House Demolished

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Feb 19th 2008, 3:17 pm

#181

madcarole

Forum Regular

Joined: Jan 2008

Location: ashfrd kent

Posts: 236

Re: House Demolished

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Paddon

You are right re many Architects (though there are some very good ones), I regularly get involved with defects cases were the Spanish Architect Tecnico has played down a serious defect, or wrongly diagnosed a problem and hence often wrongly specified a solution or dismissed an owners claim (e.g. for 10 year decenal insurance). As an example, I was also involved in advising on a purchase where (on the lawyers instruction and clients concern due to my advice), an Architect measured up a property and claimed to have checked it with the town hall (even though the project was archived at the time) he then stated in writing that a property was fully legal when I knew it breached local planning laws by having an extra storey (three in total with an illegal 3 bed apartment underneath), it was also built too high and exceeded the permissable living volume for the plot. The town hall finally got the project out of the archives for me and confirmed that the apartment was indeed illegal and could never be legalised. Meanwhile the Architect stood by his completely misleading assessment (he was also the constructors Architect by the way) and the purchaser actually paid for this wrong 'professional' advice.

For prospective buyers, don't be put off. Just as in the newspapers, forums tend to focus on the worst case scenarios, for every bad purchase, there are plenty of good ones, but seeking independent advice is important.

I agree re recommendations, seek them wherever you can. I personally give individuals/companies I recommend one chance, If they slip up ethically or mess a client around, I won't recommend them again. I am also happy to give client references. Buyers should steer clear of any individual that won't readily put you in contact with past clients or (e.g. for building work) take you to see their work and clients.

great advice..might come to you when we are ready to buy.as at the moment we dont know who to trust..

i am confused also as to how many people in spain are 'estate agents'

not as we know it in shops...but normal people who introduce you to property and they get a commision for doing so..do these people have to have qualifications???

carole

Feb 19th 2008, 3:52 pm

#182

Econ

BE Enthusiast

Joined: Nov 2007

Location: Southern Spain

Posts: 773

Re: House Demolished

Quote:

Originally Posted by madcarole

Qualifications are no longer needed to be an estate agent in Spain, in fact they haven't been needed for several years now. The reason there are so many at it is because the commissions are higher than the UK along with the lack of restrictions. Commisions where commonly up to 3 times higher than the 5% many estate agents charge today, when property prices started to go sky high here then this attracted a lot of interest, especially from the British who generally discovered this after buying their property... that's why there are so many British run estate agents here. You will see that there are very few of the large ones that opened up over the last seven to eight years left, if they are they have downsized in a major way.

My personal advice would be to find a small agent, one that is established in your area and then pay several visits to see what impression you get. Because they do not have a nice fancy office is not to say they are to be avoided or not trusted, on the contrary. I know a few agents on the coast and the only ones I would trust or recommend have all small offices and do not employ sales reps, they do the work themselves. The other advantage using a small company is you can build a more personal relationship with the company owner or family of, you get a kind of personal touch, this is much more comfortable and relaxing than dealing with someone who is just out to make a commission on a cut of the sale and will probably not be with the company in a year or twos time.
This is not to say a larger company would not be trustworthy but in my experience and with most others I know who have bought property here the way I suggest above has generally worked best.

BTW, I remember even when I first came to Spain 'long time ago' I might meet or start talking to someone 'generally British' while with someone I knew, if the other person seemed to know them I would ask: 'What does he do?', a lot of the time the answer would be 'Oh he's a Mr 10 percenter!', these where mostly British people who came down and got involved with everyone and then charged 10 to 15% for helping them etc. many years later and it is still the same... nothing changes, it just gets done a little differently