What I want to talk to you about in this post is prevention as a fundamental tool to carry out a safe sale and with all legal guarantees.
I tell you a real case about a plot located in a town in Asturias, which will help you understand perfectly how a lawyer can avoid many problems in the acquisition of a property. A married couple acquires a farm that is accessed by a path that runs between the boundaries of two other plots. The path is perfectly identified and is delimited on both sides and along its entire route with a metal fence and hedge; this step constitutes the only access to the farm.
One fine day and without prior notice, the owner of one of the parcels removes the hedge and the metal fence that separates his property from the road, and lifts a fence at the beginning and end of the pass. With this simple maneuver, the road has disappeared, the two plots have become adjoining and the couple's estate has been locked, that is, without access or exit to a public road and with its consequent legal consequences - it has lost its buildable area, it has suffered an obvious loss of value and you run into a major problem.
It is an indisputable question that the sale of real estate is an inexhaustible source of conflicts: deposit agreements full of poorly drafted clauses, non-compliance with delivery deadlines, hidden defects in the newly acquired property, construction defects, property boundaries problem rustic, these and a long etc. moreover, these are just a few of the many problems we face at the firm. The positive side is that the common denominator of all is that all these problems can be avoided if before signing any document an expert lawyer supervises it. Yes, you have read that correctly: a consultation so that your lawyer reads and supervises the contract you are going to sign can save you a good deal of trouble.
On many occasions, when the client arrives at the office, the signature has already been made at the notary, the buyer has already taken possession of the property and has already encountered problems. He has even already tried to reach an amicable solution by himself and with good will, an attempt that does not usually give the expected results as they can deduce from the bad faith with which the cause of the problem has acted; It is then when desperate and fed up he goes to a lawyer demanding justice.
In this example, the acquired property was perfectly registered in the Property Registry and the sale had been formalized before a Notary Public; However, neither of these two legal firewalls served to warn the couple that the road that gave access to the farm was not properly constituted and that therefore, they ran the risk of being deprived of it as it finally happened.
A consultation with a lawyer with experience in real estate law in the rural world before formalizing the sale would have allowed the buyers to know this circumstance and act with full freedom from a position of power, which would have allowed them to demand the constitution as title of the easement incidentally, desist from the purchase before making any money transaction or even negotiate a significant price reduction in view of the legal problem that the farm presented.
Fortunately, the problem had a solution, but this marriage could have avoided a lawsuit and a good upset; So remember that better safe than sorry and ask for a consultation with a trusted attorney before making such a significant investment.
I leave you the latest revision of the Guide for buying a home in Spain published by the College of Property Registrars. A very interesting guide that details the most important steps to follow to acquire a home with all the legal guarantees.
