Looking for property in Pego

Hi Beverley and Rein, firstly are you looking for a ‘holiday’ home or somewhere to live permanently?

Would seriously suggest that you do not rush into anything, nor allow yourselves to be ‘bullied’ into buying anything nor putting down a ‘reservation’ fee with the estate agency. My advice would be to seriously do your research on the main Spanish property portal - Kyero - which is very comprehensive and which can be parsed quite easily with tthe available  filters to narrow down your search.

Also most Spanish estate agencies have an online presence and its easy enough to register with them specifying your parameters. You will find that ‘exclusivity’ is not necessarily a selling tool here, as most property will be available from multiple agents, that’s just the way it works.

Be very careful if you are looking for the dream house in the country - many of them are still enmeshed in the illegal development scenario; the main problem being that the minimum legal position for building on rustic land is 1 property per 10000 square metres - many rustic properties do not have this, especially recently built. Some of them have been legalised and others may well be, but beware.

Do not use any solicitor affiliated in any way to your estate agent; however charming they may all be, you need total independence from your legal advisor. Also make sure that any legal help you employ is a proper legal Spanish abogado/a, no-one else has any legal standing, no matter what they say. Whilst most official estate agents are honest, do bear in mind that their loyalty is to their Client, the vendor, and they are not your friend; they have been known to glide swiftly over potential difficulties

On top of your purchase price you must factor into your budget charges of approx 12% over and above the basic price of your property: comprising purchase tax, land registry fees, solicitor’s fees and various other disbursements which all add up; this will be charged on whichever property you buy.

Would also suggest that you make a research trip to decide more exactly what you would like, which gives you more of an opportunity to reflect on what you’ve seen.

Hope this doesn’t seem too daunting, its not intentional, but simply clarification.

Good Luck!

Agree with the advice posted above.

Don't limit yourself to one town.

Don't limit yourself to the usual suspects estate agents.

Spend all the time you have now researching via the Spanish property portals.

Don't come out in August to buy something, come out to continue your research - " time spent on reconnaissance is seldom wasted". Then go home and think about it.

Anything specific you want to know, ask away. If you don't have specific questions either you know it all already, or you haven't researched enough to know what you don't know !

Hi Stephanie,

Thankyou so much for you comprehensive reply.

We are looking to buy a townhouse that we can renovate and Pego seems like a lovely town.

Are there any local estate agents and lawyers that you could recommend as we literally don't know where to start.

We are looking at our journey in August as a fact finding mission but i feel we should view some properties while we are there.

This property is for our retirement so we intend to live there full time.

Many thanks

Beverley and Rein

Hi Relyat,

Thankyou for your very sound advice.

Do you know of any decent estate agents or laywers as it seems like a real minefield. We are worried about trusting anyone.

Many thanks

Beverley and Rein

I can recommend an abogado, she was recommended to us and I have no fault with her service.

Agents, as examples look at Ortola, Tienda de viviendas, Casasycia.  There are loads.

Why Pego particularly? There are lots of towns in the area with similar things to offer.

Hi Relyat,

We intend to look at all the towns but some are out of our price range.

We have renovated property before and so we would prefer to do this so we can create a property we love.

We are not looking for anything fancy, just a small townhouse so we can use our pension to enjoy ourselves.

It is of course a concern that property at the lower end of the market is priced low for a reason that we may not be aware of or understand. We have our limitations as we are not builders.

Really hope we are not heading for a fall.

Regards

Beverley and Rein

There's certainly plenty of choice! 

If you didn't know, bear in mind that you need a licence to break wind here!! This means that practically anything you want to do to your house should be licenced by the council, this can be time consuming and potentially expensive. If you consider using a builder to do any work it is still your responsibility to obtain the licence.

Renovation etc is possible, obviously, but be prepared for the process to be different to what you might be used to.

Good luck with the research. We all had to start somewhere and all the questions have been asked before so don't worry about asking again.

Hi, I would reiterate that you should seriously do your research online before you come and as Relyat says, dont limit yourselves to Pego, but do include th e other local towns in your search. the more time you spend researching, the better the outcome will be. You should be perfectly safe if you use a completely independent abogado as we stated earlier.

Also, as stated by Relyat ‘renovating’ a property here is not the same as elsewhere. You do need a licence officially to change so much as one kitchen tile. anything involving even minor structural changes, such as removing a non load bearing internal wall, will require Architect’s drawings and submissions to the Council. And anything over and above that will require even more licences and drawings.

Many of the ‘cheaper’ properties may not have plumbing and electrical services that we would recognise as adequate - the electrical supplies here go by levels of kilowatt supply to the property and the existing may not be adequate for your requirements. For example, many properties only have a roughly 3.75 kilowatts supply - this can be severely limiting considering what we all regard as basically acceptable these days and to obtain more than this your service will have to be upgraded and certified by a licencee electrician before the supply company - usually Iberdrola as they own all the infrastructure - will consent to updating your supply. The plumbing can also be challenging as most of it will not be to what we consider acceptable and can be fairly difficult. 

Before committing yourselves to any purchase, bear in mind that ;renovation’ is really likely to be much more than a good coat of paint and a new kitchen/bathroom - the latter two will require a licences in any event. Would advise you to think seriously about what you are committing to - renovating a property for a holiday place is different tothat in which you intend to live. 

Most Spanish properties are not built to deal with the extremely cold winter weather and heating will be an essential.

Having said all of this, it is not impossible, but I don’t want you to think that its a simple job of a few subcontractors and job done. You must comply with the local town Hall planning guidelines or you may find yourselves in serious trouble. Any alterations can also affect your property value and thus your ‘rates’ etc. Would suggest that if you find somewhere that you promptly consult the local town Hall to find out if there are any restrictions on what you may do and wha they re likely to permit you to do.

As long as you are prepared to undertake any works legally, then although lengthy, the process is reasonably simple, just a nuisance!!!!!

Hi Stephanie,

You have certainly given use information we did not know.

As long as a property is habitable we can renovate slowly but the situation regarding electricity is interesting.

We would like to keep in touch as we may have further questions

Our sincere thankls

Beverley and Rein