“I just read the email this morning regarding selling/buying property . I am involved in the property business here for many years now and was surprised that properties were sold with community arrears in place, this harks back to the good old days of ten to fifteen years ago when notarys turned a blind eye to these things.

All notarys are legally bound to be in possession of a community certificate which should come from the administrators of the urbanisation where the property is located …..

This certificate should clearly state that either there is a debt or not and any notary that I have dealt with will not allow the sale to proceed without this. If there is a debt then those acting for the buyers must deduct the amount from the purchase price and pay this to the notary who then transfers it to the administrators.  Also of course they should be in possession of up to date utility bills etc before signing.

The buyers of both of these properties have a case against the notarys where they completed the sale , in short they have broken the law in allowing the sale to proceed without the correct documentation.

I suggest that both of these buyers return to the respective notarys (with a competent Spanish speaker) and ask to see the community certificates that were forwarded by the sellers . If the notarys are not in possession of these then they have clearly broken the law and have a case to answer. If they begin to fob off the buyer and start to point the blame at everyone else then this would make me wary …………… the buck stops with them.

You are of course right in your advice to use an independent solicitor but a word of caution : beware of being ripped off by these, I have had a case recently where a couple were asked for 2800€ to complete a sale from a solicitor that they contacted online who promised them the sun moon and stars. I introduced them to a solicitor who did the whole process for them for 1100€ + IVA. In short potential buyers should always shop around and get advice from reliable sources.”