Lawyer's liability

I bought an apartment in a small village in Murcia last February. It is on first floor with access by outside stairs. I used a local well known lawyer to handle the purchase. Vehicle access was by an unmade road running in front of the building. Below the road there was a rough area of land.  During the Summer this land was purchased by a local who has now built a wall around it.  This wall completely blocks vehicle access to the stairs of my flat - we are left with only a pavement. My escitura states that "there are stairs to the street". Of course this development considerably reduces the value of my property.  My question is whether the lawyer that I used is liable for failing to properly investigate the access to the property.

Andrew

Welcome to Spain and all the fun it brings.

You need to weight up the options and  facts.

If you are not a local so you have no chance getting anywhere with anything.
Lawyers in a third world country like spain seem to have no liability for anything.
Be lucky you still own you property and it hasnt been knocked down or you havent lost your entire investment.
If a local has bought it they tend to do what they want and nobody says anything.

If the lawyers were liable all these billions of pounds they faciliated from removing from english bank accounts into spanish ones would have to be accounted for.
But look at hundreds of forum posts where people have lost everything and this was in part due to lawyer negligence/conflict of interest.

Do you have 20 years and very deep pockets to fight this thing?

Hi Mungry,

Thanks your prompt response contents of which were expected!  The second query is what chance of getting the wall moved about 2-3 metres to allow access. Have understood that every property has to have suitable access. There are 3 parties affected - ourselves, groundfloor owner(English) and Spanish owner of an old property next door to our apartments. Guess having a local envolved should help.

Andrew

I hate to be negative and i am a pretty positive person.

thr questions you ask seem like pretty reasonable ones that could be resolved with a bit of negotiation.

But it just dosent happen.
Unless someone can prove otherwise i have never seen someone get a spanish `local` to do something they dont want to do.
 

The wall is there for good and you can either fight it or accept it.

I say this as giving you the benefit of my experience of living in spain for almost a decade and seeing many lives destroyed through trying to fight a system that is unbalanced.
Personally i like to fight  and will pick a fight over anything i feel like, but it all depends on how much of a masocist you are

 Dear Andrew:

Of course it is liable

Kindest,

Maria

its completley bonkers to suggest lawyers  have no liability, all lawyers are insured by the college that gave them the qualification.On thios forum some people are totally negative about all aspects of life in Spain. I can speak from a position of knowledge on this that there are many good lawyers here who go the extra mile to help clients .Perhaps some of the whinging brits on this forum are not aware easy jet fly to the U.K daily and I would be more than happy to offer any of you a lift to the airport 

Dear Gaula,

When I bought my property the lawyers quoted what they would do which included the sentence "We will carry out searches with all the utilities company, local authorities and Land Registry Office to ensure that you are purchasing the property free of charges and encumbrances"  Surely this should include the question of access?

 I would suggest you speak to your lawyer , my understanding is that the law in Spain recognises  the right of access and egress but to what level three meters seems close .

Speak to the man who did the transaction and ask for an explanation .

 I would suggest you speak to your lawyer , my understanding is that the law in Spain recognises  the right of access and egress but to what level three meters seems close .

Speak to the man who did the transaction and ask for an explanation .