Spanish or British ????

I would also suggest that a Spanish lawyer is best.  Ask yourself, if you were buying property in UK, would you use a Spanish lawyer?

Hi Bobaol,

I fully understand your point here. But living in the UK and buying in Spain is different to buying in the UK using a Spanish lawyer.

I won't knock anyone for using a Spanish Lawyer, but we used an English one who specialises in buying property abroad.

We felt safe as we were covered for all events under UK law. If our solicitor had messed up, we had the Law Commission to save us!

It worked well for us, but our agent in Spain was not happy about it, as they wanted us to use their solicitor, one has to wonder why.........I would however, recommend that you use a different solicitor to that which your agent suggests, that way you are safe,,,,,,,,,,,

Regards,

We used a so called 'English Speaking' Spanish lawyer to purchase our property.

Long delays have meant we are now considering requesting the return of our deposit.

To help us in this decision I asked our lawyer to send  a copy of the contract he signed on our behalf (he has POW).

You guessed, it's in Spanish. Probably just another of his feet dragging delaying tactics.

Does anyone know where I can get a translation of this document?

Thank you Smiley.

 Since all my correspondence to them is in English, and my email and residential addresses are in the UK,  and all my telephone calls to them have been conducted in English, does this not indicate to them that I am not sufficiently proficient in Spanish to translate and thoroughly understand a legal document.

I should have known to ask for a translated version, silly me!

Yes, I am losing patience at a pace of knots!

WE are still struggling with the vexed question of whether or not to use a solicitor and in which country - mind you we have had plenty of time to wonder. We put our deposit down in June 2004 on a property which was supposed to have been completed "18 months after building starts", which would have been around May 2006............hmmm.........the latest "guess" by the developer, yes they even call it a "guess" - is this autumn!!! We had a Spanish solicitor look over the contract, which "seemed" to be OK. She helpfully suggested that she would write and point out this time clause and suggest a penalty, thereby earning some of her large fee. However, a Spanish "gestor" who we also met, said that that would just "end up in the bin"! I have contacted Howell's to try to decide whether or not to use them - again their fees are large and, like the Spanish 'packages' seem to cover things which we don't need and therefore don't want to pay for, ie. NIE (we have obtained our own), residency permits etc. (we don't intend to reside). This really is a vexed question - I am happy to pay for professional services, but only one which I actually need and which have some hope of being effective. ANY more thoughts and advice welcome.

Leigh

Makes no odds Sandra - same applies in the UK if for sake of argument any foreigner is buying property in the UK - all contracts are in English as no other language is recognised in a UK court of law - wonder if that will be the case in 100 years. Nothing to do with your choice or the developer or the lawyer - its the law. Burden of responsibility lies with the purchaser to ensure that everything is explained in a language they understand - thus you need to ask your lawyer for a translation or pay to get it done yourselves I am afraid. You may also have been told a sterling price for the property you are buying (many are) but you are paying Euros someone at some stage has converted it back to £ at a given exchange rate. So often I ask clients what they are paying for their property and they give me a sterling figure. 

Minor point but I rather suspect that you hold a European passport - although issued in the UK.

Antleigh I would always recommend using a lawyer to represent you - in fact if you do not have one you will have to hire a translator on the day of completion to understand the title deed as the Notary is required under law to ensure you have understood documents you are signing - however it is not his job to do the translating simply to make sure that someone has (this assumes of course you do not speak Spanish). Lawyers fees are generally 1% of purchase price although this can be as high as 2% I have encountered - then again the estate agent was getting a substantial kickback. Most of them have add ons for utilities connections, NIEs etc.

Rgds and PM coming your way

Smiley- you are absolutely right in all the information you have given regarding lawyers. I have no more to add to your observations and I have been using my lawyer for over 20 years. We are after all buying in Spain, the language and people are Spanish so I do not see the necessity to use English counterparts.  I wouldn't use my Spanish lawyer to buy a house in London so it works both ways.  There are plenty  of horror stories,I know, but please listen to Smiley , after all he is living and working in Spain currently and has all the up to date info.

Best regards.

Oh my goodness , I hope we don't have these problems with our lawyers (who were recommended by our Agents !!  say no more....) but I would like to thank Spanish Inquisition (a lawyer on this site ) who has given us a prompt response to a query we had about a sale agreement, and would certainly use him for any further legal queries we have .  It's a minefield !!!

Thanks

Sue

Being in the same position it's nice to hear other people's experiences.  We've just put a deposit down for a development in Estepona called The Village, Valle Romano.  Anybody heard of it?  This is all new to us and very foreign!!!  We are going to use a spanish lawyer from a company called Lexus in Marbella,  one that was recommended by the estate agent H20 (an English company) but not sure if that's a good or bad thing.  We actually bought the property after seeing it at the West Ham football club, they are endorsing it along with many other premiership football clubs and top golfers and are using the same firm of solicitors.  We have been told that we will be refunded the 7% tax on completion which sounds good.  Has anybody heard of these solicitors or the property development.  Grateful for any views/comments.

Donna  

I have heard of the complex and it is being promoted by the footballers. They cannot refund the actual tax of 7% but what they are doing is effectively giving you a discount of that amount.

As the market is suffering ther eare many incentives being offered by all developers and so as long as you are sure its all legal and correct and you are happy with it then go ahead.

You may want to just get your own lawyers to be totally sure if ompatiality - I cant recal hearing anything bad about Lexus in particular, but all lawyers give an introduction fee to the agents that recommend them!

You can haggle the fee and many will do the deed for .75% as opposed to 1-1,5%.

Good luck.