British Expats - Should I be worried..

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Re: Should I be worried..

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Originally Posted by chris mcgow (Post 7364787)

Thanks for the replies. How do we go about getting an independent solicitor when we are in England?

Do what we did and phone up the Law Council and ask them for recomendations.At least advice wil be impartial and our solicitor in Spain was linked with UK one so we had 2 port of call.

Re: Should I be worried..

Thankyou to all for all the advice and recomendations :D

Re: Should I be worried..

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Originally Posted by chris mcgow (Post 7364564)

Got back from an inspection trip in Spain at the weekend with Atlas,I have paid a 3,000 euro deposit to secure a 2 bedroom bungalow, key ready and Atlas have started the ball rolling with regards to a mortgage. Initially this will be a holiday home and to let for holiday rentals we have agreed that I will return May/June to finalise and that Atlas will assist me with this and opening a Spanish bank account. Then today I came into this section for the 1st time and read about NIE numbers which I had never heard of before so my question is should I be worried about this as it is my understanding from reading through some old threads that NIE needs to be in place before you can open a bank account or apply for a mortgage :mad: any help would be much appreciated

I wouldn't touch Atlas with a barge pole.
I have heard loads of very bad reports.!!!

Re: Should I be worried..

You might want to avoid people like Atlas in the future...all these big companies are getting massive commissions and you end up paying through the nose.

Having worked for a competitor agent before they went bankrupt, they have probably set up a bank account for you without an NIE number but its an inactive account (usually they work with a specific bank who know how things work so you will be able to transfer funds but not withdraw them until you go there with your NIE and original passport and activate the account). They will get you to go over a couple of days before signing and get you to go to Alicante at silly o'clock in the morning and get an NIE so you can sign the next day.

Don't ever use the same solicitor that is recommended by the agent. Normally there is a family relationship or they are owned by the same company that owns the agent. They won't care about you being treated fairly, just making sure you sign at the notary so everyone gets paid, plus their solicitors are always more pricey. An independent solicitor will be more scathing in their assessments and not have so many commissions to pay ;).

I work in an office that does conveyancing and I will always take a special look at any compraventa that involves big agents as I just don't trust them. :sneaky:

Good luck though, buying a house in this current climate in any country is always a worrisome adventure.

Re: Should I be worried..

It all turned out ok in the end, we did have a couple of very worrying moments and we did have to pay out more than we were led to believe but we are now in possesion of a gorgeous 2 bedroomed bungalow in Cabo Roig

Re: Should I be worried..

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Originally Posted by chris mcgow (Post 7647691)

Nice to hear a happy ending:)

Re: Should I be worried..

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Originally Posted by chris mcgow (Post 7647691)

Congratulations!! And all the best for your future holidays in your new place:)

Re: Should I be worried..

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Originally Posted by chris mcgow (Post 7647691)

:) You will have quite a few more worying moments ,5 years plus in Spain and we still get our fair share ,dont let it get to you ,not that much differnet than the UK but they speak English there .keep ur wits about you check evrything out twice at least and you will be fine have a good time in Spain :thumbsup: