electricity

Hi Kernow

What general area are you?  You MUST have a solicitor if you are legalizing a new-build.  Perhaps I can recommend one.

Advice - NEVER use a solicitor recommended by the estate agent who sold you the property.

Manilva area,  we did use a solicitor receomended by the agent for the purchase of the house which was a big mistake.  (Novice first time buyers of off plan property, completed in April this year,  agents now dissapeard, if you follow any of the threads you will see lots written about them/solicitors moved to different area/big problems with property which are ongoing)

Worst dicission we have ever made after taking financial advice from firm in UK in 2004!!!!

trying to make the best of what we have but very stressful as we do not know the how things work in Spain or legal system.

Right, Kernow,

There is a very good solicitor in Estepona - Angela Ruiz-Cortina.  spanishlawyer@telefonica.net www.spanishlawyer.net

Phone 0034 952 807700

Ask her for a list of her fees.  She will sort out all of your paperwork - e.g. Have you got  "Licencia de primer ocupación"?  She speaks excellent English.

Say Max recommended her (no, I'm not on commission). 

Good luck - you'll need it.

Max

If the community of owners has not  officially "requested" the post office to include the new property on their delivery round, and especially as you say there are no mail boxes, then it is highly unlikely any mail would get delivered. Your mail may (or may not!) be sitting at the local PO awaiting collection.

You mentioned that your proerty is a house; does it by any chance have an electric outlet outside somewhere? If so, could be that someone (the builder?) has been connecting to it. You really need to familiarise yourself with the property and its fixtures etc.

Water is usually billed quarterly. Do you have a contract in your name? On a new build, especially a house, it would be highly unusual not to have your own meter. Again, you need to know these things. If you cannot get out to check things yourself, you really should appoint someone to act on your behalf ASAP.

Yet again, I have to agree with Roberto.

You HAVE to have someone out here who is on your side.

If you have tenants, who is checking that they have'nt trashed the place?  Are they running heating or A/C with the windows open?  Yes - people really do do that. 

Do you have an escritura?  Is it correct and accuate?  Is it registered in the land registry?  Catastro?

Let us know how you get on with Angela.  Trying to economise on the legalities at this stage could turn out very expensive for you in the future.

Best of luck

Max

We have decided we have to go over to Spain in January now as everything feels to complicated to try to deal with from UK

What is a escritura?  The house has all the licences it should have.  We do have a person over there who will oversee things once we can get this problem sorted out and the house vacated.

we will try to make an appointment to see a lawyer for when we get there to discuss legal issues and will make sure we take all paperwork we have with us.

We are unsure about where the meters are on/or in the property but will find all this out when we get there.

Thanks for all your advice and support.

The escritura is the deed. You may not have the original, but should have at least a short version of it titled copia simple.

That´s it Roberto. AS original copies of the Notary deeds always stay at the Notary offices, the documents available to interested parties are always "copia simple"  of the original deed ( escritura).

The  Notary "escritura" de compraventa ( or other way of ownership acquisition) is the official ownership title of the property wich will have those rights their proper access to the land Registry... which is the ultimate voice on ownership rights in our legal system.  It does not exist which is not in the Land Registry.

I remember Susan asked me a long time ago to write on this topic. I promise it to be the first article of the year.

May you all have a peaceful and joyful year in the middle of all the difficult things.

Maria

Kernow,

If you are coming over and seeing a solicitor, get the part of the escritura (if you have one) which describes the property translated into English.  Sometimes, an escritura can be perfectly worded and totally legal, but not describe the property correctly, or occasionally describe a completely different property.  I have seen this personally.

Once you have the translation, go to your property and check that it describes it reasonably accurately (e.g. Address: 115/b Urb. Verde.....to the North the access road "Calle Grande"......115m3 built area......300m land area...etc...etc).

Max

Yes, very advisable to verify that what is registered in the Land Registry corresponds to reality. If not, there are registry procedures to match them.

Thank you, Max, Robeto and Maria.

I am going to email the solicitor who we used for completion to ask if they can get us a copy of the escritura and send it to us before we come over.

We also still have not received a copyof our water contract, although Toni at the solicitors has given me a contract number and the phone number of the water company.

As I said, it is now 8 months since we completed and I think we should have been sent this by now but Toni keeps saying the water company say they are behind with the documentation.  I also think that the solicitor thinks they have finished with our case since we paid their bill, but there are still outstanding documents

Ouch.

You have paid them, they have their nice new offices miles away.

Honestly, get help - either Maria de Castro, who seems a decent sort, or Angela.  But get help.  If all is ship shape then it won't cost you much.  ASK FIRST!

This is all resolvable

Could anybody tell me how you know you have moved from builders electric?  We live in El Reloj and have been told that you need to sign a contract with Iberdrola and that Iberdrola will change the fuses in the house before you start paying for the electricity.  Is this so?  Any information would be much appreciated.  Thanks.

Yes, you need to have your own contract, bills and counter. First Occupation License is needed.. it is in place?

Hello Maria,

We have a habitacion certificate and are already paying for our water.  We bought the ex-show house and the builder still has 2 plots to complete about 50 meters from us, so se are unsure whether he is paying it.  When we started paying for our water, the builder back-dated the bill and we are very concerned this will happen too with the electricity.

Amicie

There is a scam going on at the moment - apparently - with users getting whacking electric bills.

It is all down to 'estimates' sent outr prior to December, and new tarrifs are now in place, with a 6% increase in charges.

There is an initial connection charge of approx 100euros, and as a holiday owner thereafdter your bills are usually only peanuts.  Ie: 30, 40, euros.

But you say that you have been hit with a bill of over 400 euros.  You are not the first I've heard about regarding huge elec bills.

Let us know how you get on, and good luck. 

Hi Amicie,

       Iberdorla should notify you as to when they are coming into your  villa and from that month you will start being billed.  But there is a 150.00 euros charge upront which they will deduct from your bank.  They should give you a contract when all this happens.

                Hope this helps Pat.

Thank you.  Do you know whether they need to enter the premises because they have certainly looked at the meter outside a few months ago?

They had to enter our apartment as we had to get the keyholder to open it up.  I do not know if it is different in villa's can you not ask any of your neighbour's?

Also can I just mention not a good idea to have your email address on your profile, you could end up with loads of unwanted mail.

Pat

Thanks Pat - first time on and didn't realise it would register as such.  I will try to alter.  Neighbours have been here a while and already connected as established homes.