Buying a house in Spain? Ask the home inspector first!
An interview with Benno Bühler Architect and Court Surveyor. He and his team work as home inspectors at the Costa del Sol and Costa de la Luz.
“If you are not patient in small things, you will cause the big projects to fail” (Confucius)
Many of us are familiar with this: as soon as you have found your dream home, you are immediately overwhelmed: The estate agent puts pressure on you (as always, there are many other buyers ready to buy straight away), you don’t know the local language, much less the culture and customs of the country.
Before you allow yourself to be put under pressure and make promises that you may later regret, it is worthwhile seeking independent advice. This advice could be a home inspector: he visits the property on site, writes a house buyers report, with a clear statement as to whether it is worth buying the property or not. This will help you to negotiate a better price with the defects found. Included are statements about the defects found, the cost of repairs, possible legal problems that your lawyer has to deal with (illegal extensions, unclear boundaries, unregistered rights of way …).
Benno Bühler established this Home Inspector service (https://buehler-and-partners.com/conveyancing-spain/) in Andalusia in 2012, and assesses foreign clients interested in buying a home at the Costa del Sol or Costa de la Luz. Benno has a vast professional experience, he is Architect & Court Surveyor, member of the Architects College in Málaga, and member of the British RICS association. Since 1996 on the Costa del Sol.
We met Benno at his studio in the Málaga Soho area for this interview. He answers important questions about what a home inspector does and how he can help you before you buy a property in Spain.
What is a home inspector?
In some states of the US the home inspectors advice is mandatory -in some state no mortgage without the home inspection- and I believe we should have the same laws in Spain. A home inspector is the person who carries out the technical check (the lawyers do the legal check) and will stop you from putting your money into a bad investment. This is what we do!
Can the real estate agent help?
Real estate agents are “salespeople”; their focus is to seal the deal. They will certainly have some troubles giving you impartial information if this could harm their sale. They might prefer the “I didn´t know that” argument rather than telling you the truth and showing you the snags or legal problems. And anyway: many agents are just unprofessional, as this profession does not need any qualification in Spain, anyone here can be an agent who fished for sardines yesterday (no offence to the honourable profession of fisherman!).
You could also contract an professional surveyor or an architect?
In theory, yes! But they will prepare a page-long report, filled with complicated and technical language, legal background and may need time to produce the report …. However, buyers want information immediately. As house inspectors, we are often able to come to the property on the same day and give our first impressions of the location, value and defects immediately. Sometimes things have to move quickly! And by the way: we are court surveyors and Architects as well, member of the Architects College in Málaga. But we have specialized ourselves on assessing foreign home buyers
What does your service include?
We have no problems walking through the mud in dark and damp underground rooms making dirty our shoes. All this to find out if all the house and pool technics work adequately.
We prepare a snag list (defects found), suggest repairs and make an estimate of the repair costs. Those defects can then be used to negotiate the purchase price. You could compare it to buying a used car: You would want to know what it costs to repair this broken wheel bearings or remove the scratches before buying, right? This is what the home inspector does, but for estates. Don’t forget: every snag is an argument for negotiating a better price.
And your fee?
Our services start from 550 euros plus VAT, for estates worth up to 500.000 €. We offer as well a participation fee: The more we bring down the purchase price, the more we earn. This is a win-win situation for everyone – except for the seller, of course.
Buyers can also negotiate the price themselves.
This is true. However, as soon as these defects are brought up in negotiations, expert knowledge can quickly become necessary. A clever seller will already have their counter-arguments ready, leaving non-technically experienced negotiators unable to put their point across. Here’s an example, during a house inspection, we discovered that, according to the manufacturer’s information, the Aircon Chiller (exterior heat pump) was not suitable for installation on the roof near the beach. As a result, we were able to negotiate a saving of 35.000 euros. Could the client have argued this point with the seller? We could!
What if the price has already been negotiated?
We also have flat rate agreements.
Does the customer need a lawyer for the purchase?
If it is a normal and legal property, it is recommended but not mandatory. We can take you through the entire purchase process, right up to the handing over the keys at the notary. Should we encounter any serious legal problems, we can refer you to law firms who work with us and ask them for help. Of course, we are not allowed to provide legal advice. I see our service as complementary to the work of a lawyer, they do the legal checks and we do the technical checks.
An Attorney at Law should be sufficient for a purchase!
Don’t forget that a lawyer won´t come out to inspect the property on site. And even if he or she does: they wouldn’t find out which of the parts of the house are illegal extensions. As Architects we understand the legal background of zoning plans of the local town halls, and as well how difficult it can become to “legalize” an illegal part of the house. We deliver this information and feed the lawyers with this information. Their job is now to assess you accordingly about this illegal details, if it is a problem or not.
Have you ever recommended not to buy?
We create our written reports, one of the most important part of this report is our personal opinion: is it a good investment or not? And yes, occasionally it doesn´t make sense to invest, when there are too many legal troubles or renovation work on the house are too expensive.
Tip!
Our home inspector service is a straightforward and inexpensive appraisal to professional standards. It can help you to cut out practically all risks typical of buying a house in Andalusia. We recommend it for anyone looking to buy a property. More: