Spanish property law

In some ways, Spanish law is delightfully simple. For instance, if you sign something, no matter what, then you are bound by it. No point exists in claiming at a later stage that it was unfair or you did not understand what it was you signed because you did sign it and in law this means you understood. If you did not understand it or did not know what it was that you were signing then you should not have signed it.

In Spain, for example, it is not possible to bring action against a tobacco company. It is reasonably predictable that you are going to damage your health if you smoke and consequently it is down to you to decide whether or not you will. Your health will never be the responsibility of the cigarette companies. When it comes to the Spanish legal system, there is no nanny state, no law to protect you from yourself - you are on your own and responsible for your actions. If you take advice from a professional, act on it and later find out that it was wrong you are still responsible for any action you may have taken and which was based on the advice you took and paid for!.

The Spanish legal system whilst getting better is nonetheless. Inefficient, slow, occasionally rocked by scandals with local courts, judges and lawyers accused of abusing the system to suit their own ends

Each week there are nearly 200 legal actions being brought in the Spanish courts for matters concerning property purchase. Some of these actions will take years to finalise and at the end of this time there can be no guarantees. The Spanish legal system is very slow. The courts are jammed with backlogs of thousands of cases some of which will take years before they get to court and many others will not even get to court! Even local courts can take five or six years to hear an action.

There have been numerous cases of plaintiffs going to court with actions, which because of the overwhelming weight of evidence were unbeatable but which they lost because of the incompetence of their lawyer or unfairness of the court system.

Let's say it once and for all so there is no misunderstanding. In Spain it is possible to buy land, build property, buy and sell property and do virtually anything you want in regard to property without getting into trouble. You or those representing you need to know what they are doing and understand that there are no short cuts. Everything seems to take an age in Spain, which when considering that its bureaucracy is probably the most pernicious in the world is not too surprising.

A very real problem with legal matters in Spain is the time it takes to realise something has gone wrong. A further eternity is then required for lawyers to bring the matter before the court and terribly infuriating is the practice they have in Spain of ignoring correspondence, and not returning telephone calls. If you find yourself in a situation where things are not looking too good don't wait to see how things turn out but seek competent, legal help immediately.

Delay in starting an action can be construed as having a weak case. Another matter which will be alien to most reading this is not getting involved in lengthy correspondence. The Spanish do not argue their case in writing with letters, emails and telephones calls exchanged on a regular basis and bombarding someone with correspondence may cause the belief that your action is weak or malicious. As correspondence from you is is unlikely to achieve anything it is better simply to instruct a lawyer at the first sign of trouble. The court expects this type of behaviour and it will help your case.

For more information on how you can reclaim your deposit or execute a bank guarantee, visit www.spanishpropertyactiongroup.com