04 Aug 2025 4:45 PM:

sorry to retro-post on a very old thread, but this question may still be pertinent to some. And it took me some time to work this out, so I hope my experience may be of benefit to others.

The Spanish plugs as used in and around the 1970s that have three round pins 4mm in diameter (thus slightly thinner than the Euro standard or Schuko plug pins) and arranged in a sort of flattened triangle and that can still occasionally be found in homes of that period today (but getting quite rare now), are completely identical to the Swiss T12 standard that is still being manufactured today. This was confirmed to me by a qualified (albeit retired) Spanish electrician.

T12 to Schucko adapters can be bought online as well as from larger DIY stores, better equipped ferreterias (or even from some Chinese stores) with prices starting at about 2 Euros or slightly less if you get lucky. You can also get T12 to UK three prong adapters (with built-in fuse). An adapter may be a preferable option to changing a plug, especially if you're not sure of what you're doing or if it might void your warranty.

This message was last edited by amogles on 8/4/2025.
Thread: Old Spanish 3-pin socket

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23 May 2025 11:19 AM:

In my case, I actually got quite lucky.

The previous owner had embarked on a thorough renovation and then given up about three quarters of the way through. So basically all the important and costly stuff was done but it stil looked ugly as the plasterwork was still old and crumbling, doors were misisng, and there were signs of past water ingress which the owner assured me had been repaired.  So all in all many people musthave walked away from the property because they probably over estimated the work needing to be done or doubted the quality of the workmanship. So having a surveyor in definitely gave me that a ssurance and in the end I got a property below market value.

Thread: General info on buying process

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22 May 2025 12:51 PM:

When I bought my property I had a survey done by Mark Paddon (can totally recommend).

Hi survey gave me a lot of reassurance about some aspects of the construction and build quality that I was sceptical about. So rather than being a tyre kicking exercise it helped me gain confidence that I was buying a sound property and that the visual defects were only skin deep and could easily be repaired (which they were). He wrote a very detailed report with lots of photos and explanations. For the most part his predictions turned out to be correct. We did all the repairs he recommended and the problems did not recur.

At the time I was buying I needed a bank loan. Sabadell had their own survey done, which was much more focussed on the value than on construction and techncal questions. They produced a report on fancy glossy paper with lots of nice photos of the property and some text and graphs showing property trends in the area. Basically the result of this exercise was that their valuation turned out to be identical (to the cent) to the bank's initial back of a fag packet esitimate. So it seems to me it was a box ticking exercise and they must have masaged the figures to match. So that gave me personally less confidence but it made the bank happy. Seeing the valuation was higher than the asking price, no more questions were asked.

 

This message was last edited by amogles on 5/22/2025.
Thread: General info on buying process

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28 Feb 2025 4:04 PM:

If the minutes do not provide clarity over what was decided, or based on what, I suppose the first course of action should be to speak to other residents about it, or speak to the president of your community. 

Thread: Community fee increase

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28 Feb 2025 3:58 PM:

All communities are the same they have rule's even though you own the property you can't erect or build anything without the permission of the community ...this even applies to myself ..I had to apply to my community directors to have the front of my villa glazed in even though others on the  gated community have done so.

 

And yet all over Spain you get those high rise blocks where every owner has glazed the balcony in their own style and added their own air model of conditioner and maybe even chaged or updated the windows in their own style and the entire building looks like a shantytown hotchpotch. And nobody seems to care.

Thread: Owned Roof Terraces vs Uso Privitivo

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