Blog on Spanish law

Author: AntonioGuillen

  • Dacion en pago for non-residents. Do we have a deal?

    If you have read the Spanish press this week you will probably have seen plenty of articles on the Government’s new proposal to solve the current problems with those who cannot pay the mortgage.  Luis de Guindos, Minister of Economy, will announce this week some new measures to enable consumers to surrender their properties back…

  • Lets talk about gifts

          In this space I have talked about wills and inheritances very often but never, as far as I can recall, about gifts. Is it generally a good idea to gift assets in Spain? The answer is also generally no. Why? For one simple reason: taxes.   A gift will always be subject to gift tax…

  • Ok, marriage is over. Now what do we do with the property?

                                                         Many Brits own property in Spain. In most of the cases, the property is owned by a married couple. So, what happens when the couple divorce or, more specifically, who gets the Spanish property? The most normal thing is for the Judge who deals with the divorce to make a provision in the…

  • Watch Out: Problems with the NIE

      Some of the readers of this blog already know that there was a change in the law in 2011 and it was no longer possible to obtain a NIE number in Spain through power of attorney. This polemic decision was accepted by most of the local police stations in Spain except for a few…

  • Holiday rentals in the Canary Islands

      If you read internet forums or you are subscribed to internet news bulletins related to Spain, you would have probably come across many angry Britons who have been suddenly fined for renting their apartments in the Canary Islands without the necessary permissions.  In some cases, the fines are imposed because the property owner has…

  • Attention please! Spanish Consular Services- Part II

    This week I wrote a post explaining the counties that belong to the jurisdiction of the Spanish Consulate in Edinburgh. Somehow, the blog does not show the entire list so I now take the opportunity to provide the list in a more direct format. To summarise what I was saying in my previous post, the…

  • Spanish Consular Services in UK

      Some time ago I informed about the closing of the Spanish Consulate in Manchester. I consider that this kind of news is always sad for both the Spaniards living in this country and the British and other nationals living in the North of England. We should not forget that Manchester is probably the second…

  • Daddy, where is my money?

      This week a Spanish national from Castilla but living in England for many years came to see me for advice on wills. In fact I was the second solicitor to be consulted. The other one recommended him, without taking into account his national law, to grant an English will and leave everything to the…

  • New proposals for a new era

                Some months ago, the Socialist Prime Minister, Mr Rodriguez-Zapatero (or Zapatero as he is commonly known in Spain) decided to call elections for the 20th November. Since then, both main candidates, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba for the Socialist Party and Mariano Rajoy for the Popular Party struggled to convince the…

  • European order for payment procedure

      A debtor is always a debtor, both in Spain and in Britain. Whether is an outstanding invoice or a debtor who does not want to pay, the usual way to ensure payment is going through the legal route.  Sometimes matters can get more complicated if the creditor and the debtor live in different countries…