Official UK Apostille Service

UK Apostille Service

UK Apostille Service

Recently I needed to get a UK document legalised with an Apostille so as to present it to the Spanish government. After doing a brief search on the Internet, I notice that there are a variety of sites offering an Apostille service. Most of these so-called services cost a fortune and many of them appear decidely dubious! However I came across the ONLY OFFICIAL UK APOSTILLE site and they offer to legalise your documents via post. You only have to pay an extra £6 (sterling) for it to be sent via registered post and your rquest will normally be processed within 48 hours of receipt.

Legalisation is the official confirmation that a signature, seal or stamp on a UK public document is genuine. Legalisation is usually required by foreign authorities before they will allow a UK document to be used for official purposes in their country. They can legalise most UK documents as long as they bear an original signature, seal or stamp from a UK public organisation or official practising in the UK.

Visit their site here: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/what-we-do/services-we-deliver/legal-services/legalisation/

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Movistar Connection Problems

Movistar 3G Problems

Movistar 3G Problems

Movistar, the leading mobile telephone in Spain, are having probelms with their 3G mobile network coverage. After almost a day of not being able to receive or make calls on my iPhone, I decided to call Telefónica and see what was going on. This problem also affected my work colleague who has a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

The basic problem is that affected mobiles cannot make or receive calls whilst the 3G network coverage is active so the trick is to deactive the 3G service on your phone. This of course is only a temporary measure until Movistar can sort out their problem because once you deactivate the 3G service, if you use your phone to surf the Internet and read emails, then everything will go REALLY slow.

To deactivate the 3G on the iPhone, go to SETTINGS, GENERAL, NETWORK and turn the switch to OFF (0) on the ACTIVATE 3G option. Then under the main SETTINGS menu, go to OPERATOR menu and select MANUAL option and also MOVISTAR. Obviously, to activate the 3G coverage again, just follow the same proceedure and turn the switvh ON (1).

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New Terminal At Málaga Airport

Málaga's New Terminal

Málaga's New Terminal

Málaga airport had its new terminal officially opened on Monday 15th Abril by the Spanish Royals: King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia. The huge new terminal and runways will mean that the airport has capacity to deal with 30 million passengers per year – double the current number.  There will also be six thousand metres squared of bars, cafes and restaurants and 2,800 metres squared of shops in the redeveloped airport, including 21 new food & drinks premises and 24 shops. Plus Starbucks will be opening  in the terminal, providing its uniquely priced coffee and cakes ;) and making it the first branch to open in the province of  Málaga.

With over 300 million Euros invested in the project, Málaga airport has become the principal aviation infrastructure for Andalucía., and the fourth largest in Spain when it comes to the volume of travellers. Inside the terminal are 180 mcheck-in desks, 48 boarding gates, and 3,700 parking spaces.

Now all that you have to do is try and find your way around!

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Estate Agents In Spain – Who To Trust

David Laver

David Laver

For most people who arrive in Spain with the intention to purchase a new home perhaps the single most important thing they will need are contacts. These can be schools, solicitors, doctors and estate agents. Who regulates these essential bodies? For estate agents this is a very easy question to answer.

In 2005 the Junta de Andalucía created a new piece of Legislation called the Decree 218, which was designed to make the buying and selling of property more transparent.

With all of the horror stories regarding the mis-selling of property here in Andalucía the Junta introduced a best practice series of rules which must be adhered to or the agent will be fined. These fines start at 6000 euros for a first breach of the law and ultimately in closure for repeated failure to adhere to the rules.

The Decree 218 applies to any business wishing to sell property here in Andalucía and it simply states that the selling agent has to supply the true information about the property which they are showing.

This requires the selling agent to be able to show the potential buyer when asked, a selection of paperwork to support what is being sold.

For every property an Estate Agent has for sale they need to have a copy of the Escritura, Nota Simple, copy of the IBI payments, a Ficha Informativa (written in Spanish) and photographic ID that the owner is the person who signed the paperwork allowing the property to be sold. This means that each time a property is shown the potential purchaser knows what is being sold and by whom.

Don’t be put off by a lack of Spanish as there are just a few words which you need to look for  and these words are certainly the most important and possibly cost effective Spanish words you will ever learn. On the Nota Simple, which is the document from the Land Registry office, the house should be registered as vivienda. If you are buying a house (vivienda) with a pool you are looking for the word piscina (pool). Certainly any Estate Agent selling property inland should be able to speak enough Spanish to translate these documents.

The reality is that as a buyer the paperwork is as important as the property itself. Remember, if your agent tells you that the house you are buying is a two storey property with a pool but the paperwork (Nota Simple) says it is in fact a single storey house with no pool mentioned, then you will have a problem in the future.

Junta de Andalucía

Junta de Andalucía

Every registered Estate Agent will be visited by a team from the Junta de Andalucía once a year. They will arrive unannounced and request to see the all of the paperwork for properties selected at random. If the agent fails to supply the required paperwork they are fined and given a grace period to correct the missing paperwork.

To be sure you are using an Agent who has been inspected successfully is Decree 218 compliant, all you need to do when you meet your agent for the first time is ask to be shown their compliancy paperwork.

For each property you shown, ask to see a copy of the Nota Simple and if you are unable to read it at least look for the words, vivienda and piscina. If the agent cannot do this the best advice I can give is to leave the office and look for another agent.

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Sellers Beware! (part 2)

David Laver

David Laver

Last month I spoke about the importance of having your property properly registered. This month I would like to explain to anyone thinking about selling their rustic property here in Andalucía about a new document being requested more and more by the buyer’s solicitors and, most importantly by banks and lenders.

The document is called “Certificado de Ausencia de Expediente Sancionador y Antigüedad Municipal” (CAESAM for short!).

There are two main reasons for this document; the first is that it tells the buyer’s solicitor and bank that the Town Hall has no outstanding fines or planning irregularities against the property they wish to purchase. The second reason dates back to the original boom in building in the Spanish countryside.

Many properties built on rustic land within the last 10 years were built with the correct plans and licences. Unfortunately, an important part of the registration process was then missed called the “Licencia de la primera ocupación” (First Occupation Licence or LPO for short). When the building of the property was finished a document called a “Fin de Obras” was created. The finished property should then have been inspected by the Town Hall Architect to give the property an ‘LPO’.

This document tells the buyer’s solicitor that the property was built according to the plans submitted, built to the required quality and had been registered as such. For many properties this was not done, as at the time it was considered unnecessary.

Neccessary Paperwork

Neccessary Paperwork

If you own a property on rustic land and do not have the ‘LPO’ the likelihood is that you will be asked to supply the ‘CAESAM’ to the buyer’s solicitor or their bank.

With the tightening of rustic planning laws many solicitors and banks see this new document as a vital part of the searching process and will not allow their clients to purchase without a least one of these documents being available.

The reality is that an important part of the original registration process was missed and this needs to be corrected. The procedure is one which now falls on the owners of properties who wish to sell.

Assuming that the property is correctly registered and has no pending fines or sanctions it is quite a simple process to obtain this document but the cost depends on where your property is located.

The ‘CAESAM’ can take up to 6 weeks to obtain but has no expiry date. If you are looking for a quick sale and completion it may be worth having this document in place when the property is put up for sale and not at beginning of the purchase process when the potential buyer will have to wait.

Junta de Andalucía

Junta de Andalucía

As a buyer looking to buy rural property here in Andalucía, the time has never been better. With regulations having been tightened it gives transparency to the purchase process. Buyers’ solicitors are aware that the Junta wants to clean up bad practice and is looking at every new property purchase here in the countryside to make sure that all relevant paperwork is available and correct. Many processes that should have been completed when current owners purchased but at that time were deemed unnecessary are now a standard requirement. Unfortunately there is a cost to this and it is one that lies with the owner!

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Send Large Files For Free!

Click To Send File(s)

Click To Send File(s)

You’ve taken all those wonderful holiday snaps and videos but as they are all large file sizes, your email provider won’t let you send them. How can you send your digital memories to your family and friends without compressing them down to the size of a stamp and thus losing the quality? The answer is with a free service provided by “We Transfer”.

All you do is go to their website (https://www.wetransfer.com/), select the file or files that you want to send (up to a maximum of 2Gb), enter your email address and the address of the person you want to send the files to and enter an optional message if you wish. Press the “Transfer” button and wait for your files to upload. The files will temporarily be stored on the “We Transfer” servers and a link will be sent to the recipient so that can then download the files you’ve just sent… for free! It doesn’t get an easier than that.

WeTransfer Icon

WeTransfer Icon

If you want to put your house for sale or rent with us, then you can also use this free service to send us the photos of your home if you can’t make it to our office. For more information about the “We Transfer” service then just click on their logo or this link: http://www.wetransfer.info/faq/. Happy file sending!

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Heart FM’s Lee Jay Interviews David Laver

Lee Jay of Heart FM Spain interviewed our Estate Agent David Laver last month so here is a copy of the interview for those of you that missed it. Tune into Heart FM on 95.7FM in the Alhaurín El Grande area or listen online at http://www.heartfmspain.com/. Our thanks go to the staff at Heart FM for providing us with the recordings.

 




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Defend Your Consumer Rights!

FACUA Logo

FACUA Logo

Have you ever been a victim of fraud here in Spain? Have you ever bought a defective product, been refused a refund and not known where to go for help? Fear not as help is at hand in the form of the consumer body FACUA.

FACUA-Consumers in Action is a spanish non-governmental and non-profit organization dedicated to the defence of consumers’ rights. FACUA develops international cooperation actions with several consumers organizations to fight abuses and frauds in a globalized market.

Fight Against Fraud

Fight Against Fraud

FACUA (Federación de Asociaciones de Consumidores y Usuarios de Andalucí­a) has a dedicated Website, which is also available in English, Italian and French, and it covers a wide range of consumer info from cars to electricity bills to mobile phones to dentists. If you are looking for advice or want to know which person you need to complain to then visit https://www.facua.org/es/english.php.

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What To Do In The Event Of Storms and Floods

Flood Airlift Rescue

Flood Airlift Rescue

The heavy rainfall in Andalucía has affected many of the provinces but here locally, the towns of Alhaurín de la Torre and Cártama have been worst hit. Freak flooding has led to the closure of hundreds of roads and railways around Andalucía. Rivers burst their banks in many parts of the region, leading to hundreds of homes being flooded. The ‘Protección Civil’ from Alhaurín has given these practical tips to bear in mind when faced with storms or floods:

Storms in the Countryside

  • Avoid staying on top of hills or high places and do not shelter under trees, especially if they isolated.
  • Stay away from wire fences, railings and other metal objects.
  • If you are driving and are caught in a storm, remember that a closed car can be a good shelter. Slow down, exercise caution and do not stop in areas where you can a lot of water can collect.

 Storms in the City

Within urban areas there are also dangers from lightning.

  • On the street, the shelter from the buildings lowers the risk of lightning strikes.
  • When indoors be careful that there are no drafts, as they attract lightning so close doors and windows in case of storms.
  • You should protect electrical appliances, computers, etc. by unplugging them to avoid them being damaged by a power surge or giving an electric shock. If it is absolutely necessary to have such items plugged in and operating, install a surge protector or a UPS.

 Preventative measures to avoid the risk of flooding

  • Remove from outside the house items that could be washed away.
  • Check periodically the state of the roof, the building gutters and nearby drains.
  • Place important papers and especially hazardous materials in places where there are less risks of water or moisture damage.
  • Do not park vehicles or camp out on dry river beds or river banks to avoid being surprised by a sudden flow of water or a flash flood.

  What to do in case of emergency by heavy rain

  • Remain constantly informed through radio and other media about the weather and the current state of the situation
  • If the house becomes flooded it is essential to leave as soon as possible the basements and ground floors and disconnect the electrical power.
  • Use torches for lighting if possible.
  • If you have to travel, try to use major roads and motorways if possible.
  • If you are in the countryside, move away from rivers, streams and low lying areas of hill slopes.
  • Avoid crossing flooded fords.
  • Move to the highest spots in the area.
Home Flooded

Home Flooded

For some photos (including larger versions of those used in this post) from the recent floods this month in Alhaurín and Cártama please visit the Diario Sur’s page: http://www.diariosur.es/multimedia/fotos/malaga/51266-temporal-malaga-afecta-alhaurin-torre-cartama-(16022010)-0.html

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Can’t Cook – Won’t Cook!

Pepekitchen Logo

Pepekitchen Web

Have you ever fancied yourself as a kitchen wizard or just wanted to be able to make that perfect Spanish Omelette but you lack the necessary culinary skills? Fear not as help is at hand in the form of José Maldonado.

José is the owner of “Pepekitchen” and is a professional Chef who specialises in giving culinary courses throughout the Málaga province. He has taught several “Cooking For Foreigners” classes in the Mijas Town Hall. He even has his own kitchen workshop in Arroyo-de-la-Miel (near Benalmádena) and offers a variety of courses. Perhaps the most interesting ones from a foreigner’s point of view are his “Cursos para extranjeros”, or ‘Courses for Foreigners’. The courses are made up of small groups (6-7 persons maximum), held in the Pepekitchen workshop on Saturday mornings in Arroyo, and the students learn about the local cuisine and culture amongst other things.

Kitchen Workshop For Foreigners

Kitchen Workshop For Foreigners

José also offers tailor made courses according to the individual’s or group’s needs. José will give you a personal assessment with no obligation whatsoever. In the meantime, you can always have a look at the official Website which includes, amongst other things, a recipe for making that famous “Tortilla de Patata”: http://www.pepekitchen.com/articulo/potatoe-spanish-omelette-recipe-tortilla-de-patatas/

The courses are available in English as well, so if Spanish isn’t your strong point, then feel free to contact him in English (or try out your Spanish for that matter if you wish!) using the form below.

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Type the text exactly as it appears in the image below

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