Your own lawyer or gestor: why you need one

You find a place in Jávea, sign a reservation agreement, and think the hard part is over. That's actually when it starts. From here on, contracts, notarial deeds, land registry records and tax matters come your way. This is why you bring in your own lawyer, and often a gestor too. Not because we ask you to, but because it protects you.

Why your own lawyer

We're the agent. We guide you through viewings, give a technical read on the condition of a property, and help negotiate the price. But we don't sign on your behalf and we don't check title deeds. That's the work of a lawyer who acts only for you, not for the seller and not for us.

A lawyer in Spain does different work than you might be used to. They:

• Check with the Registro de la Propiedad whether the property is free of debts, mortgages or liens.
• Verify that what's on paper matches what's actually built. In the Marina Alta, it happens that a pool, a garage or an extension isn't registered.
• Read through the preliminary purchase contract (contrato de arras) and adjust it where needed, for example the termination clauses.
• Arrange your NIE number, the tax identification number you need as a foreigner to buy in Spain.
• Sit next to you at the notary, translate where needed, and explain what you're signing.
• Check after the purchase that everything is properly registered with the land registry and the property register.

Without that check, you're buying on trust. With it, you're buying on paper that holds up.

Why a gestor

A gestor isn't a lawyer, but a specialist in Spanish administration. They handle the things that need to happen after the purchase, things that often run automatically back home but don't in Spain.

Think of transferring gas, water and electricity, registering with the town hall, arranging the IBI (the local property tax), and sometimes filing taxes as a non-resident. A gestor knows the town hall, knows the counters, and knows which form goes where. That saves you weeks of waiting and phone calls in a language that isn't yours.

The lawyer protects your purchase. The gestor sorts out your life afterward.

What TREE does and doesn't do

We work across the whole Marina Alta, from Dénia to Calpe and from Jávea to Alcalalí, and we know the lawyers and gestors active in this region. On request, we put you in touch with people we trust, either because we've worked with them for years or because other buyers had good experiences. The choice stays yours. You're never obliged to work with anyone we suggest.

What we are responsible for is the technical side of the property. Before you make an offer, our building surveyor can look at the property and give a rough estimate of potential repair costs: a roof that needs replacing, damp in a basement, an outdated installation. That's a first indication, not a full budget. Only after the purchase, if you want to move forward with TREE Constructions or Sani-Kitchen Projects, do our architect and surveyor put together a detailed design and a worked-out quote.

That separation is deliberate. The legal side of the purchase sits with your own lawyer. The administrative side sits with your gestor. The technical and construction side, from first estimate to renovation, sits with us.

An example from practice

Say you buy a finca near Orba, built in the 1970s and later extended with an addition. The land registry only shows the original house, not the extension. Without a lawyer, you might not find that out until you want to renovate or sell yourself, years later. With a lawyer, you know beforehand, and you can decide whether to have the registration corrected before the purchase or adjust the price accordingly.

The same finca has its own water well and a septic tank instead of a municipal connection. A gestor knows which permits apply in the Orba town hall, and whether those are in order.

Details like these won't decide whether you buy the property. They will decide how sure you are of what you're buying.

Costs you discuss upfront

The fees for a lawyer and a gestor vary by firm and by town hall, so we deliberately don't quote numbers here. In your first conversation, ask for a clear breakdown: what's included, what isn't, and when you pay what. The same goes for taxes on the purchase. Those differ by municipality and by situation, and your lawyer or gestor can give you concrete figures for your case.