WORKING WITH PROPERTY AGENTS

The Andalusian Government, in support of consumers involved in the property business, enacted the Decree 218/05.

In summary, the decree imposes on real estate agents the obligation of having one "data sheet" for each property marketed, which must include the following information (article 10):

1) Address of the property.
2) General description of property and that of the building or development.
3) Price of the property.
4) Owner (this is a sticky point), land registry charges or encumbrances, possible rights of way, usable and constructed size. This must all be supported by a recent (not older than 3 months) land registry extract "nota simple".
5) Date of construction, if available.
6) Percentage of the communal elements allocated to the property.
7) Whether it has electricity, water, telephone or gas supplies.
8) Whether, on visiting the property, there is a period of time during which the buyer will be able to process the required paperwork for completion.
9) Declaration as to whether the seller can, or cannot, provide the following documentation: copy of by-laws of the community of owners, certification of freedom of community debts, available insurances and guarantees, the property book (only provided by developers)
10) Certificate proving Council tax is paid up to date.
11) Date, place and signature.

Article 12 envisages an obligation to have an informative board in which it is stated that the consumer will have the right to be given a copy of the Property Data Sheet, in Spanish.

Article 14 and 15, deal with the Consumer Protection inspection service and fines imposed on non-compliers of the above obligations, ranging from 200 to 5000 euros (pursuant to articles 71.4 LEY 13/2003, DE 17 DE DICIEMBRE, DE DEFENSA Y PROTECCION DE LOS CONSUMIDORES Y USUARIOS DE ANDALUCIA).

The infraction could be considered as "serious" and consequently fined at a higher level (5000 to 30000 euros) if the agent has deliberately or negligently ignored his obligations, or repeats the infraction or if it affects a large part of the market.

On the part of developers who do not guarantee down payments there is a fine from 5001 euros to 30.000 euros, depending on the size and seriousness of the infraction.

In cases such as Aifos we would suspect that, given the scope of the fraud, issues of public order and its impact on the reputation of the real estate market a fine of 30.001 to 400.000 euros fine is feasible.