[Anonymous]

Hello there,

I am buying an off-plan property in Los Barrios (Cadiz) and already had an initial meet-up with a lawyer recommended by the estate agent. 😕

Well, my case might be slightly different from the most members of this forum. I am a resident in Gibraltar married to a local and have chosen this property with a plan to move to when it is complete. We know the area quite well.

Buying a Spanish property here is not a big deal at all and it is almost treated as a local property purchase. As Gib is such a small town, you somehow know everyone in one way or another. (For example, the state agent knows my husband’s father in person from the same rowing club, etc.)

However, now I have become extremely panicky about the fact that I have sort of appointed my Spanish lawyer who is obviously in a very good workig relationship with this local estate agency.

Should I change the lawyer sooner than later? He practices in Gibraltar and I found him trustworthy. He is charging us 1% of the property price (2950 euro) and seems to have good experience with property purchases in Cadiz province. We will have to pay first half at the contract stage (end Sep) & second half in 2.5 yrs time when the property is complete. He was going to take us to a neaby policia nacional (La Linea) for NIE, but I found out that we could do it ourselves without his help. He was going to charge us 160 euros for that on top of the 1% lawyer’s fee. Do you smell anything fishy here?

Could you please tell me what would be the best way at this stage?
This is still very risky as he is recommended by the agent?
Do I still need to change this local lawyer and find an independent lawyer?
If so, where can I find a good independent lawyer in Cadiz prov.?

I also found this website http://www.spainlawyer.com/ where you can hire a spanish lawyer for a fixed fee. Is it a good idea to use this site?

I am very concerned about this. Please advise me.
Thanks a lot.

Jaz

[Anonymous]

Dear Jaz, I advice you to have an independent lawyer, I wouldn’t take the lawyer from the agency as there is a conflict of interests.

I can recommend you a good independent lawyer who is based in Tarifa so he could perfectly provide a service to you, his name is Salvador Perez, his tel number is 956.682.067 and his e-mail address is sperez@laley-actualidad.es.

Good luck . regards

Jose Maria Sánchez Alfonso
lawyer / abogado
Málaga, Costa del Sol
952.479268
jmsalfonso@inicia.es

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