Yes you're right, but the deeds are in your name.

I don't see the difference, to be honest. Either way you can't sell it without paying the loan back, and if you fail you lose your house.

The difference is that you have a legal title document with your name on it, with a charge held on the property by the bank. As opposed to having no documentation in your name.

Of course in reality you are correct, for as the bank have a charge on the property you cannot sell it without their knowledge as the deeds are in the bank vault

I agree with that, we live in one with 15 apartments, and only a couple of us full time, it`s great, the only busy time is July Aug.
As you say if it`s been going a few years you know the perks etc.

I think the problem is that we are getting "on" a bit and don't want to be in the middle of nowhere. I don't have close neighbours where I live now, but plently of people coming and going for their horses, so it's never lonely. If I bought in the mountains I feel we would be very cut off should something happen to either of us. I have no desire to be in an area where we can shake hands over the pool edge either.
It appears that these houses I'm looking at are "individual" quite large plots I suppose 1370m2 (that's small for us compared to 92 acres of farm)! and do have tarmac roads, but all around are empty areas..now I know there's not going to be a lot of building going on in the near future..but when it does I assume that I am going to have to pay for it, the last thing you need when your on a pension is a 30,000e bill to pay. The estate agents don't seem to know what's what, no information forthcoming, only "I don't know".
Spain needs proper estate agents that have the answers when you need them, or is it that they don't want you to know and think your some idiot!

Hi J

Some urbs may be managed very well but the one we were buying on wasn't...and still isn't. Some may be ok but I would be afraid to even contemplate going down that road again. You are one of the lucky ones, we were unfortunate in that we picked one being built by a dodgy building company. Luck of the draw! The key is..research, which we did but evidently not enough.

Yes normally the urbanisation charge is based on M2 of plot. It is common for urbanisations to still have outstanding works or to not be 'recepcionada' (taken fully under the control of the local town hall). A common sign of non recepcionanda is when all bins are at the entrance to an urbanisation, as once adopted by the town hall, the bin lorry will normally then pick up from various bins within the urbanisation, until then they pick up from the entrance. The catch is all dependent on price, i.e. is the property still good value even if 30k has to be paid out to complete urbanisation works?. If the property has a large plot and is pricey, future charges might make it poor value. It is also worth considereing that on occasion boundary walls might be affected if the town hall want to add pavements etc. Most works involve mains drains and lighting (european grants apply for improving the infrastructure and this is what the town halls are interested in). The good news is that once all works are completed normally the cost will be reflected in increased value.

There are so many properties available in the area that I would recommend buying something that is established, with completed houses and road structure around it so that there is less risk of change. (you might like to check with the town hall that there are no plans to put new roads through the plots).

I think the mortgage take over system you mention is related to bank repossesions and some rent with option to buy type deals exist. Most importantly whichever property or purchase method you choose, get an independent lawyer to check all the legalities. A structural survey is also well worthwhile on both new and older properties and may well affect your offer price. Some prices are already discounted whereas other vendors may be ready to knock some money off. If you want to get the best deal be ready with a 10% deposit as many vendors will be tempted to take an offer if you can do the deal quickly. Initail contracts should be made 'subject to survey'. It is a buyer's market at the moment, but you still need to be careful and check out all options with care.

I'm not sure what you think an urbanisation is. Most Spanish housing is on some sort of urbanisation. I live in the country, just outside Valencia on an urb. It's just a large tranche of land that has been divided up into about one hundred individual plots.

Every house has been built by different builders, in different styles over the last thirty years.

About ten years ago it was urbanised, i.e tarmacced roads, pavements, street lighting and mains drainage. We pay all our taxes directly to the Ayuntamiento. There are no urb fees or urb association.

When I read posts on here, I think that when people talk of urbanisations, they are referring to housing estates, where one builder builds all the houses and sells them directly.

I get the impression

Yes your right, I don't mean an estate. The advice being given is impressive and very much appreciated, I don't want to make a costly mistake, it's taken too long to earn it in the first place.

Practical spain.com is an excellent web site, the amount of information is amazing too.

I suppose at some stage I will have to bite the bullet and sort out a lawyer.
Thank goodness for the internet, so much info that you need at your fingertips.

I'm sure my daughter is enjoying her trip so far, hopefully the sun's shining there.
I've cut the grass this morning, bit grey but quite mild, next week cold again grrrrrr! Where's my plane ticket!