I have watched with concern over the past two years, the increasing number of clients venturing in to DIY legal work when buying in Spain. The trend for giving on line advice through forums about buying, and companies providing checklists for those with no legal qualification to follow, is worrying. While it might drive traffic to these sites, it is not doing you, the buyer any favours.

It is my experience that there is a distinct desire not to engage a solicitor by many people looking for a property to buy. This is a highly dangerous pastime. Many say to me that they will engage a solicitor “when we find the right property”. Quite frankly, that is like bolting the gate when the mare is already half way down the lane to the village. You need legal advice from the moment you view a property which interests you. If you are looking at buying a property which is not fully legal, you should be taking advice before you even venture as far as a viewing.

I have had people trying to work out their own taxes for a sale. Often this is impossible, because even the solicitors have to consult the Townhalls to work out the total costs. Others ask for legal papers which within a couple of questions, it becomes clear they have no idea what they are asking for and probably even less idea about what to do with them if they can obtain them. Trying to look through page after page of a Spanish escritura (title deed) when you don’t know what you are looking for is a pointless task. It is easy to miss something, misinterpret something or just not understand the nuances of the legal language.

Taking a trip to the local Urbanismo office at the Townhall is also a pointless task unless you speak Spanish and have some appreciation of the information they can offer. By the time you get to proindiviso, afuera de ordinacion and sin licencia de obra, most people´s eyes are spinning like a Catherine wheel on Guy Fawkes Night. If you do get a helpful assistant who can manage a couple of words in English, “not legal” tends to send people running for the plane. There are many facets of illegal and some are considerably less worrying than others, so you really need to be equipped to dig down and get the full picture before you can make an educated assessment about a property. Many people buy, what in the purest sense are “illegal” properties, but having had everything explained to them by a qualified person, they have chosen to take in many cases, a small risk and to buy, but you need that expert advice before you should make such a decision.

Likewise, worrying about how you will know if someone owes money to the electricity company or the community is not something you should be concerning yourself with until you have agreed a selling price and are on the paper trail towards a purchase. Solicitors obtain certificates from the various utility companies and the community Administrators to ensure that all debts are paid just prior to signing at the Notary.

The most alarming situation I have encountered are properties where an inheritance has not been dealt with in Spain. The inheritors think they can sell because the property was passed to them via a Will in the UK. This is not the case and there is considerable paperwork required to sort out such a case and many months can pass before a solution is found. So, if your property was inherited, you need to deal with this aspect before you try to sell as the delays incurred could cost you the sale and again, you need a solicitor.

When I see people in the A & E with checklists self diagnosing their injuries, then I will accept that you are safe to buy a house without the expert advice of a solicitor, because while making a bad purchase may not kill you, it will certainly cause you stress and anxiety, not to mention expense and many will find themselves in dire straits.