Advice on buying a repossessed property

Bank repossessions are sold either directly from a bank or via an estate agent. A repo is allocated an official repo number to identify it. I have bought a repo in the past from Solvia, the property branch of Sabadell. 

The normal procedure is 500 reservation fee refundable if you pull out within 4 weeks. Balance of 10% payable within 4 weeks. Final balance by bankers draft at Notary. If transferring sterling to a Spanish bank use Transferwise as it is Euro to Euro. (Check your UK bank daily withdrawal limit).

Compra Venta and preparation of Escritura the same as normal purchases. 

In general terms, my advice would be always use an independent Abogado. Use them to ensure your utilities are reconnected after completion. If you have specific questions please ask.

Steve

Do any Banks sell via public auction? 

There are Spanish property auctions, google Spanish Property Auctions, but I don't think Banks hold them.

I'm not sure how they work, and I don't know if repossessions are available there. Maybe someone else will know. Or you could ask one of the auction houses from your search.

Steve

Anecdotal, (from a couple of estate agents). I have been told it's a lengthy process because of the paperwork which has to be dealt with in Valencia (for Valencia Province). Also all utilities are totally disconnected to prevent squatting, so they have to be reconnected. And the prices are not negotiable unless you can submit your reasons in writing to the bank for offering a lower price. There are a lot of Russians around where I am (Gandia) buying for cash, and apparently they won't touch repossessions because they are too much hassle........

Could that be partly due to Banks requiring proof of funds in more detail now?

I put a res fee on another repo 3 years ago and the Bank (Caixa) wanted to see my UK tax return in PDF format! Because it was all liquid funding, no mortgage. 

In the end I pulled out for a different reason, retaining my 500, but it was quite surprising. 

Steve

We bought our house in September 2020 as a repossession via an estate agent.  Ours was a but like bidding on ebay as the bank wanted the highest price they could get for the property by a certain deadline.  We were bidding against another couple which when they upped their bid it moved the deadline, but we won the bid and started the process in the same way as buying any other property.  I will say the bank was incredibly thorough wanting loads of paperwork as proof of funds etc and when you thought they'd had it all they wanted more, but the sale went through in about 2 months.