Property - Buying/Selling
Buying Or Selling A Spanish Property
Why you should choose Homes and Legal plan for Conveyancing in Spain
Homes and Legal offer a unique and affordable premium service responding to your demands and needs at affordable prices.
Homes and Legal are available to facilitate both property sales and purchases with the provision of a professional Spanish lawyer.
We recognise that purchasing or selling a home abroad can be fraught with stresses and pitfalls. We are here to make sure that you enjoy every moment of this very special transaction.
Spain is notorious for purchasing and sales disasters. The latter can become apparent immediately, but more often months or years later, often not discovered until attempting to resell.
All property sales should have been conducted correctly. Our lawyers will always carry out due diligence. There are straightforward steps to take to ensure that those who are making investments in Spain are taken care of.
There is no obligation to use Homes and Legal Conveyancing service but consider us to provide you with a personal, professional, and affordable service.
Our team of conveyancing lawyers is dedicated to helping you every step of the way. Ready to offer conveyancing and other legal services designed to meet your personal needs.
Most sellers and purchasers are not aware that you will have made a legal commitment the moment you use the services of a real estate. It is important to have your conveyancing lawyer in place from the time you decide to sell or purchase a property.
Choosing your conveyancing lawyer
Traditionally, buyers and sellers automatically give their conveyancing work to their “Family” solicitor, or more commonly, a “Local” solicitor recommended by their estate. Take into consideration that lawyers have expertise in the field they are going to work in.
In the same way, you do not use a criminal lawyer for civil cases, and you should not use a general lawyer for your conveyancing needs.
Choose your conveyancing lawyer carefully as your purchase will probably be the most important investment you will make.
Many Conveyancing lawyers provide a second-rate service for premium prices as such, finding a conveyancing solicitor that offers a reliable, efficient, and personal service (all at a reasonable cost) is quite a challenge when buying or selling a property.
Spain is a country where property searches are not obligatory, where notaries will easily sign a purchase or sale, where documentation is often sketchy and misleading, where title deeds do not give a true reflection of the status of a property and where all parties concerned in sales and purchases continue to provide the same unsatisfactory service. It is therefore not surprising that purchasers lose in one way or another and many vendors discover that they cannot sell when they eventually find a buyer.
All potential clients should not accept being subjected to such unprofessional practices. Those in the market should not move forward without consulting us first.
Q&A
Q) At what stage should we contact a competent lawyer when selling or purchasing?
A) Early. Cannot emphasise enough the need to instruct your lawyer well before acceptance of an offer. Traditionally, buyers and sellers have tended to wait until either they have secured a buyer or found a property to buy before instructing a lawyer. It is common sense to instruct a lawyer as soon as you have made a decision to purchase or to sell.
Q) By instructing a lawyer early from Conveyancing Spain result in us having to pay fees immediately?
A) No it will not. There is absolutely no risk in instructing early. Your professional conveyancing will be carried out on a fixed fee basis. Unless there as any displacements, you will not be billed until the notary date but may be asked to provide provision of funds when a property or buyer is found.
Q) The paperwork appears to be in order but is it?
A) There are too many cases to mention. An example is where the vender has had the property on the market for years, only to discover when found a buyer that the house could not be sold, finding that the house or elements of the estate were not legal. This setback could have been avoided by having your conveyancing lawyer in place at the start.
Q) Will I have to pay the lawyer fees if the sale or purchase does not go ahead?
A) No unless the property is not typical and involves such matters as altering existing boundaries, creating new rights of way, or dividing a property, all or part legalised or regularised, or if the deal does not go ahead, you will not pay our conveyancing lawyers any fees. When a buyer is in place or a property is found, it is standard practice to ask for a provision of funds. if the lawyer has paid for any disbursements on your behalf, you will be charged for these.
Q) You have signed a reserve or sales contract but will you be able to meet the legal requirements for the notary date?
A) Seller, not if you have found any setbacks with the property such as legalising part of and for purchasers, funds or mortgage may not be in place or not able to sell your present home.
Q) Will the mortgage offered by a bank be in place for the signing date?
A) There are many reasons why the mortgage promised may not be in place in time to sign at the notary. Spain is known for giving the okay but then asking for further documentation at the last minute.
Q) Will your funds for the purchase be transferred on time?
A) It is so important to have any transferred by a professional company and that the funds are available in a bank for the conveyancing lawyer to arrange the banker’s drafts.
Q) I am told that I need a local lawyer. Would this be the best choice?
A) This is simply not true, conveyancing is mostly an administrative task. It is wiser to choose the lawyer by his credentials rather than locality.
Q) Are lawyers recommended by real estate paid agents commission?
A) Spain is known as a commission country so yes most real estates will receive remuneration for referrals to their lawyers.
Q) Will using a lawyer recommended by the real estate or bank result in a conflict of interest
A) Yes it most certainly can so always use an independent legal representative to avoid ‘conflict of interest’ A lawyer who is part of a real estate would not last long if he suggested that a property with the real estate was not a safe or wise purchase. The real estate will only get paid on a sale.
Q) Would your lawyer and real estate hide any information from you?
A) Lawyers have been known to withhold information. It has been common practice to not advise purchasers about the ‘complimentary tax’. The buyer will be contacted at a later date by the tax agency which in some cases can be months or years after the purchaser has bought and paid all purchase taxes. On bargain properties, these complementary taxes can be anything from a few thousand to around 20,000 euros and more.
Q) Is the process of paying the real estate agent even a small reserve fee important?
A) Yes it is very important. When you take his step will mean that you will be signing a legal and binding contract that will include the terms, purchase price, and dates for completion. The same goes for the vendor who accepts the conditions on the reserve contract often only signed by the real estate.