RURAL SPANISH PROPERTY

An Introduction to buying country property in rural Spain

The number of British people buying country property in rural Spain has surged in the last 5 years. High prices and over-crowding on the Spanish coasts have driven Spanish property buyers inland, whilst EU-funded improvements in infrastructure have made rural areas more viable as destinations. Numerous programmes on British TV that paint a picture of rural bliss on the cheap have also played their part in stimulating demand for Spanish country property, but at the same time ignoring many of the issues that can so easily sour the experience. Whilst a rural Spanish property is perfect for many people, for others it is a misguided fantasy of bucolic happiness that goes badly wrong. Owning rural Spanish property is very different from owning in a purpose-built urbanization on one of the Costas. Rural life, even just a few kilometres inland, has a rhythm all of its own, unchanged for generations. If you make the effort to join in and embrace their way of life, you can experience a quality of life that is virtually extinct in Britain and other northern European countries. Buyers need to be especially realistic about their reasons for buying rural Spanish property and decidedly cautious about how they buy.

Estate agents in rural Spain

Perhaps the biggest problem for British buyers lies in finding a remotely competent rural estate agent to deal with. Spaniards generally buy rural property through word of mouth or local dealers called corredores who typically charge 1% of the agreed price to each party. British buyers, on the other hand, usually run the gauntlet of dealing with the new breed of British estate agents that have sprung up in Spains emerging rural destinations.
British buyers using British estate agents in Spain's rural areas is normally a case of the blind leading the blind. Many agents are recent arrivals that have drifted into selling property for lack of professional alternatives, often once their B&B plans have flopped. Ill-informed and with derisory Spanish that prevents them from understanding even the simplest legal documents they set about selling rural Spanish property to naïve British buyers. The fact that their clients know marginally less than they do is their greatest asset, and to make matters worse they often charge eye watering commissions of up to 35% on cheaper properties. The widely held belief that Brits don't rip off other Brits when selling Spanish property is far from accurate.

Here are some the other tricks that foreign - mainly British - estate agents selling rural Spanish property get up to:

1. Listing properties online that are not available for sale, or below the vendor's asking price. This is what I call 'web bait' and it is used to lure buyers into making contact and arranging a visit. When the buyer does indeed visit they are told that the vendor has just put the price up or the property has just been sold. Some of these agents will even take a deposit from buyers without any power to sell the property.
2. Misleading clients into believing that the rural property they are buying has correct title deeds. As often is not this is due to incompetence. The estate agents can't understand title deeds in Spanish, so have no way of knowing that land is included with the title, and what dwellings are legal.
3. Defrauding buyers into thinking that a property has more land than is the case. Some agents will intentionally deceive clients into thinking that the property is bigger than it is. It is very easy to point to a distant hill and say 'that is the boundary' whilst it is much more difficult for buyers to discover where the actual boundary lies. Buyers have to be able to interpret the deeds and cross reference these with the plans held at the catastro (in the town hall) to find out what they are actually buying.
4. Misleading clients, intentionally or otherwise, into thinking that new building or refurbishments can be carried out when they can't. For starters never buy land in rural areas on the assumption that you will be able to build a new property there. This is almost certainly not the case. Unless shown planning permission from the town hall, which your lawyer confirms as genuine, you should assume that all offers of plots for building on are a scam. Tread carefully with refurbishment projects too. It is likely that you will be able to refurbish an existing dwelling (if it is legal or can easily be legalised), but it is unlikely that you will be given permission to increase the dwelling's footprint. So you will have to work within the built area that already exists. However if you know how to charm the municipal architect and present an attractive plan in the right way, you may be able to increase the footprint by up to 20%, but don't count on it.
5. Making false claims about access to utilities, or the costs of installing access to utilities.
6. Massively understating the true cost of refurbishments, and then recommending builders who add 5 to 10% kickback commissions onto the budget.

Buying rural Spanish property is a complex business that requires help from genuine experts if you wish to avoid serious problems. This is not due to any sinister intentions on the part of rural vendors towards foreign buyers. It simply reflects the fact that traditional methods of exchanging rural property in Spain can create a legacy of title deed and boundary problems, and that issues such as refurbishments, mortgages and access to utilities in rural areas can be a nightmare if not dealt with in a knowledgeable and timely way. My advise is only work with British estate agents who can demonstrate at least 10 years of experience in the rural property market, along with an ability to speak fluent Spanish. The ideal solution when buying in rural areas is to use one of the few experienced buyer's agents that cover some popular parts of rural Spain such as Andalusia, Catalonia and the Balearics.

Rural Spanish property and title deed issues

Title deeds, or the lack of them, are another big problem in rural areas. In the worst case title deeds don't even exist. In rural Spain there are many legitimate claims to property that have never been formalised in notarised title deeds. Whilst it is possible to buy these properties, one should just walk away if there aren't any deeds.
More common, though, are title deeds that don't correspond to the amount of land being offered for sale, or that don't reflect the size or existence of a dwelling. It's usually possible to resolve these problems satisfactorily before buying, but once you have bought, the problems become yours, and vendors will have no incentive to help you resolve them. You need to identify title deed problems in good time - something many buyers fail to do - and build the solution into the negotiations with the vendor. The golden rule when buying in rural areas is never buy until the title deeds are correct.

Building permission and renovations in rural Spain

There are still relatively few renovated rural properties on the market outside of Catalonia and the Balearics, though this will change in future. For the time being, though, most rural properties will need substantial work to be made habitable. The problem here is that many buyers overestimate the building permission they will get, and underestimate the costs of refurbishments (often on the advice of estate agents on both counts). The days when you could pick up an old Spanish country property to restore for next to nothing are long gone, and beware of anyone who tells you otherwise. Furthermore, restorations in the Spanish countryside are not cheap, and should only be undertaken with your eyes wide open and with the help of a trusted, local project manager or builder.

Building and planning permission in many of Spain's rural areas is now super-strict and you can only expect permission to refurbish an existing, registered dwelling rather than increase the footprint or build new. Given that most Spanish country properties will need new plumbing, wiring, flooring, damp proofing, plastering and painting, not to mention new kitchens and bathrooms, figure on a budget of 50,000 Euros and up (75,000 Euros and up if a pool is involved) at the very bottom end of the scale. When carrying out refurbishments always use local Spanish builders and not the British cowboy builders that are now all over the place. Note that many estate agents in rural Spain recommend builders who pay them a kickback, which drives up the renovation budget by 5% to 10%.

Other rural Spanish property issues

If you are looking for rural tranquillity and birdsong then make sure you buy a property with an existing connection to the electricity grid. If not you will go mad listening to the sound of your generator. Arranging for a connection to the grid can be a crushing experience in time and money.

Access to water is another critical issue. Few rural properties in Spain are connected to the mains, though this is not usually a problem as one can easily get by with a good deep well in all but the driest parts of the country. However it is essential to look into the water situation before buying, as trying to live in a rural property without water will send you round the bend.

Another crucial issue to bear in mind when buying a country property in rural Spain is how you will fit in with the local community. This question is especially important if you plan to relocate to the Spanish countryside on a permanent or semi-permanent basis.

Mortgage problems with rural properties, rights of way, hunting rights, land-grab concerns (in Valencia) and sceptic tanks are some of the other issues that need to be considered in detail before you buy. You might find your rural idyll in Spain but only if you buy for the right reasons, from the right professionals and with all due caution.