[Anonymous]

We bought a villa in Almeria region after paying 50k euros we had heard rumours of illegal builds i asked the solicitor directly and he replied it was illegal and that it was normal practise when i asked for a refund from the builder he refused I went back to the solicitor and he told me it would become legal in 4 years we had lots of worry and paid more money to obtain the escutura for the land, the building didnt get finished so i used the same solicitor or was passed onto his wife she hasgot me some paperwork but it doesnt mean a thing time the property is illegal the town hall dont want to help and say that they are waiting for the town plan, we have moved in i have an 8 year old daughter who is at local school but we have no water no electric and the house is illegal can anyone help as to where we go next, i am going to denounce the builder and the same solicitor is preparing the paperwork but not sure if i have any trust left we have paid 1k euros to solicitor and the wife is now asking for another 1k we have also paid 2 lots of taxes connected to land and registration please can you offer some good advice

[Anonymous]

Jon,

I work for a UK television production company and we are currently producing a programme about the Spanish property market and people’s different experiences thereof.

We are trying to highlight some of the most common nightmares that people experience- stories such as yours. We hope to be able to offer advice and provide some positive solutions to some of these problems.

If you would be interested in telling us your story, I would be very keen to hear all about it. please email me at alex.finn@ricochet.co.uk or call +44 (0)1273 224 825

[Anonymous]

John,

I’m not sure I understand the sequence of events. I can’t make out whether your lawyer allowed you to sign and pay knowing that the property was illegally built, or whether this lawyer arrived on the scene too late.

If it is the case that your lawyer failed to inform you in good time of this small detail, i.e. that the property was illegally built, then that is serious malpractice. If that were the case I would make an official complaint to the local colegio de abogados. A lawyer should never advise you to go ahead and buy a property that is illegally built. They can explain the situation and the risks, after which it is up to you to decide, but they should never say go ahead, no worries.

In any event it sounds like you need a new lawyer. In these kinds of situations what you need is a good local lawyer who knows people like the municipal architect and the mayor. What you will need done is far too complicated to explain here, and anyway it will depend upon many details that I don’t have. However it seems to me that your starting point is a better lawyer than the one you have at the moment.

By the way it helps to use a bit of grammar when you post in this forum. Text without grammar is a struggle to understand.

Mark

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