Will the Prior case result in a slump in the Spainish property market ?

We all feel for the Prior couple http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/11/wcostas111.xml

who have clearly acted in good faith yet are being punished.

The problem with the Spainish conveyancing process is that it matters not how good your lawyer is when carrying out his on her due diligence on your purchase if the case reveals some fraudulent activity.

I feel this case could create a lack of confidence in the whole conveyancing process since how can a purchaser be certain that he validly has legal title.

A solicitor can make and receive all the valid enquires it likes but if someone is "bent" you could end up  scammed.

If a solicitor is negligent in the UK then assuming  he has has personal indemnity insurance insurance as requred by the Law Society then a client can make a claim on this policy.

Litigation is horrid and still leaves you out of pocket but at least you can reclaim some of the cost.

If the problem is with a contractor I have  found in the UK that the contractor is often worthless or by the time you come to sue the contractor has been liquidated.The bank guarantee of course will provide protection providing you can enforce it.

Here in the UK we have defective title indemnity insurance whereby for a small premium you are coveed against any loss incurred for say lack of planning permission or lack of a right to use a right of way etc.I am not certain as to whether such insurance is available in Spain but I think it should now be a matter of course that where  a property is situated in an area of historic land grab then a policy should be taken out for safety regardless as to whether your solicitor is satisified that the proprty has a good and marketable title.Better to be safe than sorry.

I am thinking of buying in Guardamar and will therefore have to check  out any headline cases that  may have occurred there.

 In respect of UK Solicitors the protection afforded to a consumer is a little stronger than suggested in your post. A Solicitor cannot practice in the UK without indemnity insurance. The insurance has to have a minimum of 2 million pounds protection. If a Solicitor practices illegally without insurance, and he is negligent, then the Law Society would pay the damages as well as costs.

Despite this protection the average Sols fees in the UK is about 0.4% of the price. I feel the real problem with Spain is the difficulty in establishing a secondary market when the cost of moving is so high. In the UK stamp duty 1% (for an average price), no stamp on a mortgage, low mortg fees, low Sols fees, no payments to a mayor etc