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Hello, I have just had an offer accepted to buy a small old village house in Andalucia. The current owner bought the house in 1980, with only making a private purchase contract for the house, and it was never registered at the public notary (Escritura Publica).
The owners lawyer has told me it will take 2 years to get it properly registered and have all the correct paperwork in the current owners name. Then we could complete the sale, and then finally followed by transferring it into my name. Or, he said I can by now (I guess with a private purchase contract) and then we can get it transferred into my name within the 2 year when all the paperwork is sorted out.
1. Does this all sound right, as this is out of my comfort zone?
2. Also, how would I be able to find out if all taxes have been paid upto date & any fines on the property, if it wasn`t ever properly registered? I wouldn`t want to buy the house then get stung for 30 odd years back tax and /fines (IBI/ basura etc)!Any help on this matter, really appreciated. 😕
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@spears71 wrote:
Hello, I have just had an offer accepted to buy a small old village house in Andalucia. The current owner bought the house in 1980, with only making a private purchase contract for the house, and it was never registered at the public notary (Escritura Publica).
The owners lawyer has told me it will take 2 years to get it properly registered and have all the correct paperwork in the current owners name. Then we could complete the sale, and then finally followed by transferring it into my name. Or, he said I can by now (I guess with a private purchase contract) and then we can get it transferred into my name within the 2 year when all the paperwork is sorted out.
1. Does this all sound right, as this is out of my comfort zone?
2. Also, how would I be able to find out if all taxes have been paid upto date & any fines on the property, if it wasn`t ever properly registered? I wouldn`t want to buy the house then get stung for 30 odd years back tax and /fines (IBI/ basura etc)!Any help on this matter, really appreciated. 😕
Simply put, this man has nothing to sell at this moment in time.
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Simply put, this man has nothing to sell at this moment in time.[/quote]
Agreed, this is too risky, if the ‘sellers’ name isn’t on the deeds then it technically not their house to sell? If say ‘Juan Garcia Lopez’ owned the house from 1975 until 1980 then I would say that he could still claim that the house is still his if his name is still on the official deeds to the property?
If you pay up now to then wait two years who knows who could walk in whilst you are sat there watching tv and tell you that the house is actually theirs!
Sad but true that many people think that things like this are ok because someone once says that it’s the norm. It may be the norm to locals or family members BUT if you make a wrong move you’ll regret it and it will cost you dearly.
There are plenty of houses with all their paperwork in place for sale. This house isn’t one of them and it would be best to walk away and find something else.
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In England, where, for example, the deeds have been lost, you can insure the title. There might be a similar thing in Spain. Lots of people do in fact hold property solely on a private contract, but it is risk. However, I am currently in the middle of litigation with someone who sold me some land, failed to give me an escritura, and then sold the land to someone else.
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Spears71, if you really love the house, can’t bear the thought of it not being yours etc. why not ask the current owners to sort out all the legal paperwork.
Pay a small deposit, sign it in at the notary to state that it’s a holding deposit for the house whilst you await the full paperwork. They then can’t sell it to anyone else etc. If then they can’t sort out the full deeds etc. they have to return your deposit. Notaries are often very nice people, they might be able to explain the whole process to you and how long it would take etc. You could go yourself to the town hall catastral office and ask who’s name is listed for the house, ie who actually owns it officially, how much they paid, are they still local, what square metres are listed for the house, does the garage exist legally etc. ask lots of questions about who, where, what and how. I’m guessing that it is officially a ‘casita’ or garden shed or suchlike and no one has wanted to spend money registering it and paying the fees and taxes.
The owners bought the house in 1980 so they paid peanuts for it themselves so the price in this current market should be very low anyway. They can afford to spend some money getting their paperwork up to date before the place is sold….they’ve had plenty of time to think about it!
It is so much better to be safer than safe than oh so sorry with regards to Spanish property!
If I was you i’d walk away and find something else but if you have really fallen in love with the house then you need to protect yourself fully before paying for the place. No deeds no deal.
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I think all the answers you have received has been constructive!!
To add to shakeel’s post, why not rent it while the owner sorts out the legal issues. Put a term into the rental agreement that after x months if all legal issues have not been resolved the rent will reduce or further rental payments will reduce the sale price of the property etc, or some such similar terms that mean the owner has to get on and sort the problem.
In any case another 12 months down the line Spanish property is going to be ciirca 10% cheaper than today, so you hold all the cards in this transaction, so use them to your advantage.
BTW can I ask have you already paid a deposit (greater than a few hundred euros) for this property? I can’t be bothered to repeat my advice on this subject, but if you have ask yourself why on earth did I do that??????
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I really don`t think I will get anything cheaper, even if i wait another 12 months. The price I have agreed with property owner is only… 10,000 euros! This is why I am willing to jump through some hoops to get the paperwork issue resolved. At this price the house obviously not fully habitable, so can`t rent.
No, I haven`t paid a cent as yet and not planning to, until I know more. This is why I am blogging to see what advice/ experience others have had, before I start forking out for a lawyer to look into it all on my behalf.
Thanks for the suggestions Shakeel & jp1. -
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@spears71 wrote:
I really don`t think I will get anything cheaper, even if i wait another 12 months. The price I have agreed with property owner is only… 10,000 euros! This is why I am willing to jump through some hoops to get the paperwork issue resolved. At this price the house obviously not fully habitable, so can`t rent.
No, I haven`t paid a cent as yet and not planning to, until I know more. This is why I am blogging to see what advice/ experience others have had, before I start forking out for a lawyer to look into it all on my behalf.
Thanks for the suggestions Shakeel & jp1.ok very simple then. Get a lawyer.
Have your lawyer contact the sellers regarding this to get copies of the contract that was signed. Your lawyer should be able to find out who/where the original vendor is. All the previous vendor should have to do is go to notary with the current vendor to get the document notarised and have the title deeds updated. You are then free to go to completion.The other situation is the old vendor has died, and the current vendor is going to have to go through the courts, which will take substantially longer.
If this is the property for you, do a rent to buy contract.
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You take a view on the price and feel that if all goes pear shape you will €10k. Do not forget that the property could have debts, outstanding taxes etc,etc. You will have to pay them so you €10 k could be any amount.
By you insisting in getting the papers sorted out the property will be uplifted to 21st Century in terms of its paper work etc.
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