Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Buying property in Spain.

One of the weird things about buying a house here is how utterly unprotected you are. In Canada you have your own agent who looks after your interests and makes sure everything is in order. On top of that you need to have your own lawyer who looks over it all again.

Here?

Nothing.

There is only a selling agent, who is looking after his interests, and to some extent the clients. If you are getting a mortgage they do some research to guard their interest, and to some extent yours, and then there is the notary public who guards the government's interest, and to some extent yours.

We have a lawyer.

There are enough aspects of this to be a little hairy.

Another odd thing, though this is because it is a village I think, we already have a key to the house. Weird, no?

The bathroom-in-the-garden smelled bad when we went in today. It hasn't been used.

Ho hum.

Can I also just say that people who go on and on and on and on and freaking on at meetings are a drag. When they are doing it at a quarter to midnight it is intolerable.

On a good note, the money arrived from Canada! Yipee and a big sigh of relief.

8 comments:

Teacher Mommy said...

You are ridiculously brave.

mmichele said...

I can't wait to read about all your adventures while you make the house your home.

Beth said...

ITA. Sounds very similar to France. At least when you buy a toaster here, you get a guarantee. When you buy a house, you're on your own...

The Bodhi Chicklet said...

What an adventure this is! Scary too, though. The time frame you got for those renovations is crazy, must be all those siestas that eat up the extra time. But I guess that is the pace of life in Spain. The toilet though...that's another issue all together.

Anonymous said...

I believe that in France, you have an agent, the notary for the act, if you have a mortgage, then it's the bank's job to check you up and guarantee their interests...

Beth said...

Buyer beware! Glad you have a lawyer watching your back.
And yet, it’s rather nice to have been given a key, isn’t it? Indicates a level of trust we don’t find here. Perhaps it’s a good omen for things to come?

Helen said...

You do hear scary stories about Spanish properties here in the UK, but I think that is because most people are buying holiday homes, and expect it to be the same as the UK. However you aren't buying a holi.day home, you are buying in a spanish vilage, and you are local and resident so I think it likely that lots of the problems they have are unlikely to affect you.

Renovations always take longer than you think they will. Brian spent 7 years altogether renovating the cottage - one summer holiday at a time - but he did it himself

oreneta said...

Teacher Mommy, is that good or bad? Ridiculous or brave. Depends on the moment I imagine.

Mmichele....I imagine that some of it will sound familiar, no?

YES! Beth, you've got it in one...heck, I got a guarantee on some silly thing I bought the other day, a salt grinder or something...the house? Though in fact the lawyer informed us that we have six months to go back! If we find something unexpected and horrifically bad within six months we can go back and renegotiate the price, as in get some of our money back. Hard to believe and I cannot imagine the headaches...but still. Weird no? It isn't really sold YET....

Bhodi....they don't siesta here. They talk on their bloody cell phones all the time and they only put about two people on the job.

elP sounds pretty similar...buyer beware.

Beth, so far we have been pretty lucky here...so far....fingers crossed.

Helen. Seven years! Oh lord...*wail* I don't have that in me, though I do intend other folks to do a lot of the work. I sincerely hope that some of things that happen with expat out of country purchasers/renovators doesn't happen to us. I can only imagine, especially if they don't speak any of the languages. Fingers crossed.