Selling a property

[jacpops]

Hi everyone

Its been such a long time since I have posted but I am hoping that you can all be as helpful as you have in the past. We have heard from our agent that the apartment is now sold and that the purchaser has paid a small deposit to them. So here are the questions (I have posted on the legal section but await a reply, I would also like the prospective of people who are not solicitors too.

How long on average from deposit to completion does a re sale take?

Do we instruct our solicitors in Spain (they do know we are selling) that it is now sold or do the purchasers solicitors or the agents do that?

Do we have to be present at the notary on the day of completion (hoping it all goes ahead) or can we ask our solicitors to sort it out for us?

What fees are we going to have to pay. We dont have to worry about CG as we didnt under declare and we only wanted back more or less what we paid for it. We havent got a mortgage on it so no redemption figure (if they have them in Spain) to pay.

We have paid all our community fees up till September and all our bills come out by DD so everything is up to date.

I know a number of you have sold your properties so any little piece of info would be very much appreciated. sorry if some of the questions sound a bit daft.

Many thanks

[cbram]

I would notify your solicitor yourself, don't rely on the purchasers solicitor to do it.

You are able to give your solicitor the power of attorney to deal with the sale on your behalf. This would probably mean you'd have to sign official paperwork for him to do so, which means you'd need to sort that out pretty quick. Check with your solicitor to be safe.

A sale can go through from deposit to final sale in a matter of a couple of days, usually this depends on whether the purchaser has to arrange a mortgage etc. If it is a cash sale then it's a case of whenever the notary can fit you in to do the transfer of ownership.

Most people will state a 6 week period in which to arrange all these things. I personally sold a house in 24 hours from meeting the buyer to signing it over to them.

Regarding Capital Gains Tax, I believe the government stop 5% of the total sale price, regardless of whether you owe any or not and then you are required to reclaim that 5% if you owe nothing, anything to make life difficult! Again I would ask your solicitor to confirm that.

[jacpops]

Thanks for that information it is very useful. 24 hours to have your property done and dusted, that must be some sort of record, well done. All we know at the moment is that a small deposit has been paid to the agent and they said their sols will be in touch. We think our purchaser is having a mortgage but not really sure. The person who is dealing with everything is on hols till end of next week. Our agent said we prob wouldnt get to know anything about our purchasers until its time to go to the notary, is this usual? In the UK we are used to getting a sale document as soon as the sale has been agreed with the purchasers name, address, agent if they are also selling and solicitors details. I understand what you say about the 5% being held back. Do you know how long it takes to get that back and what the process is? Also we know the agents fees comes out of the uplift they charge the purchaser but did you have to pay anything else to anyone else?
Many thanks

[cbram]

Yes 24 hours was a record! However, that was 15 years ago when less paperwork was required.

In Spain a mortgage on a property is usually arranged in advance of clients looking to purchase. What I mean is that they would know how much they'd be allowed to borrow subject to final paperwork by the lending institution. The final paerwork is basically the same as in the UK, valuation of the property etc so the bank is happy to lend it on that property.

From people I know who have obtained mortgages the process is usually arounf 6 weeks (in summer it will be delayed substantially due to holidays etc).

I'm not quite sure about whether or not you'd get to know anything about the purchasers as I have only ever sold my properties in Spain myself, because I have never yet found an agent willing enough to bring clients beyond 2kms of their office! Sad but true, what a lot of business they lose!

The 5% retained by the government takes 6 months to recover from them, usually.

Are you aware that this 5% tax is an illegal tax imposed by the Spanish government? I have (and probably many others) notified Euro MPs etc etc over this matter for almost 18 months now! In August 2005 the EU parliament then gave the Spanish government 2 months in which to scrap this tax or face the consequences. Even Blevins Franks were unaware of this until I notified them, they had their lawers in London check it out!

As you may be aware this never deters the Spanish government from continuing their illegal taxes and this matter has now been taken to the EU courts. So it will probably take 2 or 3 years before they are forced to abandon the tax. I just hope they are then forced to reimburse everyone who they have taken this money from since it was deemed illegal.

No doubt in true Spanish tradition they will then impose a new tax to get more from property owners! No win situation.

[jacpops]

Thanks for all the info. I wasnt aware that this 5% was illegal. I feel another mission coming on. When we bought the property we, along with our solicitor (not the agents recommended one) fought long and hard not to under declare. The agent just about disowned us and on the day of completion we had to sort ourselves out. We paid the whole amount by bankers draft. When we got to the notary our solicitor noticed that although we had paid in full that the deed still showed the under declared amount and asked the notary to change it. The builder was furious but couldnt do much about it. We wanted to have the full amount on the deed as we felt at the time that we would like to sell in the future. We are selling sooner than we expected as we saw something a little bigger on a visit last year and fell in love with it. I will email our solicitor to let her know that we have now sold (fingers crossed) and also see what she advises re the 5%. My brief to her will be that as we have sold at a price where we have not made a profit how can the government take the 5%. If there is a way we may not have to pay this I am sure she will find it. If we do have to pay it and then claim it back then if there really is no way round it we will just have to claim it back later. Once again thanks. By the way just out of interest are you originally from the Derby area or perhaps support or used to support Derby County. Only looking at the ram logo its very similar.

[cbram]

Good luck with the sale, hope it all goes smoothly. The 5% tax, I am 90% sure the government stop it even if there is none to pay. I'm relying on memory from people I know who have sold in recent years but as you know things change and I'm not aware of this having changed.

Yes I originally come from Derbyshire, my entire family originate from Wirksworth but have lived in Belper, ambergate and surrounding areas.
Super Rams fan of course.

I was actually in Burton on Trent last summer, my son moved to England (came back 6 months later) and while I was there his car broke down right outside the Toyota factory so father had to see to it.