A mere delay in paying the let for a second time, by a non-paying tenant who has been previously sued by the landlord, will be a just cause for an eviction procedure. This new scenario has been made possible thanks to a recent rulling by the Spanish Supreme Court of Justice.
As explained in my article on Tenant Eviction in Spain, one of the strategies a non-paying tenant could follow to stall the procedure after the landlord had filed a law suit against him requesting a formal eviction, was by paying late (“enervación”). This stalled the procedure and forced the landlord to continue with the tenancy agreement. Albeit the tenant could employ this tactic only once.
The new change will mean that if the tenant should pay belatedly a second time (i.e. for two consecutive months), after the landlord has previously initiated an eviction procedure for the same reason, it will no longer mean the case can be dismissed or thrown out of court. It will mean the tenant breached the contract. Period. Spain’s Supreme Court has now unified the different approaches and regards that the tenant has breached the Tenancy agreement, provided the contract stipulates a deadline in which the payments have to be met every month.
This puts an end to non-paying tenants which continuously abused the legal system on deciding when they felt fit to pay their landlords in lieu of when they were meant to. This change has been brought about by one of the latest ruling of Spain’s Supreme Court. This is the second ruling on the same issue with a similar outcome which will now set jurisprudence in our legal system. The prior ruling is also from this year.
Both of these rulings aim to address the increasing problem landlords are faced with in Spain on letting their properties to professional defaulting tenants. Additionally, the dire financial circumstances have forced what used to be trustworthy tenants into defaulting their lets and abusing our system too. These rulings will now add new legal tools to defend landlords, as in Spain, the laws have been traditionally biased towards tenants for historical reasons which need to be adapted to social reality without delay.
Larraín Nesbitt Lawyers, small on fees, big on service.
Larraín Nesbitt Lawyers is a law firm specialized in taxation, conveyancing, inheritance and litigation. We will be very pleased to discuss your matter with you. You can contact us by e-mail at info@larrainnesbitt.com, by telephone on (+34) 952 19 22 88 or by completing our contact form.
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Tenant Eviction in Spain – 8th June 2014
Urban Rental Law in Spain – Spain´s Tenancy Act (Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos, LAU) – 8th May 2016
Please note the information provided in this blog post is of general interest only and is not to be construed or intended as substitute for professional legal advice. This article may be posted freely in websites or other social media so long as the author is duly credited. Plagiarizing, whether in whole or in part, this article without crediting the author may result in criminal prosecution. VOV.
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Within the last year we’ve seen an alarming increase in the number of queries regarding the legitimacy of certain Spanish law firms and lawyers. These companies are in fact non-existent and act only as shelter companies devised to fleece foreigners offering them dubious legal services often related to some murky financial interest, which is in the end nothing but some sort of advance fee fraud. Foreigners should be well advised that these scammers pass themselves off as legitimate Spanish law firms and lawyers. They prey exclusively on foreigners and are in fact not even Spanish themselves. Their command of English is very good.
Spanish lawyers belong to one of the numerous Bar Associations that sprawl throughout Spain. There are a total of 83. Every lawyer member of a BA will have a registered number. It is very easy to check in less than a minute if a Spanish lawyer is legitimate, providing he is in fact registered of course.
These fraudsters will always contact you to offer legal assistance in some service of which you by chance are the sole lucky beneficiary. The potential reward to reap is huge (hundreds of thousands if not millions) in exchange of a reasonable legal fee which in comparison doesn’t seem like much. The preffered contact method is email (which they may follow up by ordinary post), and they will offer you either of the following legal “services”:
An example of enquiries about such bogus firms are the following:
Our recommendation, as always, is to never ever pay moneys upfront if you have the slightest suspicion about the legitimicay of the people you are dealing with.
We have compiled a list of Spanish bogus law firms which is continously updated.
Other interesting links
Please note the information provided in this blog post is of general interest only and is not to be construed or intended as substitute for professional legal advice. This article may be posted freely in websites or other social media so long as the author is duly credited. Plagiarizing, whether in whole or in part, this article without crediting the author may result in criminal prosecution. VOV.
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Public Warning.-Scammers passing themselves off as Spanish lawyers and law firms
Foreigners should be well-advised that there are many scammers trying to pass themselves off as legitimate Spanish law firms and lawyers. They prey exclusively on foreigners and are in fact not Spanish themselves. They are mostly Nigerian (lately there's a surge of British and Irish citizens involved too). It is calculated there are over 300,000 Nigerians worldwide scamming people. The golden rule is they never scam nationals of the country in which they live in. So Nigerians located in Spain (Madrid, Málaga and Granada) scam everyone except Spanish themselves. Nigerians are among the best educated elite in Africa and their command of English is often superb.
Spanish lawyers belong to one of the Bar Associations throughout Spain. There are a total of 83. Every colleged lawyer has a registered number. It is very easy to check in less than a minute if a Spanish lawyer is legitimate i.e. registered to practice Law in Spain (just follow this link).
Besides, registered lawyers have Professional Indemnity Insurance.
These fraudsters will contact you by a cold-call, e-mail or letter offering you either of the following 'services':
1.- As the only beneficiary of a Spanish inheritance from some distant (and unknown) relative in Spain that has passed away.
2.- Offering to recover resale time share deposits in ongoing court proceedings (Reclaim Certificates). They will offer you "group actions" against timeshare companies through cold-calls. Ask them how they obtained your contact details and the details of your timeshare investment. Remember that legitimate Spanish law firms never cold-call potential clients.
3.- Notifying you that you have won the Spanish Lottery (despite never having played it) as a promotion from the generous Lotto Administration.
4.- Contacting you regarding using your bank account, in exchange of a commission, for some million dollar bank transfer with origin in some dodgy place in Africa. This is known as the Nigerian Letters.
5.- Offer to assist in verification and payment of unclaimed funds of which you are the beneficiary.
6.- Acting as intermediaries in car sales at very reduced prices. They will request you deposit the funds in their lawyer's account.
Please note the information provided in this blog post is of general interest only and is not to be construed or intended as substitute for professional legal advice. This article may be posted freely in websites or other social media so long as the author is duly credited. Plagiarizing, whether in whole or in part, this article without crediting the author may result in criminal prosecution. VOV.
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Photo credit: Daily Mail
As history’s finest investor, Mr Warren Buffet, once said, “You never know who’s swimming naked until the tide rolls out.” Well the tide has rolled out and investors are panicking withdrawing and liquidating their portfolios in a frantic rush against time to raise funds. It is in such dire times of massive redemption requests when Ponzi schemes are unravelled in all crudity and it becomes all too apparent who was in fact swimming naked. Within the last months we’ve witnessed Madoff’s and this very week Stanford’s Ponzi schemes imploding, sucking in their wake thousands of millions of euros. Are we immune in Spain to such financial ploys? Not so.
This scam involves promising high yields (above the market average) to dazzle gullible investors. These yields are actually paid to existing investors from the funds of newcomers. So a Ponzi scheme needs to continuously lure in a base of new investors to self-perpetuate itself. They normally spread themselves like viruses by word-of-mouth but do not frown advertising themselves in local newspapers. The first recorded case was in the USA in the last quarter of the XIX century although its name is taken from an Italian-American immigrant, Charles Ponzi, who fleeced thousands of investors in Boston in the 1920’s out of 10 million dollars.

Not long, normally only months or a couple of years at most, a noticeable exception would be Madoff’s which lasted remarkably over three decades escaping all detection. As these pyramids need to continuously find a new influx of investors to meet the promised repayments of existing ones they eventually self-implode collapsing like a house of cards as they are unable to keep the rapidly growing pace. Noticeable cases in Spain (aimed exclusively at Spaniards) have been Forum Filatélico and AFINSA both dealing with postage stamps.
No-one is too smart. Judging by Madoff’s and now Stanford’s cases in which the World’s supposedly finest and most sophisticated affluent investors have been caught-up one should not underestimate one’s own greed. These scammers are top salesman and bank on people’s greed to make a living. In fact these Ponzi schemes are not that rare at all in Spain.
If you pick up any weekly English newspaper sold in Spain you will read advertisements that promise you suspiciously two digit yields from exotic and often obscure foreign opportunities. Naturally, these financial advisors are unregulated by Spain’s CNMV (the equivalent of the UK’s FSA) and prey exclusively on foreigners, preferably on their own countrymen to create rapport. The reason that Spaniards are not targeted is that they would quickly raise the alarm of the local authorities so they are careful to only target foreigners, the elder the better, so as to go undetected for as long as possible. Then regularly wind up these boiler rooms and move on to their next scam. As it’s often said, if it sounds too good to be true it often is.
You can contact Spain’s CNMV (Spain's equivalent to the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority) to check the financial advisors that have contacted you are indeed regulated to offer you financial products such as company shares. The CNMV regularly updates in its website such fraudulent companies. If you suspect the yield is too high you may want to take a second professional opinion from an unbiased source such as a chartered financial advisor or a qualified lawyer.
Larraín Nesbitt Lawyers, small on fees, big on service.
Larraín Nesbitt Lawyers is a law firm specialized in taxation, conveyancing, inheritance and litigation. We will be very pleased to discuss your matter with you. You can contact us by e-mail at info@larrainnesbitt.com, by telephone on (+34) 952 19 22 88 or by completing our contact form.
Please note the information provided in this blog post is of general interest only and is not to be construed or intended as substitute for professional legal advice. This article may be posted freely in websites or other social media so long as the author is duly credited. Plagiarizing, whether in whole or in part, this article without crediting the author may result in criminal prosecution. VOV.
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The (12 month) Euribor fell today to 3.085%, and will set the average for December at 3.4%.
The Euribor (ER) is the rate of interest at which banks lend to each other. It is the reference which most Spanish Lenders take to set the mortgages’ rate of interest. This rate is reviewable by your bank, depending on your Mortgage Deed, every six months or once a year. The European Central Bank (ECB), which sets European Monetary Policy for all EU members with the exception of the UK, has no direct control over the ER.
Post credit-crunch fear, shortage of liquidity in the markets, widespread bankruptcies and plummeting stock prices unseen since 1929’s infamous Wall Street’s Stock Market Crash has gripped banks with fear in the last quarter of 2008. This fear to lend to each other due to the mutual mistrust on one another’s writedowns has fuelled the ER hiking it to levels which were unprecedented historically.
In line with the US, the European Central Bank has lowered consecutively the interest rate which indirectly affects the ER. The Euribor rate reached an all time high on October 2008 peaking at 5.393%. To this you must add the spread on paying a mortgage which typically for a non-resident will be 1% on top of the Euribor rate. This caused a surge of mortgage defaults in 2008.
The reason being is that the ECB is lagging behind the United States Monetary Policy which has now set its interest rate at almost zero (0.25% to be exact) to hopefully fuel the ailing American economy. So the ECB has quite some catching up to do next year as its interest rate is currently held at 2.50%. Currently the Euribor rate for 12 months is set at 3.085%
In any case the continued policy of the European Central Bank to lower the interest rates over the last months will help to drive down the Euribor rate which is always news most welcomed by everyone, specially borrowers. Spanish banks will revise and adjust the Euribor rate which in turn will lower your monthly mortgage repayments. This normally happens in July.
For example, a typical mortgage of €300,000 revisable next July 2009 could drop by as much as €550 a month if the Euribor rate continues its downward trend and hits the 2% forecasted by financial experts by mid 2009.
So for all those that are struggling to pay their mortgage loan and are considering defaulting you should be aware of this significant drop in 2009. We suggest you find out at your bank when the Euribor rate will be adjusted for your own particular case and how much money you stand to save.
Related articles
Bank Repossessions in Spain – 21st February 2014
Advice to Struggling Mortgage Borrowers – 8th March 2011
Bad Debtor’s List (‘Fichero de Morosos’) – 8th April 2014
Spanish Creditors Pursuing Debts Abroad – 8th May 2014
Please note the information provided in this blog post is of general interest only and is not to be construed or intended as substitute for professional legal advice. This article may be posted freely in websites or other social media so long as the author is duly credited. Plagiarizing, whether in whole or in part, this article without crediting the author may result in criminal prosecution. VOV.
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For those unable to service their Spanish mortgage a dacion en pago (datio pro soluto), is one of the proposed solutions we highlighted on our previous article regarding Bank Repossessions in Spain.
In plain English, dacion en pago means handing over the keys to the bank, and in exchange the bank will discharge all mortgage debt not holding you liable in the future. They will also renounce pursuing the debt in your home country or elsewhere against any other assets you may hold. This solution of last resort puts an end to many people’s growing nightmare as the mortgage debt mounts up and becomes unbearable. On you defaulting a mortgage debt in Spain, the debt goes personally against you, not against the property itself. That is why many defaulting borrowers are realizing with shock that in despite of the lender having repossessed their Spanish property, they may chase you back in your home country or elsewhere for the outstanding debt.
The dacion en pago involves you signing a deed at a Notary Public by which the bank commits itself not to chase you in the future for the debt and consider it discharged for good. The catch is that the property must not be in negative equity. This is actually more difficult than people think because due to the easy credit of the last years the loan-to-value of properties was very high, too high in fact, hence all the bank related problems we read on a daily basis with massive write downs carried out by Lenders. People borrowed far too much and now their properties may have fallen below their initial loan. If this happens, the lender will be reluctant to agree to this dacion en pago because the property will have no equity left. In this case if a solution cannot be reached the bank will repossess the property. Banks can sell the non-performing mortgage prior to it going to auction. Transfer Tax of 7% has to be paid on the value of the property as if it were a normal conveyance. Some banks will impose that this tax burden is borne by the borrower.
So if you are finding trouble keeping up with your mortgage repayments or you reasonably foresee you may fall in arrears soon and your property is still in positive equity you may suggest this option to your lender. However, it’s only up to the bank to decide on whether they are willing to accept it or not. Some banks are reluctant yet others will consider it although a specific case-by-case study will be required.
The bank will evaluate if this option is in line with its best interests and will determine the amount of equity left in the property commanding an updated appraisal if necessary. If the numbers stack up, they will accept it. You will both sign the deed at a Notary’s and that will be the end of the matter. We advise you to hire a lawyer to make sure your debt will be totally discharged; besides you will need an impartial translator acting for you.
It’s a win-win for both parties really. The borrower is free at last and has managed to secure successfully his assets abroad from the lender or any law firm or debt collection company they may hire to pursue the outstanding debt. The lender on the other hand will now own the property outright and will have successfully waived a lengthy and expensive court procedure (repossession) without having to apply provisions to the Bank of Spain to make up for this dubious loan. These provisions set aside by banks are being looked upon closely by credit-rating agencies post credit crunch.
You can read a detailed article on the dación en pago de deuda here:
The Dación en Pago Explained – 8th December 2013
Larraín Nesbitt Lawyers, small on fees, big on service.
Larraín Nesbitt Lawyers is a law firm specialized in inheritance, conveyancing, taxation and litigation. We will be very pleased to discuss your matter with you. You can contact us by e-mail at info@larrainnesbitt.com, by telephone on (+34) 952 19 22 88 or by completing our contact form.
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Please note the information provided in this blog post is of general interest only and is not to be construed or intended as substitute for professional legal advice. This article may be posted freely in websites or other social media so long as the author is duly credited. Plagiarizing, whether in whole or in part, this article without crediting the author may result in criminal prosecution. VOV.
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Photo credit: Chattanooga Times
Today it has been confirmed that Spain will guarantee all bank deposits up to €100,000. Until today the minimum amount guaranteed by law throughout Europe was €20,000 in case a bank filed for bankruptcy.
In practice, UE members have the freedom to raise the yardstick as they see fit. Such has been the case of the United Kingdom which has raised this week the minimum amount protected from 33,000 to 50,000 GBP in retaliation to Ireland’s unilateral decision of protecting the full amount of their depositors funds. This has created liquidity problems to UK banks which have witnessed massive withdrawals of funds seeking the save haven of Irish banks. Following Ireland’s decision last week, Germany also guaranteed the full amount of private individual’s bank deposits on Monday the 6th October. Many other European countries have followed Germany’s example this week.
In view of the unilateral increases of Ireland and the United Kingdom, the European Union’s Finance Ministers (Ecofin) gathered and decided today to raise the minimum amount protected from €20,000 up to €50,000. All European countries will now be forced to guarantee at least the said amount having the liberty to raise it. Spain only protected €20,000 until early this morning.
Spain’s president, Mr Zapatero, held an urgent meeting yesterday in Madrid with Spain’s six most prominent banks and savings banks promising to raise the minimum protected amount above the UE’s new threshold of €50,000 without specifying any concrete amount.
We welcome these measures, as they should help reduce the sense of panic and bring back confidence in the banking system.
Larraín Nesbitt Lawyers, small on fees, big on service.
Larraín Nesbitt Lawyers is a law firm specialized in taxation, conveyancing, inheritance and litigation. We will be very pleased to discuss your matter with you. You can contact us by e-mail at info@larrainnesbitt.com, by telephone on (+34) 952 19 22 88 or by completing our contact form.
Please note the information provided in this blog post is of general interest only and is not to be construed or intended as substitute for professional legal advice. This article may be posted freely in websites or other social media so long as the author is duly credited. Plagiarizing, whether in whole or in part, this article without crediting the author may result in criminal prosecution. VOV.
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Some of you have probably recently read in the press that Spanish Inheritance Tax has been abolished, and have received the news with excitement! Well, I don’t believe that anyone is in a hurry to pass away to benefit from this supposed tax exemption, but it would indeed mean a relief for all of those concerned about the Inheritance Tax burden for our heirs when the time comes!
As our colleague Fernando Del Canto rightly points out in his excellent blog, the news is incorrect. Apparently, Spain’s Government has published in the English version of their site a press release in which they mistakenly claim that the abolishment of Inheritance Tax is to be approved.
The text, lost in translation, is as follows:
The Government approves the abolition of Inheritance Tax and 24 reforms aimed at economic recovery
Thursday, 14 August 2008
The president of the Government appeared after today’s extraordinary Cabinet Meeting to explain the economic reform programme that is focussed on six strategic sectors: finance for small and medium sized enterprises, housing, transport, energy, climatic change, telecommunications and the information society, and services. These reforms will take place during 2008 and 2009 with the aim of helping families and businesses, and preparing for economic recovery.
[…]
Adopted measuresThe head of the Government announced that the Bill for abolishing inheritance tax, to come into effect from 1 January 2008, has been referred to Parliament. This represents a fiscal improvement of 1,800 million euros for approximately one million taxpayers.
[…]
We would like to confirm that, unfortunately, this is just an error due to a poor technical translation into English. What the Government meant to inform was that Property Wealth Tax, as already reported at large by the media, was to be abolished as from the 1st of January 2008.
Please note the information provided in this blog post is of general interest only and is not to be construed or intended as substitute for professional legal advice. This article may be posted freely in websites or other social media so long as the author is duly credited. Plagiarizing, whether in whole or in part, this article without crediting the author may result in criminal prosecution. VOV.
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As read on the Sur newspaper, more than 9,000 landlords have adopted in their tenancy contracts the Arbitrage System which allows eviction associated costs to be cut down significantly. Malaga is the Andalousian province in which this practice has been most successful. More than 8.980 Tenancy Agreements uphold the arbitrage system should one of the parties breach the contract i.e. non-payment.
This system was created back in 2004 and allows to significantly reduce both the associated expenses as well as the necessary eviction time compared to a normal court procedure (which normally averages at least 10 months). However, this system only works if both parties, tenant and landlord, abide the mandatory Arbitral Award something which does not always happen as non-paying tenants may only buying time with no real intention of paying the arrears.
The Arbitral Court guarantees that the case will be examined within 30 days, often even less. The main advantage would be the swiftness in which the arbitral award is obtained. This is particular important in cases in which the landlord offsets the rent against his mortgage repayments.
To apply for it is only necessary to request it in one of the 120 real estate agencies of Malaga province which are homologated by the Arbitral Court or simply including it as a clause in the Tenancy agreement waiving the ordinary court procedure. It only costs 42 Euros plus a further 300 Euros in case of a protracted conflict. A normal court procedure would have an average cost of at least 2.300 Euros. The second advantage would be the considerable amount of money it saves the landlord.
Another option available to the Landlord is to hire a Rental Insurance which cover the event of the tenant defaulting until he is effectively vacated from the property. These insurance companies will request the tenants’ payslips to ascertain their financial ability.
More information on the subject can be found on our article Letting in Spain: The Safe Way.
Larraín Nesbitt Lawyers, small on fees, big on service.
Larraín Nesbitt Lawyers is a law firm specialized in taxation, conveyancing, inheritance and litigation. We will be very pleased to discuss your matter with you. You can contact us by e-mail at info@larrainnesbitt.com, by telephone on (+34) 952 19 22 88 or by completing our contact form.
Related articles and blog posts
Please note the information provided in this blog post is of general interest only and is not to be construed or intended as substitute for professional legal advice. This article may be posted freely in websites or other social media so long as the author is duly credited. Plagiarizing, whether in whole or in part, this article without crediting the author may result in criminal prosecution. VOV.
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Thirteen local councils in Málaga province will revise and update the cadastral values (valor catastral) of properties within their limits, translating into increases which range from 80% to 300%. It is expected that the increase for residential properties will be no more than an average of 150%.
The increase in cadastral value is quite significant, as this figure is a benchmark which is used in calculating various taxes in Spain, such as IBI Tax, IIVT (or Plusvalía Municipal Tax), Wealth and Income Tax and the dreaded Inheritance Tax. The cadastral value, which is generally well below the true market value of real estate, is regularly updated every decade or so, as not to significantly detach the taxable values from those of the market. The single most important factor that raises or lowers the cadastral value is the appreciation or depreciation in value of the land.
In the Málaga province these updates were carried in general in the 80s and mid 90s. The municipalities of Alfarnate, Arenas, Atajate, Benamargosa, Benaoján, Cútar, El Burgo, Cuevas de San Marcos, Gaucín, Jubrique, Málaga (city) Totalán and Abdalajís Valley will all be updating the cadastral value of real estate in their territory. In some of these towns the cadastral value hasn’t been updated since 1989 such as in El Burgo or Gaucín. IBI tax may well even triple in these municipalities as from next year.
Important cities in Málaga province such as Estepona or Vélez Málaga already updated their cadastral values last year. However many other towns will also have to update them soon, such as Marbella (unrevised since 1988), Alhaurín de la Torre (1996), Benahavís (1996), Campillos (1996), Cártama (2000), Manilva (1997), Rincón de la Victoria (1999), Ronda (1998) or Torrox (2000).
Most owners have IBI tax set as a standing order against their Spanish bank accounts. Make sure that you have enough funds in your bank account before this tax is due (normally between June and September). Regarding Property Income tax (Property Wealth Tax is due to disappear next year), your solicitor will let you know how much this figure is.
Please note the information provided in this blog post is of general interest only and is not to be construed or intended as substitute for professional legal advice. This article may be posted freely in websites or other social media so long as the author is duly credited. Plagiarizing, whether in whole or in part, this article without crediting the author may result in criminal prosecution. VOV.
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