Using lawyer recommended by agent

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MartiD
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Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby MartiD » Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:42 am

Hello I posted a couple of months ago re our search for a property in Caleta de Velez and received really helpful advice from this forum which was really helpful. We are still searching and feel we are getting closer to finding a property here and the estate agent we are with is very heloful and nothing is too much trouble.. The company has received great reviews online also. The agent said they can arrange the Solicitor/lawyer for us and not to worry about anything. I have heard however that you shouldnt go with the lawyer recommended by the agent due to conflicting interests. This company is in existence a long time and have a good reputation from the reviews I have read. . Also is it usual to have a survey completed on a property before you buy as you would in Ireland.

As we do have usual worries about the legal process and hope everything goes smoothly any advice and thoughts are really appreciated

Many thanks
Marti

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costakid
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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby costakid » Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:03 am

We never had a survey but the property was only a few years old. The selling agent recommended a local solicitor which i declined, Always get an independent solicitor. I used a solicitor from outside our area so I got completely unbiased advice. They all charge more or less the same so no need to use there solicitor.

MartiD
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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby MartiD » Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:14 am

Thank you Costa kid thats good to know. We will look into finding a solicitor in Caleta so. Many thanks again for the advice.

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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby Beachcomber » Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:38 am

Rather than a survey it is preferable to ask a good and trusted builder to come and have a look at the property. Obviously this will have to be on the recommendation of local people because you will not have had time to get to know anyone yet.

Do not use the agent's lawyer. You do not have to use a lawyer at all. It is something that northern Europeans tend to do because it is what they would do in their home country. An efficient translator who knows his way around the Spanish property conveyancing procedure can do just as good a job (and probably better) at a fraction of the price.

Spaniards do not generally use lawyers for property conveyancing. They do, however, have the advantage of speaking the language and in the event of any doubt they will ask the local notary directly for advice who often also has a member of staff who takes care of paying taxes etc. No matter how good the online reviews (assuming they are genuine) it is often the case that problems which were glossed over at the time of the purchase do not come to light until you come to sell.

This is not just a cost saving exercise but will result in an infinitely preferable experience whilst achieving a far more reliable result. I make no excuses for my scepticism, my advice is based upon several years of living in Spain and knowing what some of these so-called professionals with 'prestigious' reputations are capable of.

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fincalospinos
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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby fincalospinos » Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:52 am

Have sent you a PM.
Hardworking resident !!

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Wicksey
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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby Wicksey » Mon Jan 27, 2020 11:18 am

Just because the agent has been trading for years it doesn't mean they're totally honest. The agent that sold us our illegal house in the 1990s continued to trade for a decade or so afterwards, despite us and many others having terrible problems with her. A local agent has been here for 25 years to our knowledge but we know of a number of dodgy deals they've done. As beachcomber says, some people think they've had a good service but only find out when they try to sell that the paperwork isn't all they expected it to be. However, if you're not buying a campo house then the potential problems should be less!

You do not need a lawyer (abogado) as gestorias tend to do a better job and are far cheaper. Never use one recommended by the agent. I'd be interested to know the name of the estate agent.

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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby Devils Advocate » Mon Jan 27, 2020 12:25 pm

Good luck with it all and I hope you manage to find a good person to complete for you.

My only advice is if you hear or are told anything that makes your eyebrows raise, anything that sounds dodgy but they say "that's how it's done here" then take a step back and ask a second opinion. Even if you just ask on here there is a wealth of knowledge from people who've bought and sold and from others actually in the this field. In my experience if it sounds wrong it usually is wrong. Whatever it is somebody here will have had the same.

Nothing scary about all of this but you do need to be super alert as to what is going on and to know exactly what is being written in your contracts.
Property owner in Andalucia since 2002. How time flies.

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costakid
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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby costakid » Mon Jan 27, 2020 3:02 pm

The way i looked at it was use an out of town solicitor, No guarantee he wouldn’t know the other party but in our case he didn’t. Also we had a slight glitch and without our solicitor present the deal would have fell over at the last minute. For me it was money well spent. He actually advised the abogado how to get around the problem.

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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby MartiD » Mon Jan 27, 2020 6:04 pm

Thank you Beachcomber for your reply that is very helpful and good to know.

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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby MartiD » Mon Jan 27, 2020 6:07 pm

Thank you Wicksey for your reply.. We have decided not to go with the agent we were using as not sure it would work out.

steve_w
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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby steve_w » Sat Feb 29, 2020 4:37 pm

We used the lawyer recommended by the estate agent. She told us that, because the seller was a limited company rather than a private individual, we had to pay VAT on the purchase price and not property transfer tax. However, her advice was wrong because the company was not the original developer of the property.

We only discovered her mistake several years later when the regional government tried to embargo our bank account and seize the property.

It transpired that the regional government had been writing to the lawyer about the error for years, but she had been binning their letters. In the meantime, the owner of the company had vanished, without ever declaring the VAT to the tax authority.

We tried to pursue the lawyer for negligence, but that was a complete waste of time.

So, we had to pay the property transfer tax, plus penalties and interest, in order to save our property. An expensive lesson learned.

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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby Manchesteral » Sat Feb 29, 2020 5:13 pm

Without wanting to sound sarcastic I would say that using the estate agents lawyer is a bit like using your wife's lawyer during a divorce

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costakid
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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby costakid » Sun Mar 01, 2020 8:35 am

Which obviously is a conflict of interest so is illegal in the UK. In Spain with property deals its the norm but utter madness in my opinion.
Steve W, what a nightmare you had.

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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby Beachcomber » Sun Mar 01, 2020 10:00 am

I have just listened to the Money Programme on Radio 4 and one of the items was about people who had bought properties in the UK using lawyers recommended by the developers and it has transpired that the properties were leasehold with all the relevant ongoing expenses.

This had not been made known to the purchasers by the lawyers but the main difference is that the purchasers have legal redress and are being supported by the authorities in claiming recompense.

In Spain you are on your own. If a lawyer gets you into difficulties no-one is going to help you, not even other lawyers because they know that 'for the grace of God etc...' and forget about the Colegio de Abogados because the main purpose of their existence is to protect their members from disgruntled clients not the other way around.

steve_w
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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby steve_w » Sun Mar 01, 2020 5:47 pm

Beachcomber wrote:In Spain you are on your own. If a lawyer gets you into difficulties no-one is going to help you, not even other lawyers because they know that 'for the grace of God etc...' and forget about the Colegio de Abogados because the main purpose of their existence is to protect their members from disgruntled clients not the other way around.
That's exactly what we found when we tried to pursue a negligence claim against our lawyer. They're all as 'thick as thieves'.

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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby gerrynag » Thu Mar 05, 2020 12:41 pm

costakid wrote:Which obviously is a conflict of interest so is illegal in the UK. In Spain with property deals its the norm but utter madness in my opinion.
Steve W, what a nightmare you had.
Using a lawyer recommended by a developer or estate agent, while not recommended, is certainly not illegal in the UK.

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costakid
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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby costakid » Fri Mar 06, 2020 9:36 am

Ok so its a conflict of interest and if there was a legal case it wouldn't stand up in court for same reason when you swear an affidavit you have to go to the solicitors down the road, you can't swear in front of your own solicitor.

steve_w
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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby steve_w » Fri Mar 06, 2020 5:39 pm

Wicksey wrote:You do not need a lawyer (abogado) as gestorias tend to do a better job and are far cheaper. Never use one recommended by the agent. I'd be interested to know the name of the estate agent.
A friend of mine has just bought a property on the outskirts of Granada. He didn't use a lawyer at all. I wish that I hadn't. :(

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gerrynag
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Re: Using lawyer recommended by agent

Postby gerrynag » Sat Mar 07, 2020 1:17 pm

We used a lawyer when we bought our house and although more expensive, I am glad we did. In Spain in particular if you are buying in the campo, it is important you have someone with the legal expertise to ensure your house is completely legal. Our abogado, pointed out to us that the house needed a DAFO and made sure that the sellers started the process and left a sum of money from the sale proceeds to pay for any aditional DAFO costs. I am not sure that a gestoria would have done that.
It is of course important that you choose a good and independant abogado, but that really goes without saying...even though I have said it :D


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