I just came back from a property completion in Fuengirola that has proved anything buy easy. While sipping an extremely hot americano in the plane, elbows locked between two passengers-I hate it when I get assigned the middle seat- I started to to convey into paper, well in this case it is a laptop, my conclusions after dealing with this transaction for more than a year.

It was quite an unusual property sale, one that you rarely see as it involved signing the deeds for the property 11 years after the money was paid by the buyers. How is that possible? Who would pay the price of a property, acquire possession but not get legal title? For a start, a family member.

When I was instructed by my clients, the sellers of the property, I was told that the parties never saw the need to sign the notarial deed of sale and purchase. The buyers were the brother and sister in law of one of my clients and trust was taken for granted. However, trust is not sufficient to justify ownership. At the same time, my clients were getting to an age where death, as sure as taxes, starts to get closer and the buyers wanted to ensure that should something happen to one or both sellers, their title over the property would not be affected by probate. This is totally true. In their circumstances, if the sellers had passed away it would have been necessary for their beneficiaries to inherit the title and then, once inherited, they could sign the transfer to the buyers.

But this was not the main problem. The real challenge laid on the fact that the price for the property had been paid but no Spanish stamp duty tax was file nor paid in Spain. Furthermore, and if the above was not enough challenge, the price had been paid in sterling pounds! This left me and the lawyer advising the buyers with two problems: 1) file taxes for a transaction that took place more than 10 years ago and 2) assign a value in Euro to the price paid in sterling pounds. The latter was sorted using the tool of a currency converter website that provides historical exchange rates. The tax issue was not taken that well by the parties since the sellers also had to file and pay Capital Gains Tax. My clients did not understand why Capital Gains Tax had to be paid when they were not making a gain, forgetting that the gain was made 11 years ago.

After all the necessary explanations by each lawyer, my clients granted a Spanish power of attorney in my favour which allowed me to travel to a Notary office in Fuengirola and sign the deed of sale and purchase that should have been signed long time ago. A good outcome for a matter that could have become a big problem for the buyers of the property and, as any lawyer dealing with inheritances and divorce will confirm, a potential liability that could have put the best of families to the test.

My conclusion and advice, while I finish typing this article between the snores of my left side companion and the other fellow on my right who is playing a video-game on his mobile, is that it is paramount that the deed of sale and purchase is signed as soon as the total price is paid to the seller. Postponing the official transfer of the title to the buyer, whether this is for days, weeks or years, is unnecessarily risky for the parties. Yes, family matters but in the end law and taxes have no mercy.