Let´s try to introduce ourselves through our job. We have been doing this legal work for British since 1997.

You will need to select the property and the area. We can provide you with some recommendations but you should be careful with the portals (Idealista) or Real Estates specially trusting expats from the UK living in Spain. Some of them call themselves lawyers but they do not belong to any Law Society (mandatory) and there are hundred of expats working in the Real Estate business that may do not have a proper mandate from the sellers. Please let us help you as we have seen cases of Uk Solicitors from big companies that were scammed as it is easy to get scammed once you start to dream.

Anyway if you came to this page you have probably done these researchs in the last weeks, and you have common sense. We will help you at this article so you can know about the legal and common practices in Spanish Conveyancing and then you may want to come to our office or ask us for a work visit in your Uk town. We travel regularly to the North of England and all over Scotland. 

You will need to have a NIE. What is the NIE? Let me explain the name. N for Number, I for Identification and E for the word Extranjero or foreigner. Easy. If you do not have one yet contact us for this as it is mandatory for any transaction in Spain. We will let you know the easiest and fastest way to do it as it can not be done directly at our office in Glasgow (we had a Spanish Consul post in our office for 6 years) anymore.

If you want to do a Conveyancing giving us a Power of Attorney for the buying on your behalf then we can include this faculty and we can do this document in front of a Public Notary in our office at Scotland with 2 days advance, just with your Passport and proof of address. All the pages of your Passport will need to be legalised with a true copy process and with the Apostille. You can also go to the closest General Consulate of your area, Edinburgh if you are in Scotland or Aberdeen with previous appointments.  

Once you have selected the property we will deal and agreed about the price with the seller so the Conveyancing procedure will have 3 steps. Just the last one is mandatory.

1. Reserve Contract. Wewill make an offer to the seller or Real Estate on your behalf , and if they accept, you then need to sign a reservation contract with a first payment of 3000 Euros to 6000 Euros. Serious Real Estates let us to keep this deposit at our firm client´s account, to check ifthere are any debts, charges or documentation issues with the asset. Depending of the type of property (rural areas) we will also encourage to do a Due Diligence on a technical report with a Surveyor or Architect to ensure the Urban rules of the area and the building state of the property. It can cost from 400 Euros plus VAT.
2. Once we have done our first diligence report, we will sign an Arras Contract or Private Conveyancing Contract. The buyer makes a down payment of 10% (negotiable) of the property’s value, with a deadline for the Deeds. If the buyer withdraw from the contract or miss the deadline, you will miss the 10% payment unless there is a serious reason that arised. For example if your partner get into an accident the contract deadline could be extended. In tbe case theseller withdraw from the transaction they will have to pay the potential buyer double of the original down payment, 20 %.
3. Public Notary Deed of Sale in Spain. We will sign on your behalf with the POA the sale called in Spain the Escritura de compraventa. This is mandatory as it will give you access to the Property Register in Spain. If a mortgage is needed, then the bank must also come to the signing and before sign the Mortgage Deeds you will need to so some paperwork and sign with at least one day (maximum 10 days) a Deeds of Transparency about all the Mortgage information. 

Regarding payments we will inform you of the Taxes for the ITO or VAT if you buy direct new property from developer. Taxes and fees are mostly paid by the buyer and vary from the community area you are buying being the cheapest Canary Island and Comunidad de Valencia and Alicante (10%) the most expensive. The buyer will need to pay also the Notary and Property Register fees and the seller will need to pay a local Tax called Plusvalia. 

We work from the UK even we will be in Spain for the Deeds so be sure you will have not just proper advice also the liability of our insurance if there is any legal mistake through the process. We will care about your dream so let us give you the peace of mind and security of our work practice living in your country nad through the knowledge of our clients experience.