I would like to start today's blog by thanking all of you that are reading and commenting.
Also to explain the house hunting I wrote about in previous blogs happen just over five years ago, when prices where higher. Also that although there are many properties with paperwork problems that can be fixed, the property we tried to buy didn't have the house on its deeds at all, which is why we pulled out ! There are agents out there that are ethical, just finding them can be an issue. We have come across a few that can be trusted.
On with the next instalment :
NIE saga - how to make a simple thing very complicated !
As you, I am sure know, need an NIE number to buy a house, car and for all official paperwork here in Spain.
You would think this would be easy to get and it should be, however we made it really difficult by listening to the experts ! The expats already living in Spain !
If you haven't got an NIE number yet, do yourself a huge favour and pay a solicitor to do it for you or this could happen to you !
We made the mistake of thinking that people living in Spain knew more than us and listened to their advise, this proved to be both, expensive and time consuming.
Seron is in the province of Almeria, but we were told we could get our NIEs in Baza even though it is in Granada province. We were put in touch with an English lady who was very interesting (but not in a good way!). She was an expert at getting us Brits NIEs, she knew how to fill in all the forms, what paperwork you needed and all the people in the town hall that did this type of work ! Sounded great a quick, easy and cheaper that a solicitor.
All the paperwork was in place and we arranged to meet her at 8am the following morning. It was freezing cold, we waited and waited, then it became clear the town hall wasn't opening that day !
We arranged to meet the expert, that we were paying, the following morning, we wanted to get it all sorted before we returned to England in a few days later.
We met the expert, stood in line, when we got to the front it became clear that her Spanish was only slightly better than mine, which was a worry, as at that point I could only say 'hola and adios'!
Then the man at the desk in broken English told us that we couldn't get the NIEs in Baza as we wanted to buy in Serón, which is in a different province !
Great, we had paid someone who knew next to nothing ! We never saw her again !
To get your NIE you either need a letter from a solicitor saying you are buying a property or a valid rental agreement. This became interesting after we moved here as we rented and the landlady wasn't keen to give us one, she did agree in the end ! Our first house here is a different story I will tell you about another day !
Okay, what do we do now ! On that trip we didn't have time to go to Almeria, we returned to England empty handed !
We returned to Spain with my Dad and after a heavy first night, travelled to Almeria, address and paperwork in hand.
We arrived at the address after driving round half of Almeria, this not great fun with the mother of all hangovers !
When we got to the office, we were told that it had moved and given another address and directions.
Not knowing Almeria proved to make finding it difficult, when we at last found it, it was after 2.00 so closed, but at least we knew where it was !
Barry took another translator on the hour and half drive over the mountains to Almeria. The two of them waited in line just to be told the photos he had were the wrong size ! It was unbelievable, all these people had been through the paperwork, to make sure it was correct and these experts had not picked up on the photo size !
The third trip to Almeria we made alone, had done our own research and checked and double checked the paperwork, we had an appointment, arrived before the stated time and waited around for a couple of hours. Our number was called, we walked to the desk with our very limited Spanish and walked out with our NIE numbers in hand ! Thank Goodness!
However we had made another fundamental mistake in the mean time. We had found a car we wanted to buy off an expat, it was a great little car, at a brilliant price. Not having totally learned our lesson yet, we listen when we were told we couldn't buy it without our NIE numbers. So the solution was that we continued to rent a car, as we were now living here. Four weeks went by and we were still no closer to our NIE number, still throwing money away on a hire car. We received the best advise you will ever be given, speak to a solicitor !
We spoke to a solicitor and found you don't need an NIE to buy the car, you can get a piece of paper saying you are getting one, this runs out every 60 days, but can be renewed! We took the hire car back and brought our car !! A very expensive lesson, now learned !
Some friendly advise : go straight to a solicitor and get it all done, quickly and easily. This will save you a lot of trouble and money !!
Or you can go the more expensive adventurous route, but I wouldn't recommend it !!