Property Law

Our main area of legal practice is in real estate. Over our years of service we have advised countless clients in processes from simply processes of buying, selling or renting property to complex real estate projects such as buying and selling hotels, buildings, and income-producing assets, etc. We offer legal advice in the following areas:

• Buying and selling residential property

  Whenever buying a residential property it is always advisable to employ the services of an independent solicitor with expertise in contract and property law, who can advise you throughout the process and ensure your purchase is protected by maximum guarantees against any problems in the future.
  To that end we will be at your side with a comprehensive service throughout the legal and financial process of purchasing a property.

  1. Initial operations and procedures

  • Prior conveyancing advice on the necessary procedures and processes.
  • Study of all costs involved: fees, taxes, registry fees and notary fees.
  • Advice and drawing up of the deeds, reservation or option to buy.
  • Confirming the legal and urbanistic condition of the property.

  2. Procedures prior to signing the title deeds

  • The process to obtain a national identity number (NIE) and open a bank account, if required.
  • Application and process to obtain the habitability certificate.
  • Application for the energy certificate.
  • Information on responsibilities, statues, and residents’ and owners’ associations.
  • Reviewing planning, land and registry situations.
  • Reviewing the possibility of external financial grants from banks.
  • Preparing the necessary documentation to grant the title deeds.

  3. Signing the title deeds

  • Attendance at the signing of the deeds.

  4. Subsequent procedures after signing the title deeds.

  • Payment and transfer of costs and taxes of the sale.
  • Process to register the deeds on the property register.
  • Changing the name on accounts for electricity, gas and water, etc.
  • Setting up direct debits for payments or taxes related to the property, such as communal charges, property tax (IBI), etc.
• Rental

  Experience has shown that drawing up a rental contract without legal advice from a lawyer specialising in renting law can lead to multiple risks in the interests of the tenant or landlord. We undertake to fully advise tenants and landlords on all they need to know.

  • Rental contracts for residential or business premises.
  • Rental contracts for rural properties.
  • Rental contracts for properties used for tourist occupation.
  • Creating and collecting invoices and payments.
  • Collection of defaulted payments.
  • Terminating a rental contract prematurely.
  • Subletting or transferring a rental contract.
  • Transfer of business premises.
  • Financial guarantees.
  • Recorded notification of subletting or transfer of rental property.
  • Recorded demand for rent or payments due.
  • Eviction notice.
  • Mediation to prematurely terminate any of the above contracts.
• Construction defects

  Construction law revolves around guaranteeing the rights of property owners to be able to claim for liability against damages incurred to property from badly carried out construction work or badly completed renovations (the responsibility of the construction company, architect, constructor/promotor, or quantity surveyor), or against damage to the property caused by a resident or the owners’ association etc.

  The above resulting situations imply a lack of compliance with legal procedures, which authorises the property owner to proceed with various actions that our legislation makes available to them, in order to comply with the terms of the contract and to correct the defect and/or to obtain compensation for the damages caused by the defect. Our office will inform you which claim best suits your specific situation.

  The most common construction defects:

  • The appearance of fissures or cracks.
  • Structural and floor faults.
  • Defects in the finish.
  • Damp, leaks or seepage.
  • Defective insulation.
  • Defective sound insulation.
  • Defective drainage system.
  • Access to parking spaces.

  When construction defects become apparent it is important to act quickly, not only because small faults can become more serious if left unresolved, but also because the law sets limited periods for making legal claims, and once these have passed, the affected party becomes liable for the repairs and forfeits the right to demand compensation from another party. A simple consultation with our legal team in the case of any fault or defect may well prevent significant costs in the future.

• Owners' Association

  We advise owners, residents’ associations and property managers on all legal matters that may arise regarding issues related to horizontal property:

  • Support at owners’ association meetings.
  • Creating an owners’ association, obtaining the relevant tax number (CIF) and registering on the property register.
  • Recovering defaulted payments from other members.
  • Court claims or non-court claims for unpaid fees and dues.
  • Contesting agreements.
  • Redaction of all related documents: statutes, communal regulations, acts, etc.
  • Owners’ association support facing claims made by owners or third parties.
  • Mediation in conflicts between residents and the owners’ association.
  • Advice for owners on their rights as members of associations or against other owners in the association.
  • Drawing up or amending contracts with service providers.

  In addition, we can undertake all property management responsibilities, with comprehensive property and owners’ association management, either in multi-owned horizontal properties or single-owned vertical properties, for which we cover all needs relating to properties of communal residences, including legal advice (we specialise in horizontal, rental and urbanistic property law), and completing all requisite administrative, legal, financial and accountancy procedures.

  Our management is based on absolute transparency, with comparative budget proposals made prior to any expenditure, all expenses routinely accounted for, and management of ordinary and extraordinary meetings whenever necessary:

  • Maintenance of association accounts.
  • Monitoring all the association’s contracted services and an annual revision of all costs implied.
  • Monthly non-payments management.
  • Itemised budgets for all costs incurred.
  • Annual accounts balancing and detailed reports.
  • Proactive management of the preservation and maintenance of the building, including management of any incidents with the relevant insurance companies.
  • Personal attendance at the property in question and direct telephone and email contact with residents.
• Investment and management of real-state assets with or without income

  In addition to advising on matters relating to the traditional areas of property law, our experience in handling countless bankruptcy proceedings of businesses related to the promotion or construction of real estate has included managing and liquidating a wide range of real estate (hotels, buildings, business properties, residences, rural smallholdings, and other investment properties), from which we have gained an exhaustive knowledge of the realities of real estate assets and finances. This experience, added to our specialist formal training and our collaboration with other professionals highly qualified in asset management (independent organisations in asset and investment management and family law), means that we have access to the most exclusive and specialist fields in Spanish real estate, and allows us to offer the best advice in areas relating to real estate consultancy that cover:

  Investment:

  • Following the market and strategic acquisition of assets with or without income return.
  • Seeking and proposing investment opportunities.
  • Feasibility studies and investment return valuations.
  • Valuations of assets/businesses/companies.
  • Management, rental services and other income-generating methods from property investment.
    Financial structuring for investment.
  • Drawing up contracts, creating invoices and managing defaulted payments.
  • Management of any issues.
  • Implementing company restructure. Renegotiating debts.
  • Finding sources of bank funding and parties interested in capital investment.
  • Managing agreements, negotiations and closure in accordance with client instruction.

  Disinvestment:

  • Disinvestment strategy.
  • Exit strategy: finding investors, selling assets, etc.
  • Commercialisation (national and international) of productive assets/units.
  • Sourcing members and financing to facilitate the sale.
  • Sale document preparation: teaser, sale dossier, etc.
  • Business plans, market research.
  • Analysis and revision of feasibility of a business/project/portfolio of assets to offer to investors.
  • Valuations of assets/businesses/companies.
  • Implementing company restructure. Renegotiating debt.
  • Finding sources of bank funding and parties interested in capital investment.
  • Managing agreements, negotiations and closure in accordance with client instruction.