Suma Bill for previous owner - Page 2

Unfortunately in Spain, debts follow the property, not the owner. If there are any outstanding bills then the new owners take on those bills.

Your solicitor should have made sure there were no outstanding debts or kept sufficient funds from the sale to cover them. I have seen several owners get hit for community fees as the sellers should get a letter from the administrators to show there are no outstanding debts. This is also the responsibility of the solicitor to ensure this letter is produced. Same with any outstanding utility bills.

When you take on ownership you also take on all the existing debts from the previous owner. This is why it is important to use the services of a good solicitor.

The above also applies to car ownership as well, always make sure there are no outstanding debts or fines.

Thank you for reply We had solicitor who has dealt with our legal things a lot time now He assured us all was OK and up to date The sellers solicitor was with Home Espana and they had given assurance also .Will check with our solicitor in los alcazares on Tuesday Suma had said also that we weren't liable in October Now seems we are Thanks again

Whoever owns the property on Jan 1st is liable for the IBI.

But the bills aren’t issued until after this date and payment isn’t taken until Sept /Oct.

So technically what you were told is correct, that as you didn’t own the property on  01/01/23 you have nothing pay for 2023, your first payment should be for 2024 , which you’ll need to pay  in Sept/Oct  this year. So when you purchased in Jan 23  the amount of IBI wouldn’t have been known and payment was not yet due. So both your solicitor the vendors solicitor and the SUMA office are correct in theory. 

But it all depends on how your solicitor handled the case. They will have retained some funds to pay outstanding bills. Or they could have negotiated with the vendors solicitor that you would be liable for all or part of the years IBI especially as you purchased in January.

The answer lies in the hands of your solicitor as they will have records of the negotiations. I’m sure when you contact them, you will get the answer.

As other have said  any debt stays with the property 

Lynn

After we moved/Bought in in Feb 2018, we got the bills from Suma addressed to the previous owner. They told me it wasn't my problem, it was the previous owners! They would sort it out. We have bought 3 houses here, the first we bought in May and came to an agreement to pay for 8 months, when the bill came I contacted the previous owner and we paid him 8/12s of the bill. 2nd house bought in Feb, the seller was a bit of an A.H. so we let him pay the lot as with the last house.

M