Conveyancing Solicitor

From a for sale by owner or from a Real Estate Agency

TAKE NO RISK. TO BUY A PROPERTY IN SPAIN YOU NEED A CONVEYANCING SOLICITOR – CONVEYANCING SOLICITOR – LAWYER TO DO ALL THE CHECKINGS AND A NOTARY TO LEGALIZE THE HOUSE. THE SPANISH NOTARY DOES NOT HAVE THE SAME JURISDICTIONS AS A NOTARY IN FRANCE AND OTHER COUNTRIES. IT IS YOUR SPANISH CONVEYANCING SOLICITOR – CONVEYANCING SOLICITOR – LAWYER WHO WILL TAKE CARE OF ALL THE PROCESS OF ACQUIRING YOUR FUTURE REAL PROPERTY AND ASSISTANCE IN OBTAINING YOUR NON-RESIDENT NAME.

In the steps of the property purchase process that take place before the deed of sale (contract of deposit / sale agreement), the Notary does not work and therefore he has no responsibilities. The legal and technical diagnosis of the property that must be made before the sale/buying, it is up to the purchaser to do so; the Notary does not take care of it. So, it is therefore very important to hire a conveyancing solicitor – lawyer.

The conveyancing solicitor – lawyer is involved in the entire process of buying your property in Spain, from the beginning of negotiations with the owner. Your conveyancing solicitor – lawyer acts as an intermediary between you, the seller, the agency, the Notary and possibly the bank. He makes all the necessary checks at the time of the reservation of the property where you must pay the down payment to the seller: existence of mortgages, servitudes, etc., existence of fiscal and urbanistic charges, use of the property (residential or commercial), the state of the charges of the community of owners.

In addition, it is very reassuring that the conveyancing solicitor – lawyer deals with the drafting of the deposit contract, to insert the necessary clause that gives you the opportunity not to formalize the purchase if there is an anomaly. In addition, the conveyancing solicitor – lawyer usually performs other duties, such as coordinating the preparation and review of the deed, as well as tax advice at the time of sale, get the NIE, etc.

THE COST OF BUYING A HOUSE IN SPAIN IS DIFFERENT IF YOU BUY AND OLD OR A NEW PROPERTY. IF YOU ARE THE PURCHASER OR THE SELLER. TO KNOW THE COSTS …

The costs for the BUYER of an old property

Tax on the transfer of ownership (Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales or ITP). The management of the ITP is granted to autonomies (Spanish regions) and its rate varies, depending on the autonomy, from 6 to 11% on the value of the purchase. In Madrid, the rate is 6%, but in Barcelona as in all the CATALANA Community (Roses, Escala, Sant Feliu de Guixols, Tossa de Mar, Girona, Barcelona, Tarragona, etc …) and Valencienne, it is 10%.
The tax on legal documentation (“Impuesto sobre Actos Jurídicos Documentados” or IAJD). This tax is generated by the signature at the notary and the registration of the property in the Register of Property. The applicable tax rate varies according to the autonomous community, 0.5% and 1.5% on the amount of the sale: 1.5% for Andalusia, the Valencian Community and Catalonia, 0.75% for the Community of Madrid and 0.5% in the Basque Country.

Notary fees. The notary does not have the same role in Spain as in the French-speaking countries. It is a simple registration chamber: it is content to draft the deed of sale and the mortgage act possibly (“escrituras de compraventa y del préstamo hipotecario”), to read to you the main passages, to control your identity and to certify your signature. His fees range from € 600 (for a purchase of € 50,000) to € 900 (for a purchase of € 1 million). Count around 0.1% of the property’s purchase value.

The valuation fees of the property (“gastos de tasación inmobiliario”), only necessary if the buyer needs a mortgage. Very variable depending on the area, the location and the company of taxation, from 300 to 1000 €.

Registration fees in the Register of Property (“registration in the Registro Propiedad”). Their cost varies from 400 € (for a purchase of 50.000 €) to 650 € (for a purchase of 1 million €).

The Real Estate Advisor or the conveyancing solicitor – conveyancing solicitor – lawyer specializing in real estate law: to verify the real state of the property and the different documents related to the purchase is the most important. If you choose the option conveyancing solicitor – conveyancing solicitor – lawyer, our conveyancing to the signature will cost you about 2,5-3% of the purchase value of the property.

The costs for the BUYER of a new property

VAT on the purchase value (“IVA”). Its rate is 10% throughout Spain. The seller will have to return this VAT to the Tax Department.
The tax on legal documentation (“Impuesto sobre Actos Jurídicos Documentados” or IAJD). This tax is generated by the signature at the notary and the registration of the property in the Register of Property. The applicable tax rate varies according to the autonomous community, 0.5% and 1.5% on the amount of the sale: 1.5% for Andalusia, the Valencian Community and Catalonia, 0.75% for the Community of Madrid and 0.5% in the Basque Country.

Costs for the SELLER of an old real estate

The commission of the real estate agency, from 3 to 5% of the price of the sale, with very often a fixed for the goods of low values (count for example 3500 € for a good lower than 50.000 €). The seller can deduct commission costs from the real estate tax base. If you give your property exclusively to an agency, you can negotiate down the commission.
The national tax on the capital gain (“plusvalía de Hacienda”). If you are resident in Spain, you are subject to the IRPF, the tax on income of natural persons (“Impuesto sobre la Renta de las Personas Físicas”): for the first 6000 € of surplus value, the seller is Taxed at 19%, from the 6000 to 50000 € range, the rate is 21% and beyond 50,000 €, it is 23%. If you are not resident in Spain, you are subject to the IRNR, the tax on the income of non-residents (“Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes”) and the rate is 19% on the plus- realized value. Important: (1) if you reinvest all or part of the sale in the purchase of another home within 2 years of the sale of the first one, you benefit from a tax rebate; (2) if you are over 65, you do not have to pay taxes under certain conditions; (3) If you are not a resident of Spain and have owned for less than 10 years, the buyer must withhold 3% of the sale price and return it to the tax authorities, in this way the administration ensures that the seller will pay the IRNR corresponding to the capital gain on the sale (once the calculation of this tax has been made, the tax authorities will reimburse the seller the difference in case of overpayment or will require the seller an additional payment)
Municipal taxes on the surplus value (“municipal plusvalía” or “Impuesto sobre el Incremento del Valor de los Terrenos de Naturaleza Urbana”). It is a tax that depends on the location of housing, the number of years spent in housing and the cadastral value of the land on which the housing is built. The cost: from a few hundred euros to several thousand euros.

The certificate of energy efficiency (“certification of the energy efficiency”): obligatory at the signing at the notary, its cost varies from 100 to 500 €.

Mortgage cancellation fees in case the seller’s mortgage is still in progress (also add the notary fees related to this cancellation)

NIE (Foreign Identification Number), IN SPAIN IS NECESSARY TO ACQUIRE A REAL PROPERTY, SOMETIMES FOR THE OPENING OF A BANK ACCOUNT AND ALSO FOR CERTAIN ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES, TAXES.

In Spain, the notary will ask you for your SPANISH NIE number for the day of the signing of the deed.

As you do not have an identity card or Spanish passport, the NIE will allow you to have a tax number recognized by the Spanish authorities. To obtain the NIE you will have to fill 2 forms: the forms EX15 and 790 which you can find below. Attention for the filling, it is necessary to write in capital letters and of black color.

You need to open a bank account in Spain (Banco BBVA – Caixabank, Banc Sabadell, Banco Santander, Bankia) simply to pay your electricity, gas or trustee fees for example, when you own. In addition, when buying real estate in Spain, you must transfer the funds to a Spanish bank account on the day of the signing of the notarial deed. NIE is obliged.

(Fill in the form EX15 and the form 790) Our firm can get your NIE for you.

We are here to assist you with all the necessary steps; the legal verification of the property, the administrative procedures and the signing of the different notarial documents, etc.

Do not hesitate to contact us! Tel : +34 – 972503516. info@falgas.net

To make a successful purchase process, you need to get information from different local, regional, land registry sources, planning departments, and also consult with architects and other specialists, etc. …

ALL THAT WILL NOT BE MADE BY A SPANISH NOTARY, BUT BY OUR CONVEYANCING SOLICITOR …

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THE PURCHASE PROCESS IN SPAIN

In France, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, Germany and others, concluded with a Notary who deals with everything, unlike the British system, the notary does not appear, there are two conveyancing solicitor – conveyancing solicitor – lawyers, one for the buyer, and the other for the seller, who organize all the steps of the process.

It can be said that the buying process in Spain is a mix between the two systems and purchasing process.

In the Spanish buying process, the Notary is important, but not enough to make a purchase with insurance and security.

The presence of the Spanish notary in the buying process is essential because, like other countries ex. France, Belgium, Holland, etc., the sale cannot be registered in the land register without having gone through the formalization of notarial acts (or “escrituras”).

The notary also checks essential information such as:

– The ability of the parties to buy or sell. In other words, if buyers and sellers are not deprived of rights and have intellectual, moral, physical and legal capabilities.

– Study of limitations and charges on the property. – The study of property documents, such as building permits and licenses, etc.

– Verification of the means of payment, etc.

LEGAL AND URBANISTIC STUDY: The notary does not make a thorough urban study of the property. Various information is not verified by the Notary during the purchase / sale process (Town Hall, Cadastre, Town Planning, local and regional departments), are not consulted or verified. –

Does not check if the property is subject to penalties or fines on the construction or is under demolition order.

– There is a complete Control to know if the property is subject to restrictions or planning charges, apart from those that appear in the property register.

But in Spain, most planning fees or restrictions are not recorded in the property registry.

– There is no study or verification of possible future development projects likely to affect the property (eg expropriation, or a future highway, or even an urbanization project, etc.).

Unfortunately, there are cases in Spain where the buyer has made the purchase without the assistance of a specialized conveyancing solicitor – conveyancing solicitor – lawyer who is perfectly familiar with this process and who is perfectly registered with the cadastre and the land register.

This buyer will only be able to notice after the purchase process, that he lacked a permit or a certificate of occupation (“certificate of conformity”), or even had an expropriation order for a highway project, for example. But it will be too late…

This lack of planning study by the notary creates particular problems in the following properties:

– Properties new constructions: For example, the builder has not completed the urban development, or they remain to finish urbanization works to finalize.

– Properties, houses, or cottages in rustic areas or COUNTRYSIDE: These properties are generally in the rural area and outside urban areas. These properties (mainly villas or holiday homes) may have problems such as:

Lack of license for the construction of the main house Lack of license to build or extend the permit of the main building or for annexes (pool, garage, etc.).

Problems of identification or definition of the boundaries of the plot or lot, etc.

Urbanistic sanctions, penalties, or demolition orders, etc.

– Villas and apartments in old housing with serious infrastructure problems or pending project development or improvement, etc.

This information will not be obtained by a Notary in Spain.

Unfortunately, in Spain, legal, administrative, and planning information that affects the property, are not condensed into a single point of information, as it should be on the land register. In Spain, information in the land register, although essential, is not complete. The information contained in the Property Registry in Spain does not collect ALL the information that affects the property.

CONTRACTS AND PAYMENTS: The notary does not take care of the payments of the property, nor to choose or prepare the sales contracts. In Spain, payments of the price, or parts of the price, are paid to the conveyancing solicitor – conveyancing solicitor – lawyers, the real estate agency or the seller. In our firm, customers sometimes ask us the bank account of the notary to make payment of the purchase price, and are surprised when we inform that in Spain, the notary does not receive payments, and that payments must be paid directly to the seller, or his conveyancing solicitor – conveyancing solicitor – lawyer, or to the real estate agents.

REGISTRATION AND CHANGE OF OWNER IN THE LAND REGISTRY: The notary, once the purchase process is completed by signing the deeds before him, has no obligation to register the transaction in the land register. (There are notaries who do this management, and others do not). And, even among notaries who perform the registration service, they do not do so if the buyer does not expressly request it. As conveyancing solicitor – conveyancing solicitor – lawyers, we have seen many cases where sellers have discovered that the purchase was not registered in the Land Registry. At the time of purchase, the owners went to the notary, and once the purchase was made, the buyer, believing that the notary would take care of everything and therefore the official registration also realized that none of this had been done! Therefore, over the years, have found that many properties were still on behalf of their former owners, because they had not given the order to the notary, and had not been assisted by a conveyancing solicitor – conveyancing solicitor – lawyer properly in their buying or selling process.

TAXES AND OTHER PAYMENTS: Notaries are obliged to deal with tax payments, and other fees. However, if buyer or seller does not ask for it and stipulates it in writing on the acts, the notary will not take care of it!

Other taxes exist, like the surplus value (Plusvalía), payable by the salesman and for which the notary does not take care of.

CHANGE OF OWNER FOR WATER AND ELECTRICITY. CONTRACTS AND OTHER MUNICIPAL TAXES: The notary does not manage the change of ownership and does not deal with contracts for the supply of water, electricity or other such as property or municipal taxes

Nor, at the same time, the Spanish notary will take care of the payment through the bank from suppliers on behalf of buyers.

CHANGE OF OWNER TO THE CADASTRE: The notary NO manages the change of ownership of the parties to the cadastre.

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE (also OCCUPANCY or HABITABILITY): As explained in other sections of this site, the buyer must obtain a certificate of occupation in good standing or renovated on his behalf in order to proceed to the change of ownership with energy suppliers after their purchase. The notary does not check the accuracy and conformity of this document!

Therefore, as soon as you have really decided to buy, TLA, our firm, you advise:

– Take the services of a conveyancing solicitor – lawyer. There are companies or agents who present themselves as conveyancing solicitor – conveyancing solicitor – lawyers and give just a “legal service”, but are not recognized by the court. Sometimes they are not even Spanish!

–Take the services of a conveyancing solicitor – lawyer registered in Spain. Do not be tempted to use conveyancing solicitor – conveyancing solicitor – lawyers in your home country. Only national conveyancing solicitor – conveyancing solicitor – lawyers know the buying system and its Spanish process. (Different from one province to another)

– The conveyancing solicitor – lawyer must speak your language. Flee conveyancing solicitor – conveyancing solicitor – lawyers who do not speak your language, and who use secretaries or assistant translators. The conveyancing solicitor – conveyancing solicitor – lawyer must speak your language perfectly in order to communicate directly with you, and not through secretaries or translators.

– Check that the conveyancing solicitor – lawyer is a specialist in Urban and Construction Law. He must be an expert in real estate law, but also he must understand and master planning and construction planning.

Take no risk. Ensure the legal transfer of Property.

We know that you don’t need legal advice or a solicitor every day, but when you do, you can rely on Bufet Jurídic Falgas and our conveyancing solicitor. In our company you can find a quick service to give practical solution at low cost and fixed legal fees.

We are here to assist you with all the necessary steps; the legal verification of the property, the administrative procedures and the signing of the different notarial documents, etc.

Do not hesitate to contact us ! Tel : +34 – 972503516 info@falgas.net