help!! confused!!

I have heard lots of horror stories about people buying properties only to 

discover that they dont own the land the property is built on therefore could 

lose the house at anytime...............surely there are ways to find out if you own 

land aswell??? Anyway I thought maybe a safer bet was to maybe look at buying 

a new build..........only to read that they can rip you off.....building work can

be not of a high standard........and they disapper whenever you need help..........etc

so now i am worried as i dont know what is the safer thing to do...........

Buy land and build on it maybe.........Any advice would be great.

Thanks .

Kerri

Hi Kerri,

I don't want to add to the horros stories, but my Brother's partner had a villa  built in Costa Blanca about 4 years ago.

All paperwork legal, all hunky dory...............untill 2 weeks ago.

A letter from the Valencian Government says the villa has been built illegally and will have to be demoilshed.

Turns out the Mayor of the locality was currupt and had taken backhanders from the builder to pass building plans on the site.

They may still own the land, but did not have "legal" planning permission to build.

This  is a can of worms!

Who can you trust?

Personally, I would buy either a new build or re-sale via a reputable agent.

The bigger the agent the better..................

Check out the builder too.

Justin recently did a survey on agents and builders in Spain, check this out to help you choose.

Can't find the link at the moment, try the search engine, or if anyone has the link, can you post it here please?

Kind regards,

Thanks guys.......to begin with we wil rent somewhere and i suppose that gives us the chance to get to know the area and solictors etc..... Can you check at the local town hall if the land was legally built on before you buy it............I suppose there are pro and cons to all aspects of moving to Spain...........i just hope its all going to be worth it..........god and i have the childrens schools to worry about aswell..............!!! Does it ever end!!!!

Hi Kerri,

I think I said this before somewhere!!  Always engage a solicitor before you view anything.

Then tell yourself that you will sign nothing, pay nothing and commit to nothing until your lawyer has checked the property out.

This is easy to do.  If it´s a resale your lawyer will request a copy of the title deed and check it out before you put a reserve on it.  If it doesn´t look good the lawyer will tell you to leave it alone.  if it´s a new build, your lawyer will check out planning permissions and building licenses for you, again if it´s not legal he will tell you.

Doing it this way will make you feel more at easeand protected aginst any agent or developer who tries to convince you to "sign today because there is only one left".

Enjoy the hunt Kerri, there are loads of good buys out there. 

It isnt hard to find out information about Spain there a hundreds of website (none as good as this one though) but the problem is that opinions differ and sometimes you end up with conflicting information....professionls only tell you what you want to hear (and i am not that daft that i fall for that)  I think these forums are brilliant because you gain information from people who have nothing to gain from the decsions you make one way or the other and can give you information based on there experience.  I have found many forums but they are not very good and post sit unanswered for...well ever really.....that is why i am so glad to find this one.....  It must so annoying for you guys (and girls) answering the same old questions over and over again but us newbies are grateful........

I

Kerri, there's plenty of good, and as you say, unbiassed info in the forum, but don't forget to check out all the other articles about the buying process here on EOS. There's loads to sift through and it's well worth investing the time to get yourself as fully clued up as poss.

I know you're interested in the more rural areas, but at least initially you may be better off staying close to the coast, at least until you've figured out the school and medical set up etc. You'll find more support (particularly  English speaking) there.

Thanks everyone for your advice.................. we will rent before we commit to buying and as you say Roberto it will most likely be nearer to the coast...i have done some research today into the costa blanca there seems to be a good choice in school and lots for the children to do..........i have also looked at sharon richards website..livespainforlife and that was very good (she has a blog on here).......but i will keep my reasearch going...and get a holiday there this year....

Hi Kex74,

Schooling in Spain is really a headache for the parents themselves.

You will always try to do the right thing by your children, this is totaly natural and the sign of good parentage.

BUT, at the end of the day, children are extremely adaptable, dependant of course on their age (teenagers may rebel against a move to a foreign country), the younger they are, the easier they will integrate. (There's another big word for me this week!)

I don't live in Spain - yet! And I am past the school age ked bit anyway, but if I were you, I would put them into a local Spanish school.

They will shame you with their knowledge of the language very quickly, will make Spanish friends and help you to integrate with the local community.

I am glad you have found EOS helpful, now you are a member, you too can give advice to others once you have made the move!

Kind regards,

I don't know if this is in the right thread, have read so many different ones and lots of different horror stories lately.

I think that so many people out there have bought off plan and had problems (not all) but a lot.

I think Spain is going down the same route with off plan purchasing as started happening 2 years ago in the UK. The days of off plan buying to flip the property on completion and make a good profit are gone. Buyers must look on their investment or holiday home as a long term project and not rely on the being able to sell straight away or "guaranteed rental"

The majority of problems seem to be on the off plan projects. "nothing like they were promised, smaller rooms, building stopped etc etc. I think there are so many key ready and almost built (something you can see) that personally I would look at those options rather than the illustrations. That's what we did as I'm useless with off plan. Like to see what i'm getting. Fortunately for us it worked out, but just think what you would do over here. Look at properties, research the areas and check out all that you possibly can. Spain is no different. Just my opinion.

In response to fibby.........my children are 13,12,5,3 so we plan to move in about 2 years really so the oldest child will have most likely finished school and we will put my son (12) in to international school...but the younger two will more than likely go to a local school (they are already making the affort to learn spanish by watching dora the explorer over and over and over again)  my eldest daughter is really looking forward to it my son is a little more againist the idea...he seemed to think that he would have no English speaking friends at all but i have told him that there are many English speaking in Spain and that he would soon make friends at school etc.... but it is a long way off before we move so we wil be learning some spanish before we go....

For British schools in all areas of Spain have a look at http://www.nabss.org/ (if you haven't already!)

Janice

Must have been the wrong thread, do me a favour and cut and paste it in the right one. I give up. LOL