Lawyer Costs

Hi,

I am flying to out to Murcia this weekend to check out a property on the new Polaris development Condado de Alhama, the estate agent has recommended  a lawyer to meet with but I would much prefer to meet with an independant lawyer who may have experience with the Polaris developments.  Can anyone recommend ?  Also what are the costs involved ?

Regards,

Lysa.

 

Hi, I am in the middle of purchasing in Costa Blanca area at the moment and was told all along that lawyer (not including sundry charges, VAT @ 16%) was usually around 1% of the purchase price.  But beware, for more expensive properties that is correct but most have a MINIMUM charge ie my lawyer was 1% OR a minimum of 1500 euros plus 16% vat, but because my friend is also buying at the same complex we asked if he would consider reducing this for the extra business and he is charging us 1300 euros plus VAT @16%.  Also this is not the developers lawyer, we got our own and feel a lot better for it, he is communicating with US not the agent, only thing is with a lot of agents fees all come on at the end, the way our lawyer is working is that half his fee is due now with our first down payment and half on completion and also whatever percent we pay down just now we are also paying down part of our IVA.  It means less to pay at the end obviously but it's all added costs up front, so be careful to think about that before deciding what to do.

Good Luck!!

ps We're using a large firm that has offices all over the Costa Blanca, if you wish to send me a private e-mail I can pass on their details and then they direct you to the office that deals with your area.  We are very happy with him so far, all queries answered quickly, he speaks good English and our contract was broken down paragraph by paragraph into English.  As I said very happy with him so far, but we're not that far down the line yet, so up to yourself.

Leeabby is right standard legal fees are 1% plus IVA @ 16%. Usually lawyers charge a minimum as well. Be careful though it should be noted that most lawyers will also charge additionally for arranging for utilities contracts to be set up for water, electric and gas if installed. I have heard as much as 1500€ simply for arranging this but that is very much the exception. Ask the lawyer for a copy of his Terms of Business if they have them and ensure that you ask and get in writing exactly what he/she is doing for the money and if there are any sundry charges.  If you require them to apply for the NIE on your behalf that will also usually incur a further lawyer's fee. It is usual for the lawyer to charge 50% of the total fee when they are retained and this is normally sent over with first stage payment.

Use a lawyer introduced by the estate agent/developer at your peril. Could be fine but the overwhelming experience on this site would indicate to the contrary.

One final point is to remember come the day of completion whether you have paid a % upfront and if so make sure you do not get charged twice. I have had two clients in the past two years where the lawyer seemed to conveniently forget the enitre legal fee had been paid in advance. It was when I checked what had been paid that this came to light so no harm done. In fairness to the lawyer they had been taken over by another company so benefit of the doubt springs to mind but they clearly didnt bother to check so it may never have come to light.

Rgds

There are so many bad stories out there that I thought I'd just say, my lawyer seems (SO FAR) to be fantastic!!!

I did not take the developers lawyer but got my own, met a colleugue of his at a Glasgow holiday show, got in touch with him when I had decided to purchase and he redirected me to their office nearest to the area in which I was purchasing.  I think I have a great contract drawn up, which he has assured me in writing is personal to me and NOT the same as the agents one (ATLAS) that I'm dealing with, and when I asked for the bank gurantee at no cost and stated that I would not want to move in or sign final contract until certificate of habitation was supplied, I have today received back an ''annex'' added to the original contract from the builder (which is dated yesterday, so my lawyer has sent me it immediately) stating that they agree to both and that I have both without cost.

So, there DO seem to be some genuinely good lawyers out there.

I hope my relationship with them continues all the way down the line.

Hi LeeAbby - well done. A dependable independent lawyer is worth his/her weight in gold. One needs a lawyer to deal with these things so it is worth making sure they are on your side not the developers.

Rgds

Thanks, Smiley.

Just to cheer you up/click on the following:  http://www.thecompassgroup.biz/merryxmas.swf

Merry Christmas!!!

Sharon

Hi Sharon I dont need any cheering up - I live in Spain!! God dont it make you sick - mind you I did have a look at it earlier in the day after reading Hobby's and I think Fibbys posts on another thread - very uplifting after what had been a stressful morning at the Notary but I was waiting for Santa to disappear with all the falling snow

Rgds

Hi,

After reading the posts on this site about the various charges made by lawyers, I thought I would post the list of what our lawyer termed "obligatory legal costs" when he  submitted  his account.

We purchased  an off-plan re-sale in 2005.The development is still not completed. We do not require a mortgage and so far ( in May 2005) we have paid a total of  103753.60 Euros to our lawyer.

Do these costs seem O.k.? , because after reading some of the posts I thought we might be paying twice for some bank services and uneccesarily for others.

Notary     849.00

Purchase tax  15920.00

Registry (Title deeds at landregistry)  649.00

Legal Fees (1%) 2370.00

VAT on Legal Fees 379.20

Registration (amount charged by bank for registration arrangemets)  200.00

Registral information (official information related to property)  30.00

Community Fees 300.00

NIES X 2   200.00

Bank Commissions 200.00

Power of Attourney 100.00

Setting up of Direct Debits (Water and Electricity) 300.00

Plus Valia (Municipal Tax) 1000.00

Total 22497.20

Your help would be appreciated.

Thank you

Pat

Pat,

If the property your buying is on the CDS then speak to Smiley - patrick@marbellamortgages.com

Even to me these figuers seem outrageous. You should pay approxmiately 12% of the total purchase price of your property for doing everything you said

Patacake - lawyers tend to charge a figure of 1% of the purchase prise to cover all of this. Purchase tax is 7% of the declared value - you would have to find that out yourself.

Generally it is taken (without mortgage oppening comissions) around 10% of the purchase price should cover all your fees. I cant tell what price you paid in total for the property is by your posting but I hope that helps.

Hi Patacake the PLusValia is generally accepted to be the burden of the vendor (Janice we know what happened to you - lets try to make sure it doesnt happen to Patacake - in fact it is rare that it happens with off plan in my experience and should always be paid by the developer or vendor unless otherwise specified). Tell your lawyer that you have not agreed to the PV. Not sure why you should be paying bank commissions if you are not taking a mortgage nor registrations relating to the bank - ask him to explain. If your lawyer has not applied for your NIEs already you can do this yourself. They are issued free by the Ministry of the INterior but you may be making use of their service to acquire them for you - some lawyers charge for this some not. Havent checked the tables but other charges look about right.

By the way this is Smiley on the wifes machine

RGds

HI gorgeous sorry yes it was me on her laptop - she would never put me up for sale - she would give me away for free!

Sorry if I offended but it was not intentional and you like a man that speaks his mind I believe. You ought to get tucked up in bed with him more specially when snow on the way as it was last night just to keep each other warm! Just that every time someone says PlusValia is supposed to be vendors responsibility you put the the message there again about what happened - I think the important thing is for them to confirm with their lawyer that PV is the vendors liability and that they get confirm from the lawyer in writing that PV down to the vendor - in law if it is not mentioned then it is the vendors repsonsibility. Unless specifically mentioned that it is purchaser responsibility then a court will uphold your refusal to pay it.

Thank you to TechNoApe, Rixxy, JeansSis, Rose1 and Smiley for all your help.

We purchased our property from the original off-plan buyer and gave our lawyer 'Power of attourney ' to conduct the sale on our behalf. Big mistake?!

After reading posts on this site we   asked the lawyer to supply us with a copy of the purchase contract he signed on our behalf. He sent it, but as it is the contract between us and the person we bought from it is not the detailed one we   expected . I.e., if we had bought directly from the developer.

Also the apartment block number was the wrong number on the contract, and when we pointed this out they insisted they were right! We have sent them a site plan with our apartment marked on it and asked them to confirm that we have correctly identified our apartment.

We have now requested a copy of the contract the previous owner had with the developer .

Await further news!

Once again thank you everybody.

Pat

We have given our solicitor Power of Attorney as well. Do you think its a good idea to remove this after reading some of the previous problems with contracts and bills.

Westport

PataCake said "...Also the apartment block number was the wrong number on the contract, and when we pointed this out they insisted they were right!"

When we bought our apartment, we noticed the Escritura (deed) had the address as "calle" (street), when in fact it is an "avenida" (avenue). We were assured it was not really important!

I guess if you want efficiency and accuracy, you're better off buying in Germany!

Dear Pat,

Please do as I am about to do, however wait until I do so:

I'm going to fly out to Spain and confront my Lawyer and take posession of my file! I have had ENOUGH!!

Everyone in Spain says: Employ a Spanish Lawyer ... Blah, Blah, Blah!

BS!!!!!!!!