Spiv

Buying a property, have sent my deposit, and next we need to set up a bank account, my solicitor has done that on my behalf, ive not filled any paperwork, not seen the application but have been sent details of my new spanish bank account to put my £130k in to. Heres my worry, this account could be anyones, just because the paper ive been emailed has my name on it, also on the application anyone else could have all details they might need to add ie passwords etc to take the money out at the other end, am i being too cautious, is this normal practice? Surely they would need my signature?
Dan

mikelincs

Normal practice, when we bought in Spain we had two bank accounts set up for us, one for the mortgage and one for other expenses, we were not involved in any paperwork to set these up, however we had given POA to the solicitors to do this.

Spiv

Hi mike, thanks for the reply, i should add ive not given power of attorney to the solicitor at any point yet. Im considering going over to spain for a few days to open my own account, not sure if its even that simple with the spanish system or not.
Ive looked up the solicitor and they have been trading for 5 years, and have good reviews but these days its so easy to make all that stuff look right. I could be talking to anyone using the right name with a fake email address

johnnyone

When we purchased we gave PoA to our lawyer and he did everything from setting up bank accounts, utility company accounts and direct debits etc. All we did was turn up and collect the keys.

mikelincs

Yes, that's just what we did.

Moses2013

One other thing. If you just need the bank account for the property purchase, be careful that the bank doesn't keep charging you as a non resident. Remember that we opened a bank account for the property purchase only and the bank charged 30€ for each non resident.


Luckily we didn't have any money left in the account and once you go in minus, they automatically close account. But if you leave some money in the account that money is gone and they charge you every 2 years.

Spiv

Got the answer, they have set up an account but it is provisional until i get to the bank and sign, we didnt want to give POA to anyone we hadnt met, i prefer to take the trip out. Plus its good fun trying hotels locally