So it says Shakira´s famous song. There I leave you Madrid . However, in my case, it was not due to a bad love story (poor Shakira, she does not seem be very lucky with men, does she?) but to the fact that I had to return back home after completing a property transaction for some British clients.

The interesting part of this story is that the property that my clients were selling was not even in Madrid. It was in the far end of Spain, in a small town of Cadiz near Gibraltar, so why did I have to sign the deed of sale and purchase in Madrid?

Under Spanish law, the purchaser has the right to choose the Notary that will prepare the deeds of sale provided that the Notary is based within a reasonable distance from the property, being the same province a good measure. This is due to the fact that in the past, where the population was less mobile and local, it would be expected that both the seller and the buyer would live locally. In these cosmopolitan and diverse times we live in, the above is not as common anymore. Take a look to this particular transaction. A property based in the south of Spain owned by two British citizens, residents in London, with a buyer based in Madrid. In the past the norm would have been to sign the deed of sale and purchase with a local notary in the town where the property is located. The buyer would have travelled to Cadiz from Madrid and me, conveyed with power of attorney by my clients (who did not see the point in attending completion when their lawyer could do it on their behalf), I would have travelled from my home city to the southern tip of Spain. In the end, the two parties would have had to lose a day or two for completing the property transaction.

Since I had to travel in any event, it made sense that I adapted to the buyer´s circumstances and travel to Madrid. It must be said that it was win-win for everyone as it was much easier to travel to Madrid than to a small town outside Cadiz.

Completion was therefore scheduled for Madrid in a Notary near the area of Chamartin where armed with power of attorney from my clients, the title deeds, my clients´ NIE and the usual compulsory documentation when selling property in Spain (energy performance certificate, certificate of debt from the management agents of the condominium and copies of all utility bills and property rates) I attended completion and handed the keys to a smiley young couple who were buying their first holiday home outside Madrid.

Could I have forced the buyers´ to complete with a notary near Cadiz? Yes, I could have but for me and my clients it made no difference to complete in Madrid or near Cadiz so why not make things easier to the other party.

If you are selling or buying a property in Spain and you are told by the estate agent that you must use their local Notary Public, bear in mind that this is not true. Although it is certain that the buyer chooses and pays for the Notary and equally true that the Notary should be located in a reasonable distance of the property, for instance the same province, nothing stops the parties to reach their own agreement and this could be as cool and eclectic as signing in Madrid.

And as the great Shakira signs with her peculiar trembling voice “Ahi me voy otra vez, ahi te dejo Madrid/ There I go again, I leave you Madrid…..”