i may have sold, can i not go back to spain

[patsywhitehair]

hi, have had an offer on our villa, the people who are buying it are buying it from me (i advertised my house on ebay) now can the lady buyer go to her solicitor here (who deals in spanish property) and we can do it all from here orrrrr do we all still have to go to notary in spain????
we just dont know what to do first or how to help the lady who wants to buy our house??
can we have the cheque made out to somebody else when she pays us??
could we have our money here instead of spain???

thanks for any replies, pat

[Alcalaina]

Originally Posted by patsywhitehair

hi, have had an offer on our villa, the people who are buying it are buying it from me (i advertised my house on ebay) now can the lady buyer go to her solicitor here (who deals in spanish property) and we can do it all from here orrrrr do we all still have to go to notary in spain????
we just dont know what to do first or how to help the lady who wants to buy our house??
can we have the cheque made out to somebody else when she pays us??
could we have our money here instead of spain???

thanks for any replies, pat

You will probably need to appoint a lawyer in Spain and give them power of attorney. I'm sure someone here will be able to advise you.

[djfwells]

There are a number of Lawyers who deal in both Uk and Spanish law and have offices in both the UK and Spain. They would probably be better placed to advise you than us lot. As far as payment goes, you can accept it in whatever currency you choose - the Spanish Tax Authorities don't really care as long as you pay teh correct and full amount of tax to them in Euros.
There are a number of such lawyers, but Irwin Mitchell is one that springs to mind ...

[toast]

Yoy will have to phisically go to a "notario" wo will sign the sale, or you can do a Power to a 3rd person, to sign under your name( but is a bit complicated as if you do it in the UK it needs to be officialy trasnlated in spain).
They will retain a 3% of the selling price as you are a no resident8 just to make sure you dont dissapead without paying the property and land surplus!! 2 different taxes...).
To calculate the surplus you need to include all costs when you bougth and when you sell, plus these have to be updated depending to the years you have had the property(this will reduce the tax).....is an easy process but tricky! congrats for selling your house!.....there are severall form and papers to fill and to present, so a good "asesoria/gestoria" will save you quite some time!!normally the "notarios" coolaborate con Gestorias than can deal with all theprocess for you....

[Beachcomber]

The power of attorney can be drawn up and apostilled by a bilingual notary public in the UK. It does not have to be translated in Spain:

De Pinna Notaries

The 3% retention is not the full extent of the tax liability. You than have to make a capital gains tax declaration and either pay the balance if the 3% doesn't cover it but you may reclaim the difference if there is a surplus.

Be very careful to whom you give the power of attorney!