We bought our house in March 2010. the solicitor contacted the suma office to ensure that all bills had been paid up to date. the town hall confirmed that they had and so we went ahead with our purchase. We have now been issued with a bill relating to 2008. Our solicitor contacted the town hall and asked what was happening. town hall said that the bill related to a final charge when the architects (the previous owners had the house built in 2008) signed of the place but the people at the town hall only came across it last year and so have decided to bill us. Obviously the solicitor is not at fault (i know him well and trust him), and there is no way the seller would reimburse me. As, in Spain, all bills relating to a house stay with a house, not the person who was in occupation when the bill was raised, i am unfortunately liable to pay. However, can the town hall, in all fairness, insist on me paying a bill that they omitted to tell my solicitor about?. Also, although this might be an 'old wives tale', someone told me that suma bills not issued for 3 years after the event are considered uncollectable and therefore dont have to be paid. (obviously that woudnt apply where a bill is more than 3 years old as a result of a person failing to register their property). My gut feeling is that i will have to take it on the chin and pay up but would still be gratefull for any relevant thoughts. Sorry about the length of this posting. Cheers, MIke

I'm a little confused. SUMA is the company that is used to collect taxes in certain areas (not everywhere).

What exactly is the tax that was 'forgotten'?

Is it a town hall tax for the work that was done? Is it IBI (contribution)?

Thanks.

Apologies for the confusion. yes, its ibi (like the council tax in uk). sorry, associated suma with 'council tax' when we first arrived and ime afraid it has stuck. i think its ibi for the year of completion as its a bit lower than ibi for the following year. also, the layout etc is same as subsequent ibi bills. (last years almost doubled for some reason although i think its because house finally went from 'under construction' to 'habitation', but thats a seperate issue). Bit isolated up here in the mountains so not many neighbours to swap notes with or compare bills. Millions of goats though !!

We got a nasty shock earlier this year. We bought a plot built a house and paid our IBI from day one, back in January we recieved a long and complicated letter from the Catastral people which I felt was bad news consulted a friend who is a lawyer in Madrid and she told me it was a new valuation to include the property backdated to April. Went down to the Gestion Tributeria (our SUMA) and asked what it would mean. Not able to say definitely but about 3x the original and with back tax about €3000 to find on the first of June. Time to pay I says yes he says spread over 10 months.

Panic mode back on the phone to Lawyer she says you can appeal in two stages first stage to Province in Huelva next to National Catastral. Down to Architect who designed the house and asked what he thought. Looked at very carefully and he found huge flaws. The Ayuntamiento restricted us 182 sq m not to include basements which could only be used for storage. They had decided to include all basements as living areas not on! The appeal went in in Jan not heard a word yet and can't find out until next month what I am expected to pay but my guess they will want their full 3 pounds of flesh.

With regard to the 3 years for national taxes it has to be more than 4 years unclaimed without deliberate avoidence to make the debt void and new laws are just abolishing that period of grace so I guess you and me are royally stuffed.

Hi John and Kath, many thanks for the clarification on the time limit. they got me just within the 4 years. (i bet they leave the bills in a tray for ages and then have a good laugh round the office as they send them all out with about a week to go before the deadline). Ah well, as i sit on my terrace looking at the sun going down behind the mountains with a can of beer in my hand and the barbie sizzling away, ime still glad i made the move even though you never know what exotic, illogical new bill is round the corner or whether gardia are going to fine me for wearing a loud shirt in a built up area or not. Cheers, Mike