

With those to changes and not charging for searches and change of utilities, the breakdown will be as follows:

If you decide to go ahead, we will need to have copy of the sentence of divorce in order not to pay any Plusvalia Tax at the Town Hall.

Thanks for the reply, based on your information there hast to be something wrong. My property is also in murcia but I've been quoted the following 

 I was was expecting a figure of around the 3-4000 mark, not the 14.5 k below.

Maybe it's time to get another lawyer to look into this , Any suggestions for the Murcia region?NB the power of attorney has already been dealt with in the uk

Have sent you a P.M. with solicitors that I used.

Good Luck

I think the fundamental thing to check here is the value of the property used for the excercise (i.e an assumed market value, or the valor catastral?) But even so, there appear to be more things wrong with your quote, so yes, absolutely, I would get a second opinion. Good luck, hope it all works out.

https://www.ocu.org/dinero/renta-impuestos/informe/valor-fiscal-inmuebles/hacienda-manda

Calculator of Tax value of properties in Spain

many thanks to all those who replied.

Its been very heplful.

Not sure how relevant this is:

We have friends that live in a flat owned jointly by their daughter and her ex husband. Nothing heard from him for 10 years but then he turns up one day (about three years ago) asking for rent for the flat.

They gave him a bill for 10 years community fees and local taxes.

He has not been heard of again.