Selling a house/need a lawyer?

[angelmouse]

We are selling our house and have been told that a lawyer will charge us 1% of our gain after estate agents commissions etc. Our accountant is offering to do it for less. Selling must be less complicated than buying as we won't need searches done, debts checked on house etc. Do I need a laywer?

[annfoto]

Seems strange that they would base their fees on how much capital gain you made, why not get a quote from a lawyer?
How did you manage to make a capital gain, did you buy it a long time ago?

[angelmouse]

The lawyer is a really good one, a colleague and has done a lot of work for us for free so don't mind paying this time, but just wondering if it was normal to use a lawyer when you sell or did most people use an accountant/notary. Bought 10 years ago so property went up a lot during that time. Big change this year to last year when we had hardly any viewings. On the coast around Marbella things are at last moving. Or possibly sellers are getting more realistic about their prices. Ours is selling for 125K euros less than a property sold for on the same urbanisation a few years ago......

[El Cid]

Unless you have some known problems with the legality of the house or boundary problems etc I can't see why you need an expensive lawyer. A good gestor should be all you need.

Sid

[Beachcomber]

The main points when selling are to make sure the certified cheque or banker's draft is valid and genuine, for someone to complete and submit your capital gains tax declaration and to ensure that the services are put into the name of the new owner. These are all well within the capabilities of an asesor fiscal and a lawyer is not necessary.

[Martin Page]

I would not use a lawer for this operation. A good gestor is quite capable.

The thing about Spanish Lawers, I have learnt - is that they are not responsible in the event of short commings. They act as YOUR representatives and YOU are responsible if there is anything wrong. Not them !

Just a word to the wise

[El Cid]

I would not use a lawer for this operation. A good gestor is quite capable.

Absolutely.

The reason that Brits use a lawyer is that they are used to using a solicitor in the UK and confuse the roles in Spain.

In the UK the solicitor usually uses a conveyancing clerk to do the work - someone probably less qualified than a gestor in Spain.

In Spain a lawyer is more like a barrister in the UK - they are very expensive because of that. I doubt that any Spaniards would even consider using an abogado for something as simple as a property sale.

Sid

[Bowler]

Seems strange that they would base their fees on how much capital gain you made, why not get a quote from a lawyer?
How did you manage to make a capital gain, did you buy it a long time ago?

"You and the law in Spain" By Peter Searle. always a good stand by !!

[angelmouse]

Thank you everyone for all your replies. For anyone reading this I would agree, a good accountant could have done the job very well, in fact from what I can see, it is mostly tax issues that you need to deal with when selling a house. If anyone is looking for a great accountant in Marbella let me know, he's helping us with the house sale and also helped us with the process of getting a residencia. If your Spanish is limited these types of things are sometimes much easier to delegate......

[katy]

Be wary of Gestors too as like lawyers not all are honest. Suppose most of you read about the owner of Eurobrokers, Fuengirola being arrested. Claimed there are over a hundred people who have lost money, mainly British and Irish. Most money was obtained by giving him Power of Attorney. He had been in business for about 20 years too.

Easily done, grieving widow returns to the UK to live with family, kindly gestor offers to sell house and take care of everything..........