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We have paid inital deposit for an apartment, Off plan Porto Fino, Almerimar, A Securing deposit. Next week we transfer approx e27k to rise our payments to 15%. The law firm representing us were nominated by the estate agents who are irish owned and based in Marbella. We are due to transfer next week so time is of the essence. Law firm seems not too interested in questions regarding our request of an english transalated purchase contract which was finally sent last week with no inclusion of our names, property identification etc.
Can anyone advise me on where we stand regrading our possible attempt to move law firm as quick as is possible
Thanks for any help you may be able to offer
Frank
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Can anyone recommend a lawyer or law firm in the Almeria region, We would require a good standard of english as we dont speak spanish. Thanks Patrick for your reply
Frank
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Frank the number one rule when buying a property in Spain, particularly Marbella region... DO NOT USE A LAWYER RECOMMENDED BY THE AGENT OR DEVELOPER. That is probably the best advice you can be given. It is the fast track highway to hell....I know from experience.!!!!!!!!! Whoever you choose get in writing their terms and conditions. Patricks advice is spot on. If you do purchase NEVER leave everything in someone else's hands. You need to be on the case every step of the way. It is your responsibility to protect your interests AT ALL TIMES. This message was last edited by Tish on 1/21/2007.This message was last edited by Tish on 1/21/2007.
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Tish, That's not always the case, we were recommended GVA lawyers in Marbella by Interealty and they are first class! They compiled a contract which is most beneficial to us now that our development is behind, and we also had our wills done with them with translations sent to the UK within days. I would have no hesitation in recommending them to anyone.
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Hi Frank while he is not in Almeria I can recommend a lawyer here in Marbella - he is a contributor to this forum and goes by the name of Spanish Inquisition - you will find him on one of the legal or taxation threads. PM him and ask him to send a copy of his TOB's and if he suits then use him if not then dont. He is my lawyer and I would trust him almost with my life (I only trust me with that). He speaks good English havong lived there for a few years, he is a qualified lawyer (something one does not have to be here) and he is a member of the Law Society of Spain. He gave some pro bono advice to another member looking for guidance about a sale contract with a developer that she needed clarified and she has posted a reply that commends him. His charging structure is very fair.
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Smiley - patrick@marbellamortgages.com www.marbellamortgages.com www.comparetravelcash.co.uk
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Hi Larny. You wrote:
That's not always the case, we were recommended GVA lawyers in Marbella by Interealty and they are first class!
They compiled a contract which is most beneficial to us now that our development is behind, and we also had our wills done with them with translations sent to the UK within days.
I would have no hesitation in recommending them to anyone.
This does not constitute a" good "lawyer! Why would you want an English translation of your will? It surely would have been written in English in the first place! That's going round in circles. You say your development is behind schedule( commonplace). Time will tell how good they are if other problems arise later eg..no LFO!
I'm sorry to be cynical. We had to go through 3 lawyers before we got to get our money back from a "no build" even though we had a bank guarantee. The first law firm was so "in bed" with the developer that they did nothing to assist us in taking the matter to Court. Our current lawyer is now trying to get 5,000+ euros back from our original lawyer through the Collegio de Abogados.( we had to pay over 7,000 euros up front to take us to completion)The Collegio summoned the senior partner into a meeting to discuss this matter. He did not turn up!! This is a large law firm overlooking the marina in Marbella. I know over 50 people who have had major problems with a developer in the Marbella area who were with (usually) one of 4 law firms who did not act in their clients interest! Most are awaiting Court hearings. Most of these people went with lawyers recommended by the agents.....BECAUSE THEY TRUSTED THEM!
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Hi
I agree with Tish - never use lawyers recommended by agent. I have just changed lawyer and am now going down cancellation route of my off-plan as this is now 16 months overdue and still problems.
Cherry
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Also, do NOT use the agents OWN legal dept. We did, felt secure at first meeting then it all went downhill. Gosh, when I THINK of just how NAIVE we were then. They didn't have a clue. They couldn't answer any of our legal questions (just kept telling us "let us get on with our job !") Turns out they were JUST able to do VERY BASIC CONVEYANCING (so they thought, anyway) but when trouble occurred they told us, on many occasions, that they'd need to consult with solicitors they knew ! They bluffed their way through two years of us. Thank God we are FREE-E-E-E of them, now.
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Hi Larny it will be interesting to see if you are just as impressed come completion. Tish in fact the will does have to be translated if it is an official will here in Spain. The will has to be Notarised and sent to the registry - being Spain this will be written in Spanish thus in order to know that your intentions are correct (assuming you dont read the lingo) it will need to be translated no?
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Smiley - patrick@marbellamortgages.com www.marbellamortgages.com www.comparetravelcash.co.uk
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Tish, just to add to your comments regarding Wills in English - Wills in Spain have to be in Spanish and lodged in Spain (at a place where I cannot now recall!!). Our lawyers dealt with our Wills and lodged them and then provided us with English translations (obviously providing us with those translations before we signed the Spanish language equivalents!). It's practically mandatory - for legal reasons - that you lodge a Spanish Will in Spain (if you have assets there) as the Spanish legal system doesn't easily recognise Wills lodged elsewhere, as we are informed. So there is really no query about anybody signing a Will in Spanish in Spain!!! So long as they know exactly what it says in their own language!
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Sorry Smiley, just realised I must have missed your post regarding Wills!! Can I blame it on the time difference or the fact that I'm just about ready to go into my nightly coma??!! I'm now trying to not get into that "beware of lawyers" mode!!
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I have got an article in my website that may help you to understand why a Spanish will is recommendable:
http://www.costaluzlawyers.es/eng/?p=34
This message was last edited by mariadecastro on 1/23/2007.
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Maria L. de Castro, JD, MA
Lawyer
Director www.costaluzlawyers.es
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We made Spanish wills. You really should do this as soon as you complete your property transaction. They were in both Spanish & English, side by side on each page. Lodged with notary who witnessed us signing them, we have copies, as does our solicitor in Spain.
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We've paid deposit and build just starting to take shape. We are not happy with our lawyers....we bombard them with emails and we rarely get any replies. Any questions we put to them they fob us off and are not very helpful at all. We have given them power of attorney !!! Would it be easy to change lawyers at this stage and how do you stop them having power of attorney ? (our lawyers were the one's recommended by our agents,) Really wished we had read this web site first
Could someone please advise on first steps to changing lawyers.
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Hi everyone,
Yes I did know that Wills have to be in both languages as ours is. We went along to the Notary ourselves so saw first hand the translations, in the same way Jeansis did. I just didn't see why sending the translation to the UK made GVA a good law firm! I was wondering if Larney's law firm was GVA or DVA. I have heard of DVA. They are often recommended by the bigger EA's. . Anyway...I don't want to get into controversial territory this morning!
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Hi Salsy,
I've just seen your post. It is easy to change lawyers. The difficulty is finding one that you can trust and who will work in your best interest. Maybe Justin has a list of "tried & tested" law firms. I could tell you of the ones not to use...but I don't think that is allowed on the forum. When you do find a good lawyer, he/she will contact your ex lawyer and ask for all the paperwork from them and cancel the POA. You will need to give the new lawyer permission to do this by way of a signed document. At least that is how it worked for us.
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It is entirely possible to change law firms although regrettably from my experience some firms will do their utmost to frustrate such efforts. Strictly speaking one should send a venia requesting the file and one should appreciate that fees may be pending.
Failing this, I know of instances where clients have simply gone to the firms offices and collected relevant papers. In essence this may only amount to an original Power of Attorney (although I never fully understand why so many lawyers feel the need to ask clients to legalise these from the outset and I would strongly advise against this unless no alternative exists), NIE´s (although again a duplicate can be retained) and possibly contract papers or similar.
The vendor or developer can be contacted and advised of the change and the process can take place fairly effortlessly.
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Glyn D Gerard Moran
Partner - CB Legal & Fiscal Consulta...
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