Relocation at Spain One Stop

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Buyer beware of the Black Money. It is still common practice here in Spain for the vendor to hide the real sale price of a property. This usually happens on second hand properties and is done to defraud the Tax office.

Some estate agents will encourage you to pay the black money in cash because they may have a deal with the vendor that they will get paid their commission in cash when the deal is done.

The payments made in cash are invisible and are not shown on the deeds this is why it is called black money. 

If you go along with the purchase of a property using black money you will gain nothing. The vendor gains by not having to pay so much capital gains tax.

When you sell the property you lose by paying more capital gains tax unless you are willing to break the law.

Over the past few years the laws have been changing and new restrictions have been put in place to counteract money laundering. These laws and restrictions have been targeted at Tax advisors, lawyers, Spanish Notaries, bankers and financial advisors in relation to advice given on setting up companies and the property market.

The fore mentioned professionals are now duty bound to notify any underhanded dealings to SEPBLAC (Servicio Ejecutivo para la prevencion del Blanqueo de capitales - Bank of Spain) Failure to report these dealings these professionals can be prosecuted and even sent to jail.

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Avoid buying a property with vacant land next to it. Even if you are told it is, green belt as vacant land is often built on, so if it’s important for you not to live next to a future building site don’t buy the property until you check with the planning office of the local town hall.

Property Directory

To go to our Estate Agent directory for links to: Estate Agents in Southern Spain and the E.U. Click Here

Buying off plan.

The reservation contract

The reservation contract takes the property off the market for a period of time.

A minimum of 4 weeks. This is the amount of time that would be needed  for your lawyer to make all the necessary checks on the property before you sign or make any other payment.

The reservation fee is usually  2,500 to 7,000 euros.

It is very important for your Spanish lawyer to inspect this contract, because if you do not proceed because of a legal problem you should entitled to the return of your deposit, but if you don’t proceed because you have changed your mind you will lose the deposit that you paid.

If you are not satisfied

You should refuse to purchase the property if you aren’t completely satisfied with everything, as it’s difficult or impossible to change anything after you have signed.

Another thing you must be aware of when buying a new property here in spain, is that newly built properties don't usually have a kitchen fitted. This is left for you to decide about the style and cost. As you know, a new kitchen can be expensive. So if you are thinking of buying a new property find out if a kitchen is included in the price. If not budget accordingly. If you have found your dream home, but need a kitchen fitted. Please go to our contact page. Email us with your requirements and we may be able to help find that new kitchen for you, and have it fitted at an affordable price. At this moment we only deal with the Costa Tropical reigon. but we are hoping to have links to tradesmen in other reigons soon.

Other trades we can supply are: Plumbers, Electricians, Builders, Mechanics, Carpenters and we can even have a website built for you.

If you are in need of any of the above trades, please contact us