sunnysenorita

Normally the seller pays the commission to the estate agent for his involvement in the sale. This commission is normally built into the selling price. The buyer does not pay commission to anyone.

scampicat

Bought resale in 2004 - from initial viewing to completion in four days. No problema whatsoever. However, Spanish vendor would not drop price - also expected black money.

Lionda

Viewing to completion in four days Wow We are buying off-plan and from viewing to completion - three years (and still not completed)

jandy44

Hi did you end up paying the black money ?

Big Pete

3 years ?? You serious

Gill Stevens

We bought offplan from a well respected builder. Property was ready early. We had a few snagging jobs which they did. We had a few niggles with them regarding a couple of things but on the whole they have been quite good and probably the best we are going to get over there.

They provided me with a copy of the building licence fairly early on after I requested it plus a copy of the land registry entry to prove they owned the land debt-free and also provided us with pictures every few months of progress on their website.

Lionda

Yes, 'fraid so Viewed the development in May 2004 and picked a plot. The property should have been ready in September 2005, we were happy with that. Went out to view the property in September to find that the foundations hadn't even been dug! After talks with our agents and the builder we decided to switch to another property on the development which was already built - well the shell was built but at least it was further on than the other one. Promised it would be ready for the following year, completion date October 2006. We are still waiting for completion!

Big Pete

Flippin heck i would of gone mad at them .. Still worth waitting for in the end

scampicat

Put it this way: 'I do not know anyone who has bought wirh black money and would not say so if I did' :

scampicat

[QUOTE=keithwalters;4521424]Just the usual - seller won´t drop the price AT ALL, wants black money from us but we don´t want to pay.
QUOTE]

In some areas, you will not be able to buy at all unless you pay the black money.

Lionda

We've been talking about this yesterday again and decided that it will be worth waiting for - we just wish the waiting was over. As you can see from the picture, it's all but ready to move into!

derbyflan

That's a really nice looking house Lionda. But surely there was a clause in the initial contract stating that the Developer would be penalised if they were late with delivery - as you would've no doubt been penalised for late payments?

jandy44

Oh it looks really nice,I bet you cant wait after all the problems you have had,I would be really excited at the prospect of moving in now.Are you moving over permanatley ? keep smiling it wont be long now

keithwalters

[QUOTE=scampicat;4527458]
Yeah, we realise that. Not happy about it but what can you do? I´m not sure what narks me more - having to pay black money or having to pay the estate agents fees as a BUYER! Unfortunately that is how all the agents work here so there is no avoiding it. Most charge 2.5% each to the buyer and seller, but we have found one that charges 1.5% each.

derbyflan

Could you expect to be asked to pay black money if you were buying off-plan or is this normally only ever on re-sale properties?