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i sold a property i had recently bought for the same as i paid for it. this was due to a marital problem. the notary retained 3% at the point of sale. i have paid a spanish solicitor to reclaim this money and he said when i paid him that it would probably take 3 months. it has now been 5 months and he does not reply to my emails or telephone conversations. i am at my wits ends. can i report him to a legal body in spain, if so, who/what. what do you suggest i put in my next email to the solicitor? all help is much appreciated. regards, peter
ps – can i reclaim this money myself ?
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hI PBG
what you have paid is a retention off set against taxes for capital gains liability.
In order to claim it back you have to process a declaration of renta (basically report your accounts/tax affairs to the hacienda)
I am not sure how often you can do this – I thought it was once a year.
It is unusual for the hacienda to give money back for the retention and I imagine they will be very suspicious of the fact you have sold for the same price – so you will have a real hard time convincing them
With regards to your solicitor. Have you tried speaking to them on the phone?
Did you pay them any money upfront?It isn’t usually a solicitor who does this but a gestor (similar to an accountant) so unless your solicitor has a gestoria as well I am not sure why he would be getting involved in it.
<y advice would be to do the following
1. Send him an email and set Delivery and read receipt so you know it has been received
2. Write a letter to him asking him why he will not get in touch (there may be a genuine reason)
3. Call him and ask why he isn’t getting in touch with you
4. If all this fails send a Burofax (This is a legal fax that is recorded like recorded delivery)
5. If all else fails do you have friends locally who could go to his offices and see him?As for the body to complain to it is the colegio de abogados but they are a real toothless tiger and do not do anything of use.
Hope this helps
Vince
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Hi pbg.
my retention was 5% . my agent said most people just forget iit, by the way,that was in the days when you made a profit, not like today. so i never thought about it again…then about 1 year or more later i spotted a payment deposited into my bank account,
if you still want to make inquiries via your solicitors, get put through to the accounts department , after sales, they will have your details.also if you sold through an agent,call him ,
so based on my experience, it was dealt with in the next tax year.
good luck -
hi all,
my first post on this subject was in may 2007 and thanks to all who replied. can you believe that it is still going on!
my solicitor had the cheek to ask for further fees (which i paid) to submit further “required” forms to the tax office ( i was in too deep to tell him where to go).
that was in dec 2007 and he told me then that it would take 2 months ie feb 2008 to get me refund. i am still waiting for this refund and i am now being told that the tax office in malaga have lost my papers. i just find it all exhausting.
is there any decent spanish lawyers out there who could expedite this? (i recall glynn the lawyer sent me a comprehensive reply some time ago when i first posted on the subject and if you are reading this glynn and fancy a challenge please get in touch).
i have copies of the modelo 212/214 forms but this spanish lawyer i am dealing with has been paid for this service back in jan 2007 and he only replies to 1 out of 10 emails. that realy makes me seeth!!
if someone doesnt help, im going to get on a plane and pay him a visit which will cost him a great deal more than the refund i am expecting.
please help!
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hi all,
my first post on this subject was in may 2007 and thanks to all who replied. can you believe that it is still going on!
my solicitor had the cheek to ask for further fees (which i paid) to submit further “required” forms to the tax office ( i was in too deep to tell him where to go).
that was in dec 2007 and he told me then that it would take 2 months ie feb 2008 to get me refund. i am still waiting for this refund and i am now being told that the tax office in malaga have lost my papers. i just find it all exhausting.
is there any decent spanish lawyers out there who could expedite this? (i recall glynn the lawyer sent me a comprehensive reply some time ago when i first posted on the subject and if you are reading this glynn and fancy a challenge please get in touch).
i have copies of the modelo 212/214 forms but this spanish lawyer i am dealing with has been paid for this service back in jan 2007 and he only replies to 1 out of 10 emails. that realy makes me seeth!!
if someone doesnt help, im going to get on a plane and pay him a visit which will cost him a great deal more than the refund i am expecting.
please help!
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My solicitor claimed back money (vat) that we had paid on an apartment
that we bought and did not complete on…but we still had to pay the vat.
Well it took about 12 months to get it back but they did finally repay it into our account. The days are long gone when people forget about claiming the money back…like all legal issues they try and make it as difficult as possible in order to put you off claiming it back. Do as you were advised and you will get it back in the end, it is better in your pocket than theirs. -
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pbg899 wrote:that is exactly what i am beginning to think that the solicitor/notary have pocketed the retention sum. especially with him now saying that the tax office have lost the forms!
This was another fiddle thought up by the Spanish authorities. It used to be a 5% retention for foreigners but this was outlawed by the EU. The charge had to then be equal for residents or non residents.
I think that the authotrities insisted that the the claim had to be put in within a month of the sale going through, which made life quite difficult as the buyer had to pay the amount to Hacienda. I tried to help several people, so far have not got them a cent back, one day Hacienda said one thing the next day something else, or I could n´t get proof of payment from the buyer or his so called adviser.
For many years the Spanish had a fiddle whereby one had to pay a bond to bring one´s own furniture in , if I remember correctly it was half the declared value, it then took a year to get the money back bacause it was necessary to apply for a residents permit , then the money was returned less about 20% to cover expenses!!!.
The Spanish cerainly know how to get money out of foreign residents, pity that Scottish idiot in the UK does n´t take a leaf out of the Spanish book, Britain might do a bit better. I see a”leading expert” has forecast the British property market will not recover until the year 2015.
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135 years:
“I couldn’t´t get proof of payment from the buyer or his so called adviser”
The Buyer does not pay it, its the seller who pays at the Notary, payment is made at the notary and it is the notary responsibility to collect. If the Notary has failed to collect than it should be up to him to account. Its this lack of accountability that is the problem in Spain at all levels.
“The Spanish certainly know how to get money out of foreign residents,”
Not only from the foreign residents, the locals have grown up with the system & knows how to play it. The foreigners being naive about the working of the country falls for it.
“that Scottish idiot in the UK does n´t take a leaf out of the Spanish book, Britain might do a bit better”
Whether its the Scottish idiot or anybody else. British has been fleecing all over the world in aspects of life, just read history written by non British historians & you will get the picture. Why do you think we are in Iraq?
Millions of foreign companies/individuals business & accounts have been seized by creating a political/other scenarios as the situation demanded to seize assets.A small example a Iraqi friend of fine who studied medicine in the UK in the late 70’s. When he finished his studies he went to work in the States.
He left around £150.00 in his bank thinking that he would use it in future.His account has been frozen. He is not earning any interest. Guess How many such people like him must be around, they Could be South Africans, South Americans, Iranians, Libyans, Zimbabwean, Nigerians, soon the Russians will be added if not already.
As you are talking about Scottish. Let us not forget that the English had used/misused North sea oil for decades.
The difference in Spain and UK is the level at which it affects its population.
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Hello again….
Does anyone have the postal address for the tax office in Malaga as that is who my so called lawyer is blaming for loosing my paperwork?
I am going to write to them myself but dont know where i should address the letter to. Also, who should I mark it for the attention of?
All help here is much appreciated.
Things are damm hard at the moment without this and I am not letting them keep whats not theirs when it is urgently needed at home. I am not talking about a few hundred quid – SUBSTANTIALY MORE !
Many thanks.
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There are quite a few for Malaga so you need to find out which one
http://www.meh.es/Portal/El+Ministerio/Directorio/ListaDirecciones?id=29 -
Writing, letter to the Hacienda is not going to get you very far. As they will not reply. Another thing that the British have not learnt. Besides writing in English is not going help your cause. An on line translation of your text is not going to help either as the style of business letter writing are very different.
The Spaniards solve this problem buy going there themselves. You need to go there. If you don’t get the address of the Hacienda by the forum user, go to the Notary office, where the sale took place and they should be able to point you in the right direction.
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