lynnxa

I would check the wording of the Spanish contract - often the translations into English are misleading to say the least

PM the relevant bits to me in both English & Spanish & I'll have a look if you like

Hondon Rock n Roll

SUMA Gestion Tributaria is the office or agency that collects the taxes. The IBI is possibly what they mean by "rates" which is a bit like the council tax in England, bills are issued annually and ours are in the region of €400 pa. As far as I know and someone will correct me if I'm wrong we don't have water rates in the campo, we just pay for the mains water, and from your past posts it sounds as if you are not on mains water. The other charge is the "basura" (rubbish collection) which is collected by the SUMA office. That around here is in the region of €55 p.a. Hope this explains things abit, but doesn't help with the fact they have added this into the contract whenever it is usually the owner of the property that is liable for the charge.

painterhombre

hiya. yes i agree and youre correct also, but they have been sneaky really as nowhere on the contract does it say payment of SUMA is additional to the rent, and we did loads of research and 100% of what we found was the fact that the OWNER pays it, not the tenant. Approached estate agent and she said the following.....

regards the Suma, I have spoken to the solicitor and he has advised me that it is not the law in spain that you do not pay this, the law is that there is a tax on each property and the owner is liable, but if the owner rents the property and wishes the tenant to pay, and if it is in the contract that you have signed, then you are liable for them
the law only states they have to be paid, not by whom

I am sorry but it clearly states in the contract that you are liable and you must pay these, they normally come twice a year but (the owner) has made arrangements for them to be paid monthly which is better

any idea?

just off to Hondon in a minute funnily enough, to take a look around as we have my mom over from the uk at present.

carter71

I never said or inferred you were stupid. You signed a Spanish contract without legal advice or third party translation for a property in a foreign country you apparently hadn't seen. If you are anything it's lucky.

painterhombre

fair comment, i know we should have done, i just thought you were inferring we were stupid. ok, no worries. We did as much research as we could have done before we left, and yes so far we have been lucky. Apart from the suma thing, the only other gripe with the house we rented without seeing it is its campo, an d she estate agent bitch led us to believe it was on the edge of town so my 8 year old is lonely with no kids to play with.

spain

think that sums it up mate......of course the owner is liable as its their property just as they would be for the mortgage on a property, but if it states it in the contract then really dont see what you can do about it after signing, I would assume "rates" would be equivilant to council tax and all associated charges with the house....things like this need to be negotiated prior to signing contracts...Im sure no one thinks you are stupid

its not the first time an agent lied, mislead or been economical with the truth and Im sure it wont be the last !!

lynnxa

and of course all of us tenants are paying it anyway - just hidden or included in the rent

it's a bit off to add it later - depends exactly on the wording of the contract

spain

exactly same as in UK.....we pay rent, utilities plus the council tax

lynnxa

exactly

snikpoh

Sorry to come in late on this but .... all the contracts that we have with our tennants clearly state that the payments are; rent, electric, water and IBI. With some tennants, and only by agreement, we have allowed this to be taken from the finance at the end of the contract. In this way the tennant doesn't have to find the extra cash up-front.

Per the other poster, water rates are applicable in the 'campo' but are paid via the 'basthura' tax.

painterhombre

we should have rented from you then!!!!!!!

The contract is in english and Spanish. The english doesnt mention the tax, but surprise surprise, the spanish version does!!!!!

oh well, weve learnt a lesson and will be more careful in future. Thanks also to lynn for taking a look at it for us.

its only an extra 40 a month or whatever but with the sh*** exchange rate it does make a difference, but oh well, such is life................

painterhombre

in fact i would love to name and shame the estate agent but probably not allowed to.

would a mod comment on that?

carter71

At least you've found someone who can do a third party translation BEFORE you sign next time!

painterhombre

indeed! Hey we've only been here 3 weeks so its a learning curve, and weve learnt a lesson not to be repeated, at least we are only renting so we can get out of it eventually no bother (presumably)

spain

nah thats not allowed... but you could do it anyway...whats the worse that could happen, they will delete the post ?¿?¿?¿?¿