Buying Spanish Property: the Legal Course of Action Explained
Youve found the house and negotiated a price. Youve arranged your Spanish mortgages All there is to do now is complete the purchase. How?
Buying property in Spain is highly regulated. The best thing you can do to protect yourself and your money is to hire an English-speaking lawyer or legal counsel to help you during the purchase and negotiation. Be certain there are no debts or restrictions on the property you plan to purchase.
The legal process for buying a Spanish property falls into two different categories. First you have the Contrato privado de compraventa, or the preliminary contract, and then you have the Escritura de compravents, or completion contract.
There should be a preliminary private sales contract signed once you have both agreed on a purchase price. The vendor needs to be able to provide proof that he or she owns the property, and that it is free of any charges, Before this Contrato privado de compraventa will be signed. The purchaser must pay the debts of their property as part of their %LINK2% agreement. Nota Simple documents are designed to confirm whether or not a property contains any outstanding debts.
Details to be included in the draft sales contract will include the date of closure, agreed upon purchase price and a detailed accounting of the property being purchased. When you reach this point, you can expect to pay a deposit of 5-15%. This money is held for you in a secure customer account. A person would theoretically be able to sign the initial sales contract without a deposit, but it isn’t necessarily a good idea.
The Escritura de compraventa stage, is the second or final contract stage. The customer will need to pay all fees and the price of the product on the date of completion. The vendor and the purchaser will then come together to sign the contract, which is equivalent to a deed on the property. In front of a Notary Public the buyer will receive the deed of conveyance which is known as escritura in Spain. To make this legal, a copy of the dded must get to a tax office, and then sent to a property registry. In Spain, all deeds of sale must be witnessed by a Notary Public, which is a public official in that country. However, you need to have your own legal counsel to protect your own interests during the transaction. While buying any property do remember that property sales taxes and legal fees for the Notary Public is also to be paid by you only.
