Blog on Spanish law

Tag: Buying property in Spain

  • Practical case: phishing and bank transfers on completion of a Spanish property purchase

    Practical case: phishing and bank transfers on completion of a Spanish property purchase

    Phishing is a type of online scam where hackers try to trick a person to provide personal information, like passwords, bank details, etc but it could also lead to misleading lawyers and trick them to make a bank transfer to the fraudsters´ bank account. I was in a property purchase completion this week at the…

  • Under-declaration of the sale price of a Spanish property

    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…

  • Buying property in Spain under-value

    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…

  • A quick guide on buying property in Spain for UK solicitors

                Do you have a client looking to buy property in Spain? How can you help him/her from the UK?  It is quite likely that you will have one or two clients looking for a property in Spain. The uncertainty of Brexit and the temporary weakness of the Sterling pound…

  • First use license and habitation certificate. Tomatoe, tomato. Are they the same thing?

                  There are two documents which are essential before moving into a house in Spain. They are called first use license (“licencia de primera ocupación”) and habitation certificate (“cédula de habitabilidad”). These two documents sometimes have their own validity and in other occasions complement each other. It is difficult…

  • Can I buy my Spanish property in sterling?

              This week a client who lives in the UK asked me if he can pay in sterling the purchase price of a house he is buying in Spain. The truth is that this is not an impediment. On the day of the signature of the purchase deed, the Notary will…