A customer approached us recently about what to do as their UK registered car was having its MOT run out while they are in Spain
This was our reply:
Good Morning,
Thank you for your enquiry.
You can take your vehicle to your nearest ITV station with your V5, MOT and Passport and they will carry out the ITV or a local garage may do this on your behalf. Please note the ITV will only last for the period you are in Spain and a MOT will have to be carried out when you go back to the UK.
The lady responded:
Thank you for your reply this is all a little daunting some sites say I cannot have my UK registered car ITV here unless I change the plates to Spanish. Will I have to register to a Spanish plate before I can do the ITV? If I change my plates to Spanish will I have to change my driving license also? And one more question I saw on line that you have a no win no fee and I lost a deposit on a house in Spain, do you think there is away I could get it back if so I would love to do this with Spanish Solutions?
We advised:-
No, you do not have to change the plates to have an ITV carried out but if your car is in Spain for more than 6 months of the year, you should change to Spanish plates. The Police are cracking down on vehicles that have been in Spain for more than 6 months and plates have not been changed. They are impounding the cars and charging the owners storage until the import process has been carried out.
If you stay in Spain for more than 6 months and 1 day of the year, you should become a resident as this is your main place of residence, You then have 2 years to change to a Spanish licence. If you are not here for 6 months or more you do not have to become resident or change your plates. It is all a bit complicated, we realise.
With regard to the lost deposit:- In these cases, it may be possible to recover lost deposits, following a Supreme Court Ruling so you could possibly now sue the bank as the property was not finished, for the return of your un-refunded deposit, because they were found at fault for not having provided guarantees, unless perhaps you breached the contract.
We would need copies of your documents to study if you have a case to sue the bank; that is:
– purchase contract
– confirmations of amounts paid by credit card or bank transfers
– receipts of payments received by the property developers
– the initial total price of the property
– the correspondence (if applicable) between you and the property developers (and any other written communications that may be of use for the case)- very important
– any copies of any Court documents
– any other documentation you can think of
Please scan these to me. There is no charge for us assessing if you have a good case but our property litigation lawyer is away until the end of the August.