Unfortunately, many people in the past have lost off-plan deposits paid on Spanish property as matters were not dealt with properly. This is the story of a lady who contacted us a few months ago saying that she had come across our website and thought she would send an email to us to see if we could help. Now she is… Read more »
How to be prepared for an Inheritance Process
Also other Important Interesting Points (Inheritance and Property Ownership.) We recently had a case whereby a gentleman came to us for help with completing an inheritance from his wife to him, after she had passed away in Spain. There was just a bank account. When we asked him if his wife had any other assets in Spain to take into consideration,… Read more »
What unexpected services do we provide?
1) Legal – I wonder if sometimes people think we mainly deal with administrative bureaucracy such as sorting water, electric and paperwork problems. We do far more than that. We have had a lawyer working with us over ten years, and now have two lawyers working with us. Besides dealing with conveyancing (or the legal assistance when buying or selling… Read more »
What can go wrong if you do not have legal representation when buying or selling a property in Spain?
I still am surprised when I read posts on facebook on the forums and someone asks for a recommendation for legal help in buying or selling a property and there is always one who says, do it yourself it is easy! Firstly, I am quite sure that most of the time that particular person has not actually done all the work… Read more »
Children in the digital age: how to protect your children
Should parents supervise, or even spy on, their children’s mobiles, computers and tablets? Experts use the term “active parental mediation” to refer to what in every home is known as “being aware of what the child is doing” The coordinator of the Spanish Security Center for Children on the Internet, Manuel Ransán, advises parents to support “parental control tools… Read more »
Supreme Court Tribunal Blow to Consumers Regarding Mortgage Clauses
Consumers in Spain have suffered a blow as the Supreme Court changed the precedents of the High Courts and ruled that if there is an abusive clause relating to expenses in a mortgage, that the clients are responsible for payment of the stamp duty and half the Notary fees. Previously the Civil Chamber of the High Court had made a… Read more »
Buying a Property in Spain – Some of the Differences of the Spanish Legal System
People buying a property in Spain are often surprised at differences between Spain and other countries for buying property. Deposit Firstly in Spain, you will find you are asked for a deposit (generally 3,000€ in the La Zenia area) very early on. You should make sure that your legal representative obtains an extract from the Land Registry (nota simple), ideally before… Read more »
Supreme Court Rules Los Lagos de Santamaría Investor Can Claim Deposit
A Recent Precedent extends the Supreme Court Judgement Ruling to Refund Off-Plan Deposits to Individual Investors, not just ordinary consumers. The Supreme Court ruling in 2015 set a precedent for Banks to have to pay investors back the deposits they put down on homes sold off-plan, because by Spanish Law 57/1968 (Consumer protection law) when off-plan deposits were paid into… Read more »
Inheritance and Donation Tax in the Valencian Community
We have explained many times how there are taxes in Spain on the transfer of assets when a person dies (inheritance) and also on the transfer of assets when a person gifts them to another (donations), as there have been a number of changes in recent years. As Inheritance and Donation tax is collected and managed by the Autonomous Communities… Read more »
How Children Inherit Property in Spain
We had an enquiry from a walk in client this week regarding passing 50% of his Spanish property to his son now as then he thought it would make it automatic that his son inherits when he dies. This was our email to him today as this was not quite right,given that Spanish and UK law are different. Dear X,… Read more »