6-The not so very nice surprise when getting my apartment
Signing the contract and opening the door to my own apartment for the first time
(It may be a good idea to read the posts in order, hence starting with the oldest one, that will make the blog easier to follow)
As you know, if you have read the previous post, I finally found an apartment I wanted to buy.
As you know, if you have read the previous post, I finally found an apartment I wanted to buy.
It was in a horrible state and when I first saw it, it was full of all the belongings a family can collect during a long life.
The sellers were the grown children of the couple who had lived in it, and they, themselves, grew up in the apartment as well.
During the signing ceremony, the Notary is reading the contract loud to ensure that everybody knows what is to be signed. This is a tedious process because of the Spanish love for bureaucracy, long words, and above all big bunches of paper and details. However, this bunch of papers may very well be the most important document you will ever hold. Especially since I do not really trust the registries and thereby this document is in fact the only proof you have that you are the real owner of the property.
Since everything will happen in Spanish, make sure you have a lawyer or, at least, someone you trust who will sit with you and listen to this reading. This is your only and last chance to back out or make changes to the contract.
While waiting for our turn to sign the contract, I did some light chit-chatting with the sellers;
- Hi, how nice to see you again. It must have been a really big job to empty the apartment?
- Yes indeed, but actually it is not completely empty. We thought it was a pity to throw everything away, so we let some antiques stay in the apartment, they answered.
- Oh, well. Thank you. At least I can take a look and see if it is something I want to keep.
- Yes that is what we thought...
Ok great, I thought. So if I do not want the stuff I could just sell it. No problem.
Well, after signing the contract and with the keys jingling in my pocket, I took the metro to La Latina and went straight to my apartment. to MY apartment. Wow what a feeling!!
I set the keys in my door. in MY door! turn the key and open and I am prepared to just walk around for a bit...
I cannot believe my eyes. I close the door. Take a deep breath and open the door again. This is what I see:
Yes, it is true. the bastards had actually not taken one single thing away from the overly cluttered and dirty apartment.
It is still full of things and garbage;
Old crappy and disgusting furniture, ashtrays full of cigarette butts, old and dirty underwear, garbage, old rotten food. They have not even taken out the garbage.
How can anyone leave an apartment in this state? If not for anything else so for shame! And would any one really want a stranger to go through old papers, letters and underwear of his/her dead parents?
So, what to do? I was close to crying and called the old owners who replied thus:
- Well you bough the apartment so cheap so we would not dream of doing the work for you. Good bye.
What was I to do? Sue them? Well as previously explained that is expensive and a very slow process, so I decided to try to just forget about it. I called a cleaning company and got an offer (800 euros) to get the place cleaned out, which I accepted.
A good advice may be to actually request that the ceremony of signing the contract happens in the property you are going to buy. That way you will be aware of the state the place is in, before you sign the purchase contact.
Next chapter will be the start of a series of posts covering the renovation and the surrealistic world of the neighbor communities in Spain.
This series of blog posts will be of big importance for anyone wanting to do a renovation of your property, and is useful even for persons having owned the property for years.
You will probably think I have invented half of the tings and problems that has happened and still are happening to me, but I can assure you they are all true!
You will probably think I have invented half of the tings and problems that has happened and still are happening to me, but I can assure you they are all true!
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2 comments
I can't wait to be invited to Madrid to see the new place. Perhaps for the housewarming party? Also, knowing how builders and contractors behave all over world—I can't wait for the blog posts on the renovation. How long will it take?
ReplyDeleteHi John... Only god knows how long this will take. The community of neighbors are doing everything they possibly can to slow things down, and I can tell you; buying the apartment is nothing compared to the ordeals dealing with the troika of pompous older "gentlemen" who think I should do what they say and "behave".
ReplyDeleteI am now hoping to be able to have the house finished by June or July. Hence 2 years after buying the place...