When it comes to buying property, Mallorca is generally a more “certain” environment than parts of mainland Spain or other Mediterranean locations. Planning regulations are tightly controlled building developments are tightly monitored. Regardless of this however it is essential to have a qualified and experienced lawyer involved in an property deal.
Even with off-plan and new build apartment developments where everything is nicely packaged-up and presented, you still need to check that there are no background issues with the development, that title is properly passed over to you, and that you are covered if there are any problems with the developer finished the development.
In a resale purchase the current ownership of the property has to be checked, you need to establish that there are no outstanding debts or bills against the property, and many other detailed points should be covered just as you would expect in the UK. In the UK you would employ a lawyer to cover these points and there is no reason for it to be any different in Mallorca.
We often get asked when is the right time to get a lawyer on-board. In our view it is best to do this at an early stage as it will give you more confidence in your search if you fully understand the steps you will need to go though once you have found your Mallorca property and agreed a price, and if you have someone you can refer to if there are any questions of a legal nature before an offer is made.
This last point is key, unless you speak fluent Spanish you should seek a lawyer who speaks fluent English, is willing to have a first meeting with you for no fee and with no commitment to outlined their services in order that you can assess whether they are the lawyer for you. It is likely they will offer other services too – certainly “Gestoria” services such as sorting out your NIE number. It is best not to have them do any work on this unless you are happy that they are your lawyer for the property purchase too – it is simplest for you and will save a lot of time to have one firm dealing with all of these things.
Some lawyers will also give you a lot of helpful advice in advance of any offer being made, and during the offer process. If a seller knows you already have a lawyer involved they are likely to take your offer more seriously.
For these reasons we’d advise you to choose a lawyer at the point where you are seriously considering one or two properties and thinking about making an offer. It is not essential – the lawyer’s role only becomes essential once and offer has been made and accepted – but there are some real advantages to having them in place earlier as noted above.
There are no additional costs to assigning your lawyer earlier and benefiting from all this advice. In Mallorca the lawyers work on a percentage of the transaction cost, usually between 1% and 1.5%. The earlier you involve them the more value you will get from their services.
For more information on property lawyers in Mallorca please see “Mallorca Lawyers” on our main website.
