Important steps before you do anything

The intention of these guidelines is precisely to give to foreigners who are buying a property in Spain, general and comprehensive information about the steps to be taken before they contract their legal representatives in Spain.

Buying a property in the South of Spain it is a very profitable investment, but as well is always an important decision affecting the family or personal budget, hence it is highly advisable to take all the necessary precautions to enter into a secure and profitable purchase process, avoiding unnecessary risks wich arise many times of the lack of knoweldge about the actual ilegal building planning situation in this area of Spain.

So please to avoid pitfalls, contracting or not our services, check the minimum requirements below that you should be seeking before proceeding with the purchase:

01

Check that your solicitor it is a fully bona fide registered Spanish lawyer in the Spanish Law Bar Association, solicitors are called in Spain Abogados, so please make sure the word Abogado it is in their references. Registered lawyers are covered against negligence by professional indemnity insurance, which means that if something goes wrong during the transaction and as a consequence your interests are injured, the professional indemnity insurance must cover any liability arising from this negligence.

02

Avoid solicitors recommended by the Agent. Most agents are, of course, honest, but however honest and helpful they may be you must remember that they are being paid by the person selling the property to sell it and not to protect your interests. They are not able to give you independent legal advice.
Be very careful before using the services of the agent´s own lawyer as they could be looking after the interests of the agent who is providing all his or her work.

03

Make sure your solicitor it is fluent in english, this will avoid translations difficulties and a bad understanting.

04

Make sure your solicitor it has local knowledge, this will become to an effective job as they will have chance to visit the Town Hall bulding plans offices (Oficinas de Urbanismo), always recommended to check the plans and the legality of your property, in Abogados Ross we just cover Almeria, Murcia and Alicante regions, refusing conveyancings in other areas due of the lack the impossibility of a secure and quality conveyancing services.

05

Ask a quotation for the services and what it is included in the pack, notice the proper fee it is 1% of the property net value (excluding taxes), be aware that very low fees will not correspond to a high quality service as there are lot of work to do and higher fees could not correspond a good value for money service. (Visit Conveyancing Service to find out our pack)

06

The best recommendation you can get it is always the one coming from other clients and independent professionals.

Bear in mind, these are the minimum requirements you should be checking before you contract your legal representative in Spain in the process of the purchase of your property.