It’s all very well having a right for compensation or repair, but if the response is “Sue me!â€, the water could still be leaking into your home for years and years.
The protection of the house buyer in Spain has improved greatly over the years.
- Bank guarantees for deposits to builders,
- Decennial Insurance and mandatory geological studies to cover failures in the structure,
- Stricter build regulations governing the thousands of processes and materials involved in building a house,
- Builder’s responsibility for all snagging for the first year and important defects for the next two,
- Title insurance and all the other insurances to cover the unexpected,
- Coordination of Title and Catastral descriptions to ensure the buyer is getting what they’ve contracted for,
- Energy certificates (CEE) so that the buyer can compare the likely running and environmental costs,
- Compulsory Technical inspections (ITE) after 50 years to ensure that the structure is safe,
- Etc, etc, etc.
But only the naive will relax and leave it all to others, as the effectiveness of all of these depends upon the people and attitudes involved.
- Will the builders cover up defects to get the job done on a Friday afternoon?
- Will the buyer get answers to the questions they don’t know to ask?
- Will the people who they pay to advise them have a ‘professional conscience’ and complete their work thoroughly?
- Are the assertions that ‘conventions’ and “it’s always been done this way†or “everybody else accepts it†really the case, or just a way of pressing on with the deal and avoiding awkward questions.
- It’s all very well having perfect legal, insurance and guarantee paperwork, but if they don’t describe the property correctly or there are defects, it’s you the buyer who has to suffer the worry and discomfort or even vacating the property until they are repaired. And once the dream has been spoilt, it can be difficult to get back that relaxed feeling of confidence that all is right in the world.
It’s so much better for a buyer to protect themselves before purchase, by having somebody knowledgeable, honest and 100% independent of the selling process, to work for them before they are legally bound into what could be a headache for years to come.
A Building Survey Report combined with experienced advice on the legal documentation will arm the potential buyer with the information required to make a rational decision. Defects can be repaired or a reduction in price negotiated by a buyer with the information the Report will clearly provide or even just the ability to walk away without great financial loss.
The Building Surveyors and Registered Valuers of Survey Spain, internationally recognised RICS Regulated Chartered Surveyors, are here to assist all buyers on the Costas, Inland and Islands of Spain, conscientiously and knowledgeably working 100% for them.
