Legally Working In Spain

Hi Chaps

Whats the score if the person 'minding' your keys is a pal or family member and no payment changes hands?

Mags N Loz

There is no problem with this but make sure that they have a wrutten letter of authority, in English and Spanish, which explains this just in case 

Professional keyholders should register details of the properties that they manage with the local police station 

Hi Inspecterhomes

Thank you for all the information on working legaly & being registered.

As you may be aware we have now registered and paying into the system, we thought we owed it to our customers 
so they have peace of mind if any unforseen problems occur, if at any time a customer needed to make a claim with there insurers then ourselves and the customer are covered and neither partys will be fined by the local authorities.

Thank you for your postings, it has been a help to us and the forum

Regards 
Sue

Thank you for your comments and I am always happy to help and I think that it is better to avoid there problems, before they happen

People are happy to complain about the system, which I know is expensive to start, but some of the benefits of being legal include access to the health care system and, after 15 years of contributions, a spanish pension, unfortunatley I am only on year 5. You can also re-claim VAT, offset your business costs, telephone internet etc and lease cars

I know that some new people are coming up to competion and I am still happy to provide the free Q&A, MASA Completion guides and sample snagging reports for most of the different styles of properties

There is another problem, when some people come to Spain they get above there station.
They pay for and register a domain name from a web-site and suddenly there a property management company with no management skills what so ever not even been in that type of business which I think is unfair to the people they draw into there so called company and take money from. They also advertise and promise all types of building work with no building skills at all.

Always get two or three quotes have a look at there work if possible, and make sure they have done the work, don't get ripped off. Someone onsite is trying to take the credit for some work I have done.

Beware the Praying Mantis.

Tony

Hola Roy- Inspectahomespain,

Thankyou so much for your input. It's really nice to know that there are small businesses out
there trying to make a good honest living (all legal and above board) as we ourselves for 8 years now. Yes it is expensive to start, but after a couple of years things don't seem so bad.

It's just very annoying when others who are NOT legal undercut your prices just to get work, it doesnot matter whether its a good job or not. We take a pride in our work as do many others.

With the economy as it is at present, I think is a good time to sort the unlegals out.

Take care

Sylvie
THE FORGE
(El Palmero)

Hola Roy- Inspectahomespain,

Thankyou so much for your input. It's really nice to know that there are small businesses out
there trying to make a good honest living (all legal and above board) as we ourselves for 8 years now. Yes it is expensive to start, but after a couple of years things don't seem so bad.

It's just very annoying when others who are NOT legal undercut your prices just to get work, it doesnot matter whether its a good job or not. We take a pride in our work as do many others.

With the economy as it is at present, I think is a good time to sort the unlegals out.

Take care

Sylvie
THE FORGE
(El Palmero)

Yes Tony I agree totally with your comments and it has taken me 4 years to build up my business and when I started I was the only person providing this service and now there are a number of people providing a snagging serviceI 

I admit a couple are good, they are legal, they charge a realistic price for the service and they will be the first to admit that they habe benefitted from all of our work that has increased the visibility of the issues regarding construction and snagging

We are the only company that choose and  we still continue to provide free advice and guides on the basis that we prefer that people at least understand the process and therefore they are able to help themselves

We have invested in advertising, websites, our own forum The Snagging Forum and I spend a great deal of time working with the developers in an attempt to improve building quality and this activity costs money

Best advice is to not only check the legality of the person that you are dealing with, not just to get to get references, not just look at a flash website, but visit one of the jobs and see for yourself and look for 96 tuoe landline telephone numbers, not just a mobile number.

I would avoid the jacks of all trades, remember if they are not a grill manufacturer, or AC fitter, they will pass on the business and add a fee for commission

Tradesmen such as electricians, plumbers and gas fitters should be qualified in Spain for insurance purposes

Sorry but I know that this is an old comment but if you use a private vehicle for airport collcetions the pasengers will not be insured

That is exactly whats happening on site some people are avertising that they do all but do nothing but put there commission on the the final price of the job and rip there neighbours off.
Tony

The problem is that people rush too much when they come over rather than taking their time and shopping around for quality and prices

I have personally been trying to carry out an inspection when the grill company, sorry Sylvie, a gardener, a builder, an electrician etc have all been queuing up to see the owner and this doesn´t work, a rushed decision is a poor decision

Fact is that you can save thousands or euros by doing your homework before you come over by shopping around for things like pools, gardens etc and a normal commission paid to an agent is between 10% - 20% and somebody has to pay for this.

Let´s face it there´s no great rush, the property has furniture, some lights, hot water so perhaps priority one is security as let´s face it you need grills

Most electrical shops that supply will fit cookers lights and hobs as a low cost and gravel in Spain is very cheap, same with garden furniture if you know where to shop

Get quotes from the local spanish suppliers as well as there are plenty of directories on the web, local papers etc inclusing The Leader, Coastrider and Round Town News

Key is finding a good legal keyholder that can provide access to tradesmen

There is another problem, people who have signed what to get to there property and have a quite look at the new home and take it all in at there own pace because as you know it's a big step and alot to take in. But they are jumped on as soon as they get here or as soon as they come out of the office on-site by certain people trying to persude them to have there garden done or have there key holding service ect. It all seems unbelievably that they can treat people like this and hasle them just to get money off them.
Tony

I agree and I have witnessed this and perhaps if a few of the ilegal people were shutdown things would improve and this is easy to sort out with the authorities

HI  WE HAVE HAD A LOT OF WORK DONE ON OUR VILLA GRILLS ECT . IT HAS TAKEN A LONG TIME BUT WE GOT WHAT WE WANTED NOT WHAT THY THOUGHT  WE WANTED . WHAT I CAN NOT UNDERSTAND IS IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY TELL THEM DO NOT PUT UP WITH SECOND BEST . MY HUSBAND IS A BUILDER THE WORK WE HAVE HAD DONE IS VERY GOOD IT WAS THE TIME IT TOOK TO DO,THAT WE LET AMBER POOLS DO IT FOR WHAT WE HAVE HAD DONE IT WAS WELL WORTH THE MONEY AND WAIT   WE HAVE SEEN SOME VERY GOOD WORK ON THE SITE AND  SOME NOT SO GOOD SO JUST ASK AND LOOK AROUND BEFORE YOU PART WITH ANY MONEY