I bought a aparament in Spain, and first signed an contract where the price was 123 000 EUR.
When I received the deed, the price appeared to be “only”
92 000 EUR, which was documndeted for and paid to the seller.
This procedure with different pricec in the ded and the first contract I never received any information about.
The deed was signed by means of Power of Attorney.
My Real estate agent got to their disposal 133500 EUR, and the expences documented was around 10 000 EUR.
Thus, there are still around 31000 EUR I have not received documentation for.
I have asked the Real Estate Agency to answer for the 31 000 EUR, and they promised to give me an anser as soon as they can.
Meanwhile, the conslusions of this may vary. If I relate to the 92 thousand Euro In the deed, it appears that the Real Estate has taken 31000 Eur into their own pocket.
And as mentioned, I was not informed about this procedyre.
In most cases both buyers and seller agreed upon a procedure like this to lower the sellers official price in return for a lower real price. It makes the state get less…. if you morally agreed upon this you should not do a thing.
If it is like you stated it would be the easiest to just follow the money trail and go after the person with the power of attorney. If you can show that they clearly didnt act in your best interest you have a case. The money trail will probably show the seller getting a chunk of this money but they will only be pursued by the tax authorities.
Something happened to the text when I hit the “submit” button, so I try for the 3rd time, as follows:
UPDATE MORE THAT 1 YEAR AFTER:
More tha 1 year has now past, and the following has happened and come to my knowledge:
I contacted a lawer and had several meetings with the real estate agency. But with mainly a negative result! The lawer recommended me not to take the case further, as I had signed the original «compraventa» for the sum of 123 000 EUR.
The sum of 123 000 EUR reflects commission 11 000 EUR added to the price 113 00 EUR, which is the sum the real estate «took in» the apartment from another real estate company. Also I have an invoice from the real estate I traded with, that shows the word «comission» and 11 000 EUR.
SO A BIG QUESTION FOR ME IS WHO SHOULD PAY THE 11 000 EUR. In my opinion this is a matter between the seller and the real estate(s) ???
I think the price for the property had been set too high compare to similar apartments in the area!
And still, I have not yet received any documnetation for around 31 000 EUR mentioned earlier.
And about «money under the table», the agent from the real estate claims that we had agreed about this, which we had not! Before writing the contract, he said that the seller had agreed to set the TAX value to 100 000 EUR. I asked how the seller legally could decide the TAX value, and said I did not understand this. The Answer I received, was not exact and clear to me, and no explanation that there should be money under the table involved!
And, when I received the deed, I found the castral value to be 92 000 EUR.
Also, since the deed was signed by means of Power of Attorney, and the establishing of my bank account in Spain, withdraws in connections to the trade, I feel that my trust to the agent had been strongly exploited.
So, what should I now do further? Is it I who should pay the 11 000 EUR which is commission after «taking in» the property from the first real estate.
Hais, the vendor should pay the commission, unless you agreed to. It sounds like the estate agent has taken the money. You would have to talk to a lawyer about the chances of successful legal action. In Spain, I’m sad to say, legal action tends to be slow and expensive. Never use a lawyer recommended by the agent.
My buyers have never paid the commission. I have always paid the Agent directly….of course I added it into the asking price but I would not leave the purchase price open to tinkering by dodgy Agents.