Spanish Property. Tax situation

goz83

My Uncle has a property in his name in Spain. The property was to be left to my Dad, as he took care of his mother until she passed away in 2007. My uncle fully accepts this and has no interest t=in the property. It was only left to him, because the will was never changed and he lived in the property for a few months when my grandparents moved over. There have been years of messing about and 2 years ago, we finally completed the transfer of the property to my uncle. Now it is to be transferred to my father, but the Spanish system is unbelievably corrupt and against my advice, my father signed power of attorney to the solicitor, who cleared around €12000 from my deceased grandmothers account to "pay bills owed" even though he was told not to pay any bills without permission.

Anyway, I was wondering, what way would it work if my dad simply wanted his name added to the deeds, rather than doing a paper sale, which would only attract capital gains tax? Are there taxes due for adding a name to a Spanish property? Anything need to be considered? I don't think he would mind having his brothers name on the property.

Pat Mustard

goz83 wrote: »

my father signed power of attorney to the solicitor, who cleared around €12000 from my deceased grandmothers account to "pay bills owed" even though he was told not to pay any bills without permission.

It sounds like you need a new lawyer over there. If I was in your position, I would contact the Irish Embassy in Madrid and get them to recommend somebody honest and competent to look into this for you. They will have a list of people, but you could ask them who they used for the purchase of their own properties, and whether or not they would use them again.
https://www.dfa.ie/embassies/irish-embassies-abroad/europe/spain/

Diplomatic and Consular Information for Spain

Embassy of Ireland
Ireland House
Paseo de la Castellana 46-4
28046 Madrid
Spain Tel: +34 91 436 4093 / Visa Phone Line: +34 91 431 9784Fax: +34 91 435 1677Email: Submit your queryWebsite: www.embassyofireland.es

goz83 wrote: »

Anyway, I was wondering, what way would it work if my dad simply wanted his name added to the deeds, rather than doing a paper sale, which would only attract capital gains tax? Are there taxes due for adding a name to a Spanish property? Anything need to be considered? I don't think he would mind having his brothers name on the property.

From the little I know about tax in Spain, I've heard that Spanish property tax can be a right pain for property owners there. Again, if you get a new lawyer, perhaps he or she could advise.