Category: Property
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Lawyers acting for their friends (and the blurred lines in between)
This Friday, while being at the birthday party of one of my best friends in Barcelona, I had the opportunity to put closure to one of the most difficult cases that I had in my legal career. My friend was turning 49 years old and since 49 is the new 48, or so my friend…
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Ahi te dejo Madrid
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…
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Paying the purchase of a Spanish property in stages: a story about family, trust and taxes
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…
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Under-declaration of the sale price of a Spanish property
Believe it or not, I still come across property transactions where one of the parties, usually the seller, asks for part of the sale price to be paid in cash or, even worse, paid with a bank transfer but not shown on the deeds. The first one is flagrantly illegal but the second is simply…
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SUBJECT TO MORTGAGE OR NOT SUBJECT TO MORTGAGE : THAT IS THE QUESTION
I have to confess—sometimes estate agents drive me crazy, especially here in my hometown of Barcelona. Don’t get me wrong; there are plenty of reliable and professional agents. But lately, probably due to the rising property prices in the city, I’ve noticed a recurring practice that really frustrates me. I’m talking about the buyer’s right…
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Varying a Spanish Will Using an English Deed of Variation
Most people familiar with the administration of an English estate know that a Deed of Variation can be used in England (and Wales) to change the distribution of an estate within two years of the date of death, provided certain criteria are met: That much is well-known — but what about foreign assets, such as…
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Returning the keys to the bank after the death of a relative
One of the first phrases that I learnt when I moved to the UK to work as a Spanish lawyer was “catch 22”. At the beginning I did not have a clue as to what it meant (‘a paradoxical situation from which an individual cannot escape because of contradictory rules or limitations’ says Wikipedia) but…
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Renting property in Barcelona
Ah, Barcelona. Lovely city. Famous for its gastronomy, football, fashion and its Architecture, specially buildings designed by Antoni Gaudi such as the Sagrada Familia, Casa Mila or Parc Güell. A very cosmopolitan city with inhabitants of all countries and cultures. Also a great place for foreign remote workers and professionals…
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What is the plusvalía tax? And why should it be charged after the death of a person?
This is a question very frequently asked by our clients. The question usually comes with a frown on the face. Clients understand the concept of Inheritance tax: someone dies, and the Tax office applies a tax because the beneficiary gets “presumably” wealthier. So far, so good but what is the plusvalía tax then? Clearly, the…
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Buying property in Spain under-value
Spain is still recovering from the brutal economic recession that has affected its economy for the last 10 years. One of the main consequences of the recession was the collapse of the property market where properties went down in value consistently, reaching lower values that left many property owners in negative equity as their…