A powerful title that could easily be the title of a book or a film. What was the name of that film with Simon Pegg “How to lose friends and alienate people” ? Something along those lines. Well, last week’s work for a client who only had 5 days to prepare for the purchase of a property in Benalmadena could have made me lose more than one friend as it required my full attention and dedication. From the Monday, when the client contacted me, to the Friday when the deeds were supposed to be signed.

I must say that I usually have more time to prepare a purchase. Clients usually contact me before they commit to the purchase and they ask me to carry a due diligence and prepare the contract with enough notice but this client had entered into a contract without the aid of a lawyer and now, in the last minute, realised that he needed legal advice in the last tranche of the transaction. Problem is, that there was a lot of work to be done and not enough time.

First of all, the client did not have a Spanish NIE and although it is possible to complete and sign the deed of purchase without a NIE (as long as there is no mortgage, of course) it is not advisable as the transfer tax needs to be paid within 30 days from signing the deeds. Secondly, the client´s monies were still in the UK and he had no Spanish bank account. Opening a bank account would have taken 3-4 days and therefore make it impossible for the client to have a bank account in place for completion. Last but not least, a full due diligence had to be carried out to check that the property was legal, planning compliant and had no adverse entries. Urgent action was needed and speed was of the essence. Also delegation was a must, as it would have been impossible for me to tick all those boxes on my own.

The NIE was probably the most difficult part as NIE appointments are not easy to get at police stations. You usually need to get an appointment with some weeks in advance. Unless you are Miss T.

Miss T, let´s call her that way, focuses solely on obtaining tax numbers for foreigners. She spends half of her work time at police stations and tax offices with clients and the other half filling forms. An Angel without wings that can make miracles happen. She was my Obi-Wan, my only hope. I therefore contacted her to see if by any chance she had a spare appointment that can be used by my client. You never know. Luck sometimes exists.

“Leave it with me” were her only words in a scarce text message. A few hours later she had an appointment booked for my client. I could not believe my luck and bought a lottery ticket on my way back home thinking that this was my lucky day.

I did not win the lottery but my client had secured an appointment for the upcoming Wednesday which would allow him to have a NIE for completion. Now that the NIE was on the verge of being sorted, it was necessary to find a way to pay the price without transferring the purchase funds to the seller before completion. In Spain there is no obligation for a seller to get a lawyer involved. In fact, most Spanish sellers do not engage the services of a lawyer. This makes impossible for the buyer to transfer the monies to the seller´s lawyer before completion. The purchase price therefore needs to be paid at the notary´s office with either an immediate bank transfer (which you can only do if you have a Spanish bank account) or a Spanish banker´s draft (ditto). As the client was short of time to open a bank account, an alternative solution was needed. This is where the currency broker entered.

No, it is not a spy story what I am narrating. Currency brokers do exist. They work for companies that are registered with either the FCA (in the UK) and/or the Bank of Spain. They receive the funds in Sterling pounds, exchange it into euro at usually a more favourable rate than a High Street Bank and then allow the client to pay the price in Euro. The norm is for the currency brokers to transfer the monies in euro to the buyer´s Spanish bank account and the buyer then sorts the payment but I was aware that a couple of currency companies operating in Spain could receive the completion funds and either draw a banker´s draft or make a bank transfer directly from their client account.

The currency broker confirmed that this was possible but we had to hurry up as he needed to open a client account for my client and also carry his source of funds checks to ensure that the funds complied with their internal anti-money laundering rules.

My client was delighted to see that there was an alternative to the option of transferring the purchase monies to the seller before completion (important note: never ever do that!).

At the same time, I contacted the estate agent and asked that the standard documentation, licences and documents were provided to me to enable me to carry a due diligence on the title and property. Obviously, there was no sufficient time for a survey and I warned my client that he would have to rely on what he saw when he inspected the property. As always, and in line with the old Murphy´s law, some documents and information were missing and I had to push for these to be produced. Here enters the pushy lawyer who had to threat with postponing completion if those documents were not provided. The estate agent hated my guts but in the end pushed the seller and provided all the documents that were needed. Last but not least, I had to convince my Notary to also work against the clock and prepare the deed of sale and purchase in less than 3 days. All of it during one of the busiest months of the year in terms of Notary work- as everyone wants to complete their property transaction before the summer holidays.

The due diligence was carried out, the report summarising my findings sent to the client, the NIE and currency account sorted and the deeds were signed by the delighted client at the Notary´s office on the Friday.

Leaving the Notary´s office, with a half smile in my face, I told my-self: “Antonio, sometimes your life could be like a movie or a book”. Then Dr Calculus´ last phrase in Tintin’s Red Rackham´s Treasure story came to my mind. “Actually, all is well that ends well…”