Transferring a house, and dog (EN)

→ Nederlandse versie

In The Netherlands buying a house is simple. You or the estate agent go to a notary and (s)he takes care of organising the transfer of ownership. He's also the appointed legal party for collecting the funds, and transferring those at the time of the transfer of ownership, trusted by buyer, seller, and the banks.

Well, it does not work that way in Spain. The notary in Spain only takes care of registering a property with the Catastro and Escritura (land and property registry). All other legal stuff, like checking the ownership and legal status of a property, and handling the funds is done by the solicitors of both buyer and seller.

Where back home electronic money transfers (internet banking) are the norm, in Spain you use good old paper bank cheques. In this case we nearly lost count of the number of cheques needed. One to pay the seller, one to pay off the previous owner's mortgage to the bank, one for the transfer tax to the government, one to pay duties to the city, one for the estate agent, one for the seller of the extra block of land, one to pay the transfer tax on that block, one for the notary, one for our solicitor, and I'm sure I'm forgetting one or two now. So far no one has complained, so I think no cheques were lost.

Also, when buying a house, with an inventory, it's quite normal to go and see the house and inventory before the transfer at the notary. Well... that was met with objections. (eh..?) It was emotional, there was a birthday to celebrate, and a family breakfast, and.. and.. and. We just wanted to be sure everything was reasonably in order, and also we'd like to know where the main electrics switches are, how to close off the water, and some general hints and tips on the house. But no. We were told they had prepared a long list of notes for us, and that it was not possible. Luckily we have a solicitor too, and she then contacts the solicitor of the owner, and have an argument for you, and so we could see the house an hour before notary, after all.

Oh yes, and the dog with six puppies, behind the house, in the drain. (Was she mentioned already..? Hm?)

The actual transfer is a lot of shuffling paper and handing out cheques. You sign the "deed", which is in Spanish, which is then read aloud to you by the notary, in Spanish, you get the keys, and are then the proud owner of a house.

Where we were greeted with much tail wagging. Hm. Well, off to the supermarket, to do some shopping. Dog food. And some things for humans too.

And where would the list of prepared notes be? Would it be where the swimming pool pump, filter, and that nice fly curtain made of metal chains have gone? Probably.