Deposit to estate agent.

HiTex Tucker, you mentioned that the estate agent said they were exempt from having a complaints book. This is against the law as Spanish law states that every bar, restaurant and business in Spain has to have a complaints book ( hojas de reclamacions ), if they dont supply you with one when you ask you can complain to the Guardia Civil who will investigate and can close them down.

Yes you are being unduly negative Tex Tucker..  Spain does have it's weaknesses, but overall it's a great place to be - the people are generally the most friendly I've ever encountered.  But their culture is indeed a bit lackadaisical.

You're also a bit harsh on "shrug shoulders" - if you are in his position what do you do?  You said he was recommended by the Agent, so he has a minor delemma.  Does he repay the courtesy to the Agent, or does he say "don't give money to the Agent?  The middle option of doing neither is not right, but unsurprising in the real world.  At least he didn't lie.

This is not Utopia, but for me a great place to visit and spend time.

You could be correct acer, maybe we are over reacting. If we give the deposit to the agent will you give us a personal guarantee? Where we come from it’s called money where mouth is.

Hi TexTucker,

If you look back on the thread no-one, but no-one (!) suggested you give money to the Agent.  So why on earth do you suggest that now?

I'm not going to argue with you - just trying to help.  

"Will our deposit be safe and guaranteed; is there any regulation in Spain of who can handle clients’ money?"

This begs the question(s) is there a legal requirement in place for ANY purchase deposit to be placed into a safeguarded client bank account by either agent or lawyer, plus is there a legal requirement  for any agent or lawyer to have legal liability in place in the event of legal action being taken against them?

Are these actions under existing Spanish law considered as being part of their legal due diligence or is there no law in place to protect in this regard?

How does this apply if the agent is based in the UK? Will UK law then apply?
 

Well ads if you have bought any house in Spain you would know all the answers to the question you are asking, bad enough if you are not sure of your lawyer / solicitor and you give them your deposit at least in your own mind you would have been seen to have done the correct way of doing things, there is no legal requirement for any one to hand over their money to anyone, be it solicitor or agents, should be your own brain that tells you the correct thing to do.

Legal liability action against any agents or solicitors, is that meant to be a joke or what? You got folk on here waiting 10 years plus to get a deposit or money handed over to builders when they do a runner, so you know that answer also.

Basically no laws of any substance, thought everyone knew this, buyer beware even buying a pair of shoes.

Quite agree.  TextTucker's comment is unrealistic on many levels.

** EDITED - Against forum rules **

Well Baz, since there is obvious concern being expressed here on this forum, the questions need to be asked and responded to so as to continue the educative process! 
You make a false assumption that everyone is as knowledgable as you ..... " thought everyone knew this".!

This is one major purpose to the EOS  forum that not everyone knows everything associated with Spanish purchase and many need those assurances from legal professionals ( such as the resident lawyer Maria de Castro) going forward.

Please don't infer that I ask these questions knowing all the answers .....many times those who have made assumptions have found the devil is in the detail as there are all manner of loopholes or changes in ongoing law that require constant questions to be addressed and where necessary forewarn buyers going forward.

I don't make false assumptions about everyone knowing this, and I don't know everything their is to know about the laws in Spain, what I do know is common sense and smell a rat, and so on.

I am not infering that you ask questions knowing all the answers, but you do answer a posters questions with questions, which confuse's the posters question,  and as this is one small part, this forum, I wonder how does it help anyone who does not see or look at this forum? Fine if you direct all your knowledge to other forums, which I suppose you might do.

This begs the question(s) is there a legal requirement in place for ANY purchase deposit to be placed into a safeguarded client bank account by either agent or lawyer,......This question from you,  are you answering a question, or asking a question?

Sorry to confuse....I am suggesting there are more detailed questions that need answering with regard to the safeguarding of depositors monies and whether there is any general law in place to protect, to ensure that agents or lawyers MUST in law place any deposited monies into a safeguarded client account.

Depends who your solicitor is I suppose. When we bought, the solicitor couldn't take our deposit funds on his card machine as the phone line was down, but gave us a receipt to show the third party we had paid it anyway. It just meant we had some more euros to pay on completion than we would if had divvied up already.

Questions for Maria.

Is a receipt from the agent sufficient to act as protection of deposited monies with regard to purchase of a property ( not referring here to an offplan purchase).

Is it the case that if monies were paid to an agent who in the interim went bust, that those monies ( even with a basic receipt) would be lost without a law stating that the monies should be paid into a safeguarded client account from the outset???

Use a credit card. Most members may not know,

Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, credit cards must provide protection for purchases above £100 and below £30,000. 

Interesting Kavanagh but would you know if property purchase is excluded from this protection as there is mention of land being excluded according to this, or purchasing through intermediaries?...

http://www.theukcardsassociation.org.uk/individual/section-75-for-credit-card-purchases.asp
 

Kavanagh,

Your suggestion would not work as there is no direct relationship between the buyer and the provider of the goods.  I believe you will find that this is an essential element of a Section 75 claim. 

A holding deposit  is a commitment to purchase ..it's basically put in place to weed out the dreamers ..a holding deposit is none returnable if the buyer pulls out through no fault of the seller ..the holding deposit should only be paid to your lawyer on this understanding... apparently the seller's are liable to pay your legal fees if they decide not to sell ...after they have accepted a holiday deposit...some people also say the sellers must pay twice the holding deposit for  pulling out but I am not to sure about this claim.

Windtalker..  I understand if the seller pulls out they must repay the deposit plus an equal amount.

We are still sadly left with a buyer unprotected in the event of agent malpractice or insolvency, hence the need for some form of safeguarding of deposited monies into client accounts mechanisms, in the interim period.

Of course if the buyer reneges on the deal however they should forgo their holding deposited monies.

Surely in terms of the seller pulling out there should be a contract in place between seller and agent to cover this eventuality so that this is transparent for both agent and seller from the outset?

As the deal is between the buyer and seller, it makes more sense to pay the deposit to the seller.