Staff Reporter
The reason many people don’t like lawyers is because we really like to split hairs. Calling a spade a spade is far too easy. Sometimes, you might be dealing with a shovel, and you didn’t even know it. The same thing happens with contracts.
Buying a house is about as large of a decision a person can try to make. In Spain, it is quite frequent that, before you sign the Deed of Sale in front of a Notary, a private contract between the seller and the buyer will be signed. However, God did not make all contracts the same. And if you’re forking over a substantial amount of money to reserve and prepare the sale of a property, you damn well better know what the fine print says.
There are two big contract families when it comes to buying and selling real estate. On the one hand a deposit contact, referred to in Spanish as arras. Usually in this case, the money paid to the seller will act as a down payment. While there are many kinds of deposit contract, the most widely used, and regulated in the Spanish Civil Code under article 1454, allows for the parties who were going to enter a slae agreement, to unbind themselves. If the buyer pulls out, he or she loses their investment. If, however, it is the seller who has a change of heart, he or she will have to repay double the amount o money received as compensation.
On the other hand, there are the option contracts. These are agreements whereby the seller reserves a property for a specific buyer for a certain span of time. This reservation, as with nice restaurants, fast cars, slow horses and certain members of the fairer sex (men can be fair nowadays too), comes with a price. In other words, the buyer might be forking over a large amount of cash, that only buys them TIME and is not necessarily a down payment on the house. The buyer could in this case, request full payment of the sale price at the Notary Office.
Most contracts today will include elements of both the deposit or arras, and the option contract. This is why you should always read your contracts carefully, and if possible, have a professional run through it with you. Nothing ruins marital bliss like realizing you didn’t put a deposit on the house in Spain, you just reserved it for six months.
Plan for the worst, get the best.
Juan Pascual Drake.
Abogado-Drake
FEEL FREE TO GET IN CONTACT FOR A CONSULTATION.
Juan Pascual Drake
Tel: 689 421 542
Address: 12 Sorni str., Entresuelo, 46004 Valencia
Email: oficina@abogado-drake.com
Web: https://www.abogado-drake.com/
