advice needed about Complementary Tax please

18 months ago we brought a house in quesada , a bank repossession , all as legal as we could , thru the bank and casas Manuel estate agents.
We've had an email today from our solicitors saying that the government has said the price of our house was €40000 lower than there estamated value , and they want the extra tax on that sum .
when we moved in , the house had been gutted with no sockets , lights , plumbing ect so it was not habital , it had also been up for sale for 2.5 years with out any interest , also now ,next door is up for sale an identical house in better condition for less than we paid , with no takers.

Im just asking; if any of you good people have been in this situation , and is it worth fighting , or is it all set in stone, and im going to end up paying it anyway , thanks for any advice , glynn

I have not been in this position BUT, my understanding of bank repro's is that the banks were selling them off in most cases at a vastly reduced price - I assumed this was to try to recover monies outstanding if say someone had defaulted on their mortgage.

I had looked at numerous bank repro's before we bought and I know they are stripped down to the bare bones. There would be no incentive to buy a "shell" if it carried such a high additional charge. What does the estate agent say about this? Is this a recent thing by the government? In your position I would fight this to the end. Please keep this link posted - all knowledge is good. Best of luck

This is widely covered on a number of forums and from what I've read it has been happening a lot and is perfectly legal.

glynnmartin45 wrote:18 months ago we brought a house in quesada , a bank repossession , all as legal as we could , thru the bank and casas Manuel estate agents.
We've had an email today from our solicitors saying that the government has said the price of our house was €40000 lower than there estamated value , and they want the extra tax on that sum .
when we moved in , the house had been gutted with no sockets , lights , plumbing ect so it was not habital , it had also been up for sale for 2.5 years with out any interest , also now ,next door is up for sale an identical house in better condition for less than we paid , with no takers.

Im just asking; if any of you good people have been in this situation , and is it worth fighting , or is it all set in stone, and im going to end up paying it anyway , thanks for any advice , glynn

Hi Glynn,
Just found this article which may be of interest - It is well explained by the author Raymundo Larraín Nesbitt a property-specialist lawyer:
http://www.spanishpropertyinsight.com/2 ... unter-tax/


Jan

HI

I believe this is happening more and more with the bank repos that is why we steered clear of them. I think it is grossly unfair that a bank puts a property up for sale and then come back at you for extra tax.

Saying that we bought 2 properties (no repos) and have also been told we will have additional tax to pay ...however is it is only going to be 177 euros each. However our Solicitor did say that if the fees had been higher they would have contacted a Specialist Chartered Account to try and appeal this but as his costs were 250 euros it would not be worth our while to persue this. It might be something for you to look into with your Solicitor?

When we bought our house our solicitor said this was now a real possibility but they'd won cases before and would fight strenuously on our behalf if that should happen.

In your position we'd most definitely want our solicitor to do this for us, asking him/her to write back in the first place, noting that: 1) It was a bank repossession with all that that entails and 2) Because the house had been gutted it was totally uninhabitable for the first XXX months and it cost a fortune paying for XXX and X and you had to return to the UK and appoint a reputable builder to project manage all the work so, no, extra taxes are not due!

Our solicitor said that, in most cases, if they can see you have a solicitor who intends to fight for you they cave in and waive the extra fees or, in the worst case scenario, drop them considerably.

Do let us know the outcome and the very best of luck to you. Bank repossessions are definitely special cases and extra taxes would be totally unjust! Best wishes, Rose and Paul

Thankyou all for your comments ,
I have emailed our solicitor , and asked her to lodge an appeal , so ill keep you informed as to the outcome .
Thanks again glynn

So the solicitor has replied saying ; altho she agrees with me , she says id be wasting my time and money , as she does not know of any case's that have ever won and id only end up paying the original tax + interest due to the appeal + her costs ...anybody got a phone number for a 2nd option ? Thanks

Try this guy, fab, knows the law and speaks excellent English I used him for my business. He is in Torrevieja. I will pm you the details

Good Luck

glynnmartin45 wrote:So the solicitor has replied saying ; altho she agrees with me , she says id be wasting my time and money , as she does not know of any case's that have ever won and id only end up paying the original tax + interest due to the appeal + her costs ...anybody got a phone number for a 2nd option ? Thanks

Personally I would be wary of getting an opinion from another solicitor who may be after the work which will certainly not be 'no win no fee'. Your own solicitor sounds like she has given sensible advice.
I know a Spanish guy who has just bought a repo near us and I asked him about this extra tax and he said that if he gets a bill for it, it will only be a percentage of what he possibly should have paid and although he wouldn't be happy about it, he would pay it.
I know your property sounds like it needs a lot doing to it and this extra tax is more unfair to you because of that but it may be worth paying the tax and putting it behind you. (Only my opinion though)

Jan