NIE Numbers

[swerve]

Can anyone tell me the situation regarding NIE numbers. Do you need them before you complete on a house purchase or not? We are getting conflicting information ie: solicitor says we don't them to complete just need them before we pay any taxes due, but mortgage broker says as off December 2006 you need NIE numbers before you go to the notary. We were planning to go to Manchester for them but after reading info from a.com and the amount of time they can take (that's if you get them at all) we decided not to bother. We could go to Spain for a few days before we complete but if we can save the £500 and wait until we get a completion date all the better. We tried using the search facility but as this has supposed to have just come into force since December 2006 we could not find any info. Any advice would be appreciated.

[gronc]

we had a similar situation at the notary. although everything went through, the notary office said it was usuall and less complicated to have the number first. I think in general do everything as the Spanish do. Get NIE, Residencia, Spanish driving Licence etc etc, it saves a lot of problems. Just do as the Spanish do!

[Babby]

Save 500 euros? Surely it would not cost you 500 euros to get an NIE number. I hope not.

[swerve]

£500 = 2 x flights 181.00, Hotel for 2 nights £118.00, Car Hire for 2 days + fuel £40.00, Food and Drink £80.00, UK Airport Parking £25.00 this does not include time off work. And if it did it would be a lot more than £500. This was just a rough guesstamate as to how much it may cost, why waste money when you don't have to.

[Beachcomber]

It has always been that you should have had NIE numbers when going to the notary to complete a property transaction but this requirement was widely ignored, however, notaries have now been instructed not to allow transactions to be completed without the NIE numbers.

[claire82]

You must have an NIE number to sign the property deeds, bear in mind that you also must apply for it in person. The process can take up to 4 days, although if asked nicely they may do it the same day!

[toddcl]

We set ours up over a long weekend.
We saw the property, secured the sale with 1000€ deposit, opened a bank account, appointed our solicitor and went with him to the notary to do the paperwork for the NIE.

Job done.

I was informed that a sale could not be completed without the NIE.

[ashtondav]

You don't need to go to spain to get NIE numbers. Just pop in to the spanish embassy. I'm sure that's what my friend did.

That could save you £400 or so

[jennyshaw]

yes, we got ours at the Spanish Embassy in Manchester, but you don't get it the same day, it took us about 10 weeks to get it.
we also purchased our property without it, i think they just used my passport number, but i didn't get the Escritura until 14 months later,but this was over a year ago, things may have changed since then.

[Colinm]

I signed contracts, opened bank accounts etc, with passport.
Applied for NIE during one long weekend visit while checking on building progress and collected the documents on the next long weekend visit.

I supplied copies of NIE to bank, solicitor, builder, in fact anyone I could find that showed half an interest! I didn't want any problems at signing or mortgage signing!
Just looked at all my documents today and everything (nota simple, escritura, hipoteca - everything) shows passport number only and no mention of NIE.
However, if I was doing it again, I would still do it the same way, and apply for NIE. It's just not worth the possible disapointment at signing if you are told that you can't complete.
How much would you pay to be able to complete if the Notary said he couldn't do it because of no NIE? Peace of mind always has a price!

[jennyshaw]

Hi Colinm,
What is an Hipoteca?

[swerve]

Spanish name for mortgage i think

[Colinm]

yep, its the spanish for mortgage.

[Beachcomber]

How much would you pay to be able to complete if the Notary said he couldn't do it because of no NIE? Peace of mind always has a price!

As I said above, notaries have now been specifically instructed not to grant an escritura without the production of NIE numbers.

Even in the unlikely event that you were able to find one who would accept a back-hander to do so it would do you no good as you would not be able to pay the transfer tax and it would be ultimately rejected by the property registrar.

[sterlos]

My Gestor told us that we defo need the NIE Numbers and Spanish Bank account before we can complete on the house we are hoping to purchase.

We have just returned from a long weekend in Spain, Job Done and a long weekend into the bargain. We were sitting on the beach by Iznajar lake on Sunday afternoon it was bliss. You are right about the cost but it was worth it