[Anonymous]

Ok we all know it isn’t legal etc however I wanted to recount a story I heard recently about Black money – and it may make you think twice before accepting it. I don’t know if the story is hearsay, urban myth faction or what but more than one person recounted it to me so it is likely it has some basis in truth.

Firstly a couple from Madrid wanted to buy an apartment by the beach. They went down to view 3 or 4 apartments that met their criteria.

One of them took their fancy – a 3 bed front line beach apartment built 12 years ago or so. The seller insisted she wanted 50% of the money in Black.

The couple said they would go back to Madrid and think about it.

2 daus later they called back to say they would go ahead and would she be ready to complete in two weeks, that they were going to go straight to the Notary and sign the escritura. She agreed

The day of the Notary siging came, and their solitcitor had prepared the papers. The price of the apartment was €240,000 so they would be declaring €120,000.

All went well and the Notary went through his usual questions and explained the proceedure, read out the terms and conditions of the sale including the declared price etc.

Then both parties signed and the notary smiled and left the room (you know the drill I am sure)

Then so did the buyers

The seller asked them where the rest of the money was.

To which they replied –

“What money – you declared €120,000 and that is what we have paid. You signed the escritura to that effect, if you want we can call the Notary back and get him to settle this.

Clearly the Notary – as far as he was concerned – the declared value was €120,000 and he had asked btoh parties if they were happy to sign and had the seller recievd all due monies – to which they agreed.

Therefore there was nothing they could do.

So the seller was out by €120,000 and the buyer had a windfall of €120,000

Like I said I am not sure if this is urban myth or fact – or somewhere between the two – but it serves as a warning not to take black money

There are other reasons of course – and these again are some stories (and some that I know personally) of things that have happened

1. Money being passed under the table was in €500 euro notes – all false.
2. Being robbed outside the Notary of all the black money (how did the thieves know – actually you could probably take a chance and mug anyone outside and be certain that you have a chance of a windfall)
3. Being fined later for under declaring (it has happened a lot here)
4. Potentially as it is fraud you could land up in Jail.

One final word – NEVER ever bring money yourself to change for someone. This is a scam that preys on the desperation of sellers to sell quickly. They ask you to take a proportion in b money (usually about 20% of the price). They also ask if you can bring that amount again and change their black money for them.

Result is that you bring the 20% in small notes (legal of course) and hand over. You usually are offered 42% (ie the 20% in black plus a further 20% for changing plus 10% of the amount you changed)

ALl of it counterfeit

So you hand over for example €40,000 of your cash, receive €42,000 in forged notes and have sold your house for 40% less than you were going to.

And who you gonna tell? The Guardia Civil – why have you got forged notes? Why were you under declaring your house, what proof do you have (note in all these cases they go straight to escritura and never have a private contract.

Beware – its a jungle out there

Regards

Vince

[Anonymous]

Vince
MayI say excellent advice

Regards

Jim
😀

[Anonymous]

@vbtudor wrote:

The seller asked them where the rest of the money was.

To which they replied –

“What money – you declared €120,000 and that is what we have paid. You signed the escritura to that effect, if you want we can call the Notary back and get him to settle this.

Luv it. May try that one myself next time! 😉

[Anonymous]

Vince

nice one!, ‘you reep what you sow’ springs to mind, and the more dodgy dealing than can be exposed the better.

[Anonymous]

I have often wondered what would happen if the buyer denied that any black money was payable after the notary had witnessed the sale and conveniently left the room.

As the vast majority of sales involve some black money and notaries are generally bright people, I am sure that they have a contingency plan.

I suspect that the plan would be to find a defect in the contract or escritura and insist that the sale is therefore nullified.

Every contract and escritura contains several errors and omissions and these are normally overlooked or corrected by the notary. However, these inevitable errors could provide a safe excuse for not registering the ‘sale’ and insisting on a cancellation and return of monies.

While the vbtudor’s story sounds like ‘urban myth’ it must happen sometimes.

[Anonymous]

@hillybilly wrote:

@vbtudor wrote:

The seller asked them where the rest of the money was.

To which they replied –

“What money – you declared €120,000 and that is what we have paid. You signed the escritura to that effect, if you want we can call the Notary back and get him to settle this.

Luv it. May try that one myself next time! 😉

Be good wouldn’t it but I value my teeth & feel they, not to mention the odd arm or leg, may be at risk. 🙁

[katy]

I seem to remember that we did the “bit without the notary” before we actually signed the escritura.

[Anonymous]

@katy wrote:

I seem to remember that we did the “bit without the notary” before we actually signed the escritura.

Yes, that happens too. In fact, I have often witnessed the ‘bit without the notary’ with the notary.

[Anonymous]

@Rawlins wrote:

In fact, I have often witnessed the ‘bit without the notary’ with the notary.

😆 😆 😆 Don’t you just love this country sometimes…

[Anonymous]

Vbtudor,
I did raise this situation some time ago on the forum, did not get much milage out of it.

[Anonymous]

Hi Shakeel

I heard this in the course of a hobby of mine (writing for a local newspaper) and because of someone basically offering me a lot of money for my property plus wanting to change some money – it got me thinking – just what would happen if someone came to the table with black money that was forged (as I am sure it would have been)

Then as I was investigating by asking around 3 separate people (not connected)recounted this story. (all the people involved have been issued with fines for under declaring their property)

It does make you wonder and it is scary to think that you could get involved in this and you would have no recourse.

Its not about getting mileage out of the story – I just want to warn people about the possibility and make sure no-one falls into the trap/ As in all walks of life some will take note others wont, but if it stops just one person falling foul then it has to be worth it dont you think?

Regards

Vince

[Anonymous]

Hello all

an update – I have since heard that this isn’t in fact urban myth it is actually a true story. And not only that I have now heard that it isn’t that rare – it has happened before a number of times. Just be careful – best way is don’t under declare. If you do make sure you get your money before the notary and check it out that it is legal/real.

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