# Buying bank repossession vila



## Robors2 (Jun 12, 2015)

Hi, has anybody bought repossessed property in Spain, would there be any problems?

I bought my last house in London from the bank about 10 years ago, and except one break in from the gas man, ten visits from beliefs and tons of letters not addressed to me ALL good. 
Cheers
Rob


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## SteveScot (Feb 11, 2013)

Debts on the property stay with the property in Spain. Check what debts are outstanding first!


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Also, the bank does NOT guarantee that the property isn't illegal - strange but true!


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

I have wondered about this, we saw a few bank properties and the second we asked for a LFO they stopped responding. Legally you are not supposed to sell a property without one so I wonder how the banks get around this?

Shame as there were some absolute cracker properties around that didn't exist at all on paper.


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## Dunpleecin (Dec 20, 2012)

Also, previous owners can and have removed anything that's not nailed down, and lots of stuff that is. Copper piping, air con units, boilers, you name it. You might end up with a shell of a property. Make sure you've been to a place and happy with it's condition before even thinking about the paperwork issues.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Robors2 said:


> Hi, has anybody bought repossessed property in Spain, would there be any problems?
> 
> I bought my last house in London from the bank about 10 years ago, and except one break in from the gas man, ten visits from beliefs and tons of letters not addressed to me ALL good.
> Cheers
> Rob


I haven't and don't know anybody who has. The one problem I can possibly see occurring would be whether the people who lost their home were popular in their neighbourhood, in which case you might be seen as part of the clan of vultures that come to pick the bones clean and profit from the misfortune of others, meaning that you might not get a very warm welcome.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Don't forget the potential problem of complementary transfer tax. This occurs when a property is sold for a sum below it's official "valor tasación", which a bank repossession very well might be. Following completion of the sale and payment of transfer tax based on the actual purchase price, Hacienda can (and have done in many cases) send you a bill for the additional transfer tax due based on the "official" value (which is the catastral value x the municipal multiplier for the area it's located in). Make sure you get the bank to tell you what the valor tasación is so you can assess whether an additional amount of transfer tax would be due or not.


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## Robors2 (Jun 12, 2015)

Thank you for all great replays , It looks like buying from the bank could be a little bit tricky and I do not want to start relationship with the neighbours on the bad note. 
Cheers
Rob


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## Dunpleecin (Dec 20, 2012)

One other problem is that banks often don't accept the asking price for a property despite the price it's advertised at, if a couple of people are interested, they will up the price too.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

baldilocks said:


> I haven't and don't know anybody who has. The one problem I can possibly see occurring would be whether the people who lost their home were popular in their neighbourhood, in which case you might be seen as part of the clan of vultures that come to pick the bones clean and profit from the misfortune of others, meaning that you might not get a very warm welcome.


I don't know anybody in Spain who thinks like that. People might get angry at the banks for certain repossessions, but if the bank subsequently places the property on the open market at a reduced price and somebody decides to buy it then I can't imagine anyone accusing them of being a vulture. Besides, from what I've seen in our urbanisation, the people being repossessed usually owe a lot of money to the community and most of the neighbours are glad to have a new neighbour who might actually pay their part.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Chopera said:


> I don't know anybody in Spain who thinks like that. People might get angry at the banks for certain repossessions, but if the bank subsequently places the property on the open market at a reduced price and somebody decides to buy it then I can't imagine anyone accusing them of being a vulture. Besides, from what I've seen in our urbanisation, the people being repossessed usually owe a lot of money to the community and most of the neighbours are glad to have a new neighbour who might actually pay their part.


Where I live, on the other hand, properties which have been repossessed by banks have often been targeted by thieves who have stripped them of fixtures and fittings, and quite a few have been squatted (unlike empty properties owned by individuals, whether Spanish or foreign).


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Lynn R said:


> Where I live, on the other hand, properties which have been repossessed by banks have often been targeted by thieves who have stripped them of fixtures and fittings, and quite a few have been squatted (unlike empty properties owned by individuals, whether Spanish or foreign).


Yes that's a good point - the op needs to know if the property is still occupied or not. If the buyer is left having to kick out a family currently living there because the bank has been unable to evict them, then they might well be unpopular. My original point was that most people won't hold a grudge against someone buying an empty property from a bank, even if the bank has previously evicted someone who was popular. The blame (if any) tends to go towards the party that carries out the eviction.


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

A row of bank owned town houses close by have been stripped of everything possible. From boilers to built in fridges, even plastic plug covers and light switches have gone. I wonder if the bank knows as they are still asking crazy prices for them.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Isobella said:


> A row of bank owned town houses close by have been stripped of everything possible. From boilers to built in fridges, even plastic plug covers and light switches have gone. I wonder if the bank knows as they are still asking crazy prices for them.


I suspect the bank is well aware it's asking crazy prices, but they have to increase the value of the assets on their books to make them appear solvent. It's actually fraudulent to misquote the value of your assets, but these are banks we're talking about, and this is Spain.


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