Blog on Spanish law

Tag: Spanish lawyer

  • Spanish Honorary Consulate office in Manchester

              The Spanish Consulate in Manchester closed more than 2 years ago. Since then, all consular matters for the North West were transferred to the Spanish General Consulate in Edinburgh. Very recently an Honorary Consular office has been opened in Manchester and located in our Manchester office. The Honorary Consul is Antonio…

  • First use license and habitation certificate. Tomatoe, tomato. Are they the same thing?

                  There are two documents which are essential before moving into a house in Spain. They are called first use license (“licencia de primera ocupación”) and habitation certificate (“cédula de habitabilidad”). These two documents sometimes have their own validity and in other occasions complement each other. It is difficult…

  • Fire in the Costa del Sol- How do I claim for losses and damages?

    You may have heard about the terrible fire that affected the Costa del Sol last week. The fire started on August 30th at 7 pm somewhere between Coin and Mijas (Barranco Blanco area) and it spread towards other towns such as Marbella, Ojen, Monda.  The fire stretched out with a length of over 30 km among five municipalities: Alhaurín el…

  • Spanish Consulate in Edinburgh- Powers of attorney

                I have received several phone calls in the last few weeks asking me whether it would be possible to sign a power of attorney at the Spanish Consulate in Edinburgh. My understanding is that a new Consul will arrive shortly, probably in the next two weeks. Until such time,…

  • Catalonia to boost legal confidence in real estate

              The Catalan Regional Government announced yesterday a new initiative to improve legal confidence in real estate. The initiative is mainly thought for foreigners who may buy properties in the coast. Although the specific measures have not been decided yet, it is important to improve protection to avoid the legal problems…

  • Here we go again

          I am a usual reader of the news bulletin from Idealista.com. I like it because it comes every Friday with a summary of the most relevants news in respect of the property market. The interesting thing about this news bulletin is that it does not have any alliances and you can easily…

  • Wills, wills, wills…

    As one of the few Spanish lawyers living and practising in this country, I often come across international probate matters where the deceased had assets both in Spain and in the UK. In certain occasions, the deceased is a Spanish national who moved to the UK for work and ended up owning assets in this…

  • To value or not to value? That is the question.

      The other day a client was in the process of filing an Inheritance tax form and he asked me which value he had to give to a Spanish property he had just inherited. In England the answer is quite simple: you must use the open market value. This generally means getting the property valued.…

  • Mistakes made when granting a Spanish will- Part I

    As some of the readers of this blog are aware, I am a Spanish lawyer based in Manchester, UK. Most of my clients are British with interests or assets in Spain.  I think I have lost track of the number of Spanish wills I have drafted in the last 7 years since I came to…

  • To let or not to let? A brief summary on the 1st year of the Spanish Express Eviction law

    In December 2009, a new law, commonly known as “Express Eviction law” was put into place in Spain. The purpose of this law was to speed the tediously slow eviction procedure in Spain. The law was welcomed with many “hoorays” by residential landlords who were suffering the consequences of a slow eviction procedure. The truth…