Just saw you on TV and you gave a very impressive talk on Tv. I have just had a buyer withdraw on a sale, they deposited 10kEuro to my solicitor months ago and now after 6 months will not return the money which is now mine. What can I do,,,,,,I have had to get a loan to cover bills as this money has been owing since July,,,it is now Jan. 05. What can I do,,,,The lawyer is in Torrevieja… I dealt with them for 2 years and they were efficient. Now the secretaries have both left….
Martha, thank you for your question and your kind words.
Let me see if I understand this correctly. You had a buyer for your property who paid a reserve amount of 10,000 Euros to your solicitor 6 months ago. Your solicitor held the money on your behalf. However the buyer has pulled out of the purchase, losing the 10,000 Euros reserve payment, which your solicitor is now keeping and refusing to pass on to you. Is that the case? If so on what grounds does your solicitor refuse to pass on the money to you? Have they given you any reason? Do you have a copy of the Contrato de Arras (reserve deposit contract) that you signed with the buyer? Excuse me asking these questions but I need to clarify the problem before I can be of any use.
thank you so much for coming back to me..I feared you would be inundated with enquires and time wasters following media coverage. You have summed up the situation exactly right. There is no reason I am being given….they have power of attorney for me….and I got NO paper work as the buyer was English and they ‘handled’ the deposit. They claim to be investigating the matter. The secretary who has left….and I hope not with my money…said she never handled money,,,the other secretary said the deposit was lodged,,,she has also left. If you have any advice I would appreciate it…and thanks again for the reply.
Do you have any documentation to prove any of this? Letters, faxes, emails, etc, between you and your solicitor or you and an estate agent?
Do you have any contact details for the buyer who pulled out?
If you have no written proof whatsoever that your solicitor took a deposit on your behalf, and cannot demonstrate that the would-be-buyer transferred money to your solicitor (presumably the buyer has a copy of the deposit contract) then I fear your position is weak. However if you can produce some evidence then it might be worth your while hiring another lawyer to get the money back, that is if your solicitor doesn’t appear to have any intention of returning it to your without being pressurised.
the solicitor will have the contact details of the buyer. ..these people are impossible to deal with,,,they have not answered yesterday’s fax either. They don’t answer emails either. IS there a Spanish version of the Law Society? I have many friends from my school who are barristers and solicitors but under Spanish law they are helpless.
Can you not get in touch with the person who was going to buy your property? Its seems that you had some sort of contact through a friend in Spain and the father-in-law of the would-be-buyer? If the would-be-buyer side were to cooperate and could prove that they transferred the money to your solicitor as a reserve deposit on your property you should have a case. The buyer should have signed a reserve deposit contract when they paid the deposit? It would have been very careless of them not to have done so – 10,000 Euros is a substantial amount of money after all. It seems to me that the would-be-buyer has an interest in seeing that the 10,000 Euros they forfeited wasn’t pocketed by a shady solicitor. I would certainly feel that way.
If you have absolutely no documentation of your own to substantiate your claims and have no way at all of contacting the would-be-buyer the situation looks fairly hopeless I’m sorry to say. However if you can come up with something – anything – it might be worth your while informing your former solicitor that you plan to go to the police over the matter. That might make them pay a bit more attention and if you are lucky pay out just to avoid the hassle. If you take this course of action I would recommend you get a new lawyer. If necessary I can put you in touch with an excellent Spanish lawyer who charges very reasonably. Let me know if you would like to contact her for an initial consultation.
Mark…I will take your offer of a good lawyer..the lady . Even if I can’t get the 10K back from the lawyer…I would not continue my business with them. If I find another buyer I will need another lawyer. Do you know any reliable estate agents? Most don’t even answer their emails…marketing from UK to Spain is fraught with problems. I am told that their commision is so high a few sales do them and they don’t push things too much. I also would appreciate some pro-active estate agent contacts. Thanks again .
A spanish lawyer cannot hold, for any reason, a client’s money if the client claim it back, it is absolute forbidden in the lawyer’s Ethical Code.
A deposit paid to a vendor ( even in your case where the money was paid through your lawyer or to your lawyer on your behalf ) belongs legally to the vendor.
You must write a letter ( registered ) to your lawyer giving 7 days to return the money, give him or her the datils of the bank account where you want it , inform him or her that if he/she does not return it in that time you will report to the “Colegio de Abogados de Alicante” .
And of course you can set a report at the Local Court , I advice not just set a report at the police, use a lawyer to start a ” Querella Criminal ” or criminal case , as under spanish law refusing to return someone’s else money is a criminal offense called Apropiación Indebida.
Mark…I wrote to y ou a few months ago re. a mysterious disappearance of my 10k Euro deposit from a lost house sale…I am glad to say that after a six month fight and wait…the lawyer put 9500 into my Cam account and I was in Spain last week…and withdrew the money. Thanks for your help, you were very efficient. regards
“independents” no-nonsense analysis is what we need more of when discussing foreign property…are you a spanish lawyer ” independent” or an experienced client?
I can confirm (hope she doesn’t mind) that Independent is a very helpful, english speaking lawyer, who very recently dealt with our house purchase in Spain, who kept in contact through every step (sometimes time consuming) of the completion, and we shall certainly use her services again, if need be, and have no hesitation in recommending her services to you.
“independents” no-nonsense analysis is what we need more of when discussing foreign property…are you a spanish lawyer ” independent” or an experienced client?
🙄
He/she is a Lawyer and that’s exactly what I would advise Martha to do.
It is a criminal offence called “apropiación indebida” and lawyers have been condemned afor in Spain for similar cases.
I’m sorry to hear about your situation, and unfortunately do not have much advice to offer, other than what others have already recommended.
I’m about to complete in Murcia in the next few weeks, and am also using a lawyer in Torevieja. I obviously cannot mention the name on a public forum, but I’d like to know if the lawyer that you are having problems with is the same one that I am using! I cannot send you a private message either, ‘cos I think you may not be a registered user on this site.
So, can you please, please send me a private message (or an email) with your lawyers details so that if it’s the same one that I have, then I can proceed with caution.
Thanks and regards
P
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