BUYING
PROPERTY If
you are looking to purchase property in the Costa Blanca
we urge you to Download the British
Consulates advice regarding property purchases within
the Valenciana region. The majority of property purchasers in
Spain are completed through Real Estate Agents. You should be
extremely cautious when choosing one. Regardless of whether they
have a large or small portfolio of properties, it is important that they are
serious when handling monies. A small real estate agent may have a
few excellent properties available for sale and follow the few
legalities imposed, directly or indirectly, by the laws and
regulations of the trade. A large real estate agent can claim to
have thousands of properties in their books and be totally unaware
of the minimum requirements for the protection of a prospective
purchaser. Real estate agents are not lawyers, but it has to be said that some tend to offer buckets
of legal assurance, offer free legal advice to buyers, in the
hope that monies are deposited with them. Because real estate
agents are not lawyers, they should refrain from giving qualified
legal advice inasmuch as lawyers do not sell properties.
However, registered real estate agents are obliged by the
regulations of the trade to check the situation of the properties
they sell. But does this really happen? Very rarely.
Real estate agents activity has weak and confusing regulations
and laws. However licensed operators do ere to a set of professional
standards.
No licence or authorisation is required. Anyone can sell
properties in Spain. Much to the bitterness of registered real
estate agents, most of the highest rated agencies in the Costa Blanca are not registered and therefore
are not subject to any rule or
regulation.
Real estate agents are more worried in looking for buyers and
matching them with the available properties than performing the
relevant searches on the legal status of the properties.
Even if they had the time, language barrier to some real
estate agents is a problem. The understanding of legal terminology
is in this case rather poor.
A real estate agent does not get paid for representing the
interests of either buyer or seller. They have made possible a
deal and do not earn fees if the deal stalls.
A small percentage of operators can be regarded as
unscrupulous and self-seeking. What happens to the buyer, or the
seller, is not a concern as long as they get their
fee.
