completion

Hi, Is it legal for a Spanish Lawyer to insist on the last instalment for a new property when he has not got a firm date for completion? We bought our property in April the agents told us it was ready to move into 'more or less' straight away. The first occupation licence was only granted last week and we are still waiting for a date for completion and full connection of electricity. The lawer has our last and final instalment since the second of August. As it was quite a large sum we have not only lost interest on our money but the rate of exchange is much higher now. What should we do?

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Dont think there is a lot you can do unless your lawyer is willing to pay you some interest on your money. This would be highly unlikely and probably unprecedented. Interest on current accounts here is a pittance anyway and he should have been holding the money in his client account. Why did you send the money such a long time before completion. I guess if he is a member of the Law Society of Spain you might have some form of redress but there is no requirement here - complaining to the Law Society in the UK is hard enough to get satisfaction - over here I expect even more difficult. You would have to prove some form of negligence or bad advice - you would then need them to uphold the complaint.

Rgds Smiley

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Hello,

If the lawyer is completing through a Power of Attorney he will want to be sure to have the funds for the date of completion, but usually there is usually a 15 days period between obtaining the inhabitation licence and the request from the developer to complete at the notary. Therefore there is usually enough time to transfer the last payment from the moment when the licence is granted and communicated to the lawyer and completion time.  

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Is Licence of first occupation the same as Certificate of Habitation???

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