El blog de Maria

Poppyseed said:
Monday, February 27, 2012 @ 1:58 PM

Sorry I'm a bit confused, does this mean that the Land Registry information for any properties registered before 2008 is not reliable?

Maria said:
Monday, February 27, 2012 @ 2:18 PM

It it is a newly built development, it needs to be complemented with information on habitation license.

Poppyseed said:
Monday, February 27, 2012 @ 3:42 PM

My interpretation is that the Land Registry is not yet up to date but is a 'work in progress', therefore the information it contains is about as useful as a chocolate teapot!

Anne said:
Monday, February 27, 2012 @ 4:10 PM

Maria,
How do purchasers decide upon who is a credible specialist lawyer when there are no credible kite marks or law societies in Spain prepared to take the necessary action against those legal professionals who do their profession a grave disservice by their lack of due diligence and in some cases corrupt practice?
I tend to think that the starting point for safe purchase in Spain will come only when laws of the land are consistently enforced in a timely manner and when legal professionals and Spanish Banks are consistently made accountable for any malpractice. No more should innocent purchasers be made the scapegoats and used as pawns in a system that leaves them vulnerable to retrospective action, or a system that fails to recognise the true perpetrators of malpractice in Spain.
Until then, sadly the message has to remain buyer beware.

Anne said:
Monday, February 27, 2012 @ 5:14 PM

Maria,
How do purchasers decide upon who is a credible specialist lawyer when there are no credible kite marks or law societies in Spain prepared to take the necessary action against those legal professionals who do their profession a grave disservice by their lack of due diligence and in some cases corrupt practice?
I tend to think that the starting point for safe purchase in Spain will come only when laws of the land are consistently enforced in a timely manner and when legal professionals and Spanish Banks are consistently made accountable for any malpractice. No more should innocent purchasers be made the scapegoats and used as pawns in a system that leaves them vulnerable to retrospective action, or a system that fails to recognise the true perpetrators of malpractice in Spain.
Until then, sadly the message has to remain buyer beware.

Maria said:
Monday, February 27, 2012 @ 10:08 PM

Keith´s petition also covers on Lawyers malpractice and the petition is being read by every institution involved.

In the meantime, maybe your Embassy will be able to give good directions on trustable lawyers.

I agree with you that Bar Associations are not too active at the moment on this and that sanctions are necessary to depure practises.

Anne said:
Wednesday, February 29, 2012 @ 9:20 AM

Maria,
Could you please advise if purchasers' are legally protected under the existing conveyancing system in Spain when they forward monies to their law firm until such time as the Title Deeds are made available?

Barcelona Luxury Properties said:
Wednesday, February 29, 2012 @ 3:28 PM

We advise all purchases to be put through with a property specialist lawyer. We have found that clients who follow this advice and follow due diligence can bypass this type of error.

To be honest, it can happen anywhere and not just Spain. Anyone experienced in international real estate and not just UK clients will testify to this.

Spain has a lot of negative publicity recently. Answer me this. If in a quarter three 2011 our agency witnessed its best quarter ever: 19m EUR in transactions. This was not with distressed or re-pro property. Our company is expanding and there is still a lot of interest from elite and high-end clients in Spain. Just don't believe everything you hear, look instead at the actions of others as an indication.

Poppyseed said:
Wednesday, February 29, 2012 @ 10:21 PM

From the British Embassy Madrid website,

The British Consular Network provides lists of lawyers for the convenience of enquirers, but neither HMCG nor any official of the Consulates take any responsibility for the competence or probity of any firm/lawyer on these lists or for the consequence of any legal action initiated or advice given

Anne said:
Thursday, March 1, 2012 @ 12:50 PM

The conveyancing system in Spain is failing to protect purchasers so long as RETROSPECTIVE action is allowed without timely and enforceable compensation structures in place. Innocent owners are being made the scapegoats for “others actions” that in reality were not “errors” but corrupt practices.

The true perpetrators of malpractice under this retrospective action in Spain are not being made accountable, and innocent owners, several years after what they considered “safe” purchase are being made the scapegoats. So long as this uncivilised system is allowed to continue, then no owner can predict where the next retrospective action will occur.

Thereafter, sadly, the Spanish Justice system with its lack of timely law enforcement also exacerbates and financially compromises those who have the misfortune to require its service.

Look to the conveyancing processes in Spain and you will find lawyers, agents, developers, town hall officials, banks, all without adequate regulation in place from the outset, without which no-one can ensure true accountability and protection for the purchaser.

Then look to the system by which justice is supposed to be administered and you encounter failure of timely and consistent law enforcement, failure via respected professional bodies to monitor and deter/halt continuing malpractice, negligence and corrupt practice. Failure by the governing bodies to statistically record, monitor and respond to the lack of law enforcement in Spain.

Petitioners who then strive for accountability and protection via the European Parliament are informed by the European Commission that these instances are not covered at present by Community Law and advised to seek justice via the member states (Spain) “competent” system of justice.

Need we say more?

To suggest that this can happen anywhere is sadly to remain in denial of the extent and impact of the injustices that are occurring under everyone's noses in Spain. These are not isolated instances of injustice but issues affecting thousands of people, including Spanish citizens.

Maria,
We do appreciate your acknowledgment, your wonderful educative stance and continuing efforts to gain justice for innocent purchasers, but please also acknowledge that as things stand petitioners hands are tied, and in the interim purchasers remain at risk in Spain. So long as there is no adequate timely compensation structure or fast track legal mechanisms in place to combat these continuing injustices that have major and devastating impact on people’s lives in Spain, then the message has to remain BUYER BEWARE.

J White said:
Monday, May 28, 2012 @ 11:55 PM

well, another attempt at buying a house and still a bloody mess.
Agent, ( as usual a Brit) syad all is legal and ready for a speedy sale , demands 3000 euros to take it off the market , we say NO WAY, our Lawyer will need to know all is correct and legal before we part with a dime , no contract , no deposit , nothing until our Lawyer is happy that all is as should be , needless to say when we were emailed the Sq M there was not the seperate `casita` or the rear patio mentioned , Agent says all is ok , then when Agent finally `finds` the Plano , ( thet mislaid it ) it shows no one has registered this 2 story casita and therefore it doesnt exist in Town Hall Register or on the Castardo .
Agent screws around and says we are being abusive as we have not even paid a deposit , bloody cheek , we said via our excellent Lawyer in Denia that we are NOT spending a cent until the paperwork is ALL correct , as Agent informed us back in February , its clear they were less than truthful , now events in Spain have taken a serious downturn so we are for once grateful the Agent and Vendor havent got their act together cos` we now will look agin at our offer of over 4 months ago , we may even forget the whole Spanish thing as it seems its run by bent Brits and lying money grabbing Vendors. Anyone want to buy 187000 euros , at least they are making us interest ! its just incredible that even now in May 2012 NO ONE seems to have learnt a damn thing over there , get real you greedy Vendors and even more greedy Agents , the days of stupid English purchasers are well and truly over , hope you all suffer and go broke rather then be allowed to rip off your fellow countrymen and make peoples lives a total misery , you deserve all you are gonna get !! Our hope to buy has again been proved nothing but problems and lies , takes all the fun and joy of having anthing to do with Spain and its not the Spanish , its , as ever , the wretched money grabbing brit Agents and the amazingly greedy lying Vendors, again nearly always Brits , you make us ashamed , Spain would be so much better off if most of you lowlife cleared off , best part is most of you cant come back to UK and cause problems here cos` you have lived off others for too long and now its payback time !! Fab !!