discrepancy over who owns what land -

Hi there, I hope someone can help with the problem that we have.
21 years ago we bought a house with two quite large plots of land. We didn't get the land measured as the owner, a farmer, showed us where the boundary was although it wasn't fenced in but we trusted him as he bordered our land and would be our neighbour.
However, 12 years ago, the farmer asked if we would do a land swap with him. So he would have a piece of our land and in return we would have a piece of his land which had a little stable on it. We agreed to it as we wanted to help him out and we could make use of the stable. There was nothing in writing by the way.
However we now want to sell it and so have got the latest aerial view which is not just a set of lines but shows what is within the lines. Lo and behold, the piece of land with the stable is on our plot.
We have now pointed this out to the farmer and he says that we made an agreement, albeit verbal, and that when we were buying it he showed us the bounderies and they didn't include the stable.
I feel that one line of thought is that the stable land is legally ours but on the other hand, we did agree to the arangement but only because we didn't know the stable land was on our parcel.
I'd welcome your thoughts but please don't be mean.

Hello coleen

You would be better off getting the thoughts of your Spanish lawyer.

Have you looked for the bounday to your land  by using this link: Sede Electrónica del Catastro - Inicio

Just put your catasral number in the search box and it should show what is yours legally.

Thank you very much for your suggestion, much appreciated.
However we do have the paperwork that shows the stable is clearly on our land. We didn't know it at the time as there weren't areal photos 21 years ago and there was no line drawing of the stable on it then either. I think without doubt it legaly belongs to us.

However as we verbally agreed to the swap not realizing the stable land was actually ours, it puts us in a very difficult situation.

Hi Coleen,

I have to say that from your outline of the situation you appear to being far too nice!   Your "don't be mean" comment at the end of your first post worries me.  Unless you stand-up for your rights you are likely to lose and end-up "out of pocket".

I like the Spanish people very much but from my experience they tend to appear laid-back but actual fact are generally somewhere between canny and downright ruthless in these situations.

This dispute appears to be going nowhere fast.   So I suggest you need to find a good lawyer asap and you need to identify one who's going to be on your side.  Some will happily accept fees from you but don't always support you against a compatriot as you might expect.  Perhaps a lawyer from another town would be better than a local too - it's a different culture in Spain.  But from what you outline you seem to have a good case.

Incidently as you say you have supportive documentation it might be good to obtain copies immediately and ensure these are circulated to all the relevant parties at the outset, in case changes are made etc.  The solicitor may suggest they are lodged with the Notary.

There's always a reluctance to escalate a dispute with a neighbour, but it seems this is bound to happen and decisive action now may well sort the problem, before the relationship deteriorates.  But for sure you need good legal advice and it's most important you choose the right one!   Be picky!   A recommendation locally may be helpful?

Thank you very much for your thoughts on this Acer.
As we are planning to sell our house and land, we have enlisted an Estate Agent that we already know. So we have a meeting this week to further discuss the situation and also see what solicitor they suggest.

You may be fortunate as the rules on legal non-disclosure in Spain are currently virtually non-existent, assuming of course you are happy with the passing the can of worms to someone else.   Mmm...caveat emptor...

Many thanks for that. We are mulling it over and speaking to our estate agent person next week.

Much appreciated, thanks for the tip.
The documentation confirm the stable is on our property. We had no aerial or line drawings of the stable twenty-one years ago. I believe it's ours.