Hello, I am actually going through this at the moment though have to say that CAM bank have been awful to deal with, to the point that they eventually stopped speaking with me saying that it had gone to their "legal department" and there was nothing that could be done!

We starting falling behind last year and despite asking the bank for help they said they could do nothing. We asked to go interest only, change the length of our mortgage, remortage, freeze charges ...all was denied point blank. They said that whilst we were in arrears they could do nothing.

Towards the end of last year we managed to make a few mortagage payments although by then our account was frozen so these payments were never credited to our mortgage debt. They eventually took these payments  towards their charges!

Their only advice to us was to borrow money from friends or family.

We even got a lawyer to try and help us but the only offer CAM gave us was for us to give them back the property but rent it from them for at least 7 years. This was not an option we wanted. We cannot afford to do this, we are currently out of work and have no other assets. We offered to get the property rented to a 3rd party so that the rent went to the bank but this was also rejected.

We have been told by the lawyer that it will go for repossession now because we turned down their "good offer". This we have been told can take up to 2 years. We were told that the bank will win regardless if we try and counterclaim and that the property will be repossessed for auction and if no one bids for it then the bank will take half of the valuation figure and go after us for the rest plus interest, costs etc. This I think is a little naughty as the bank originally overvalued the property to give us a mortgage and now they will only take half the valuation price if no one buys it. And with the way the market is we are probably in negative equity aswell.

We really do not know what to do now, our mortgage has now gone up to over 1500 euros a month, we are still being charged daily, the local branches of the bank will no longer deal with us and the lawyer now says there is nothing more he can do. We cannot afford the mortgage payments and according to the bank our arrears are now nearly 20k, although the mortagage deal we were put on is somewhat confusing and we actually have 13k sat in the account seemingly doing nothing but no one will explain anything to us.

We too would be interested to hear if any one else has dealt with CAM on this.

Hi Maria,

Sorry I havent got back to you sooner but have been away this week. Unfortunately I only have a hard copy of the contract and do not have a scanner so I cannot send it to you. The contract is for 11 months, temporada and the tenant pays 600 a month. He paid 1 month as a deposit and this is what the contract says about that:

10. FIANZA:En este acto los arrendatarios entregan el arrendador la cantidad de  (1 mensualidad de renta) correspondientes al importe de la fianza preceptiva.

Si el inquilino desea finalizar el contrato temporano el fianza se perderá

Therefore my understanding is that if he moves out early he loses the deposit but if he stays till the end then I have 30 days to return it to him minus any deductions. However my friend says that I cannot hold onto his deposit if he moves out early, the rent is up to date and the property is ok. Surely if he agreed to this then that is ok?

Thanks

Caroline

P.S I have deleted the surnames for obvious reasons!

Hello all

I currently have tenants in my property for which I hold a security deposit to cover damages etc etc. The contract I have says that if they move out early they lose the deposit. However a friend of mine has said that providing they give at least a months notice and all the rent is up to date to the date they vacate I must return the deposit (providing there is no damage). She said that I cannot keep it as it is only to cover damages and if there is none then I must return it. But if they have signed the contract saying they would lose it am I entitled to keep it?

Thanks

Caroline

Thank you for all your help, and I apologise again for all the questions! I just want to make sure all I do is correct.

Actually picked up a leaflet "garantia de alquiler"  which seems to be about the arbitration. The website is lacortedearbitraje . es Sorry but my spanish is not the best but the procedure seems to cost 58 euros but I dont think they do the insurance to cover the rent (i may be wrong). Maybe someone with a better grasp of spanish could have a look at the site. Does anyone know of any english speaking companies that deal with submitting to arbitration/rental insurance?  

Hi all,

I am new to this site and new to renting out a property in Spain and am hoping that some of you with much more expereince than me can help me with a few things.

I am looking at renting long term, but on a temporary contract. I hope to deal with the rental myself and have people close by that can help with meeting tenants, cleaning maintenenance etc but there are some legal aspects that I want to clarify:

1. What references should I obtain and are guarantees possible in Spain?

2. Can credit checks be performed in Spain and if so how? What is the minimum personal information I can request from a tenant?

3. Can I hold the security deposit in my own bank account or must it be deposited elsewhere?

4. How long do I have to carry out any repairs to the property and can the tenant withold the rent until the repairs are done?

5. Is there a maximum period for a long term let on a temporary contract?

6. If I am unfortunate to have problematic tenants how do I go about evicting them?

7. Is there a time period for me to return a security deposit at the end of a tenancy and is there a procedure for deductions e.g do both parties need to agree on deductions being made? what if both parties do not agree?

8. I have heard that changing bills into tenants names can be difficult, time consuming and sometimes costs. What is the best procedure with regards to bills - should I pay them and get reimbursed or should I take the effort to change the holder?

9. Finally the contract - does this have to be in Spanish? Ideally I would like it in Spanish with an english translation. Does anyone know where I could get hold of such a contract? I have also heard that the contract should be submitted to arbitration- does anyone know how this is done? Does there have to be a specific clause in the rental contract?

I know that this is quite a lot of questions but any bit of advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Caroline