Contrato de Arras

 

Now we had our N.I.E’s we could, could start our next quest, doing business at the notary.

The very next day we had an appointment at NOTARIA DE BRIVIESCA to talk about the contrato de arras, we call it the temporary contract, for the houses and the land. It is a contract where we agree an what would be bought for what price and on what conditions.

Maria, the notary, explained to us what was in the contract, this was all in Spanish, but still it was very clear. She talked slowly with the words not connected, which made it much better to understand. If we didn’t understand some part she tried to say it differently.

There were some parts which are logical in a contract, besides that there were three points which we wanted added.:

• That we wanted to take over Marcelino’s water permit for getting water from the river
•  We wanted to make sure that if there are any debts on the properties, they will stay for Marcelino and not for us
•  Marcelino wanted to add a clause that if he can’t deliver less than 10% of the houses or land, the deal will still go on. We wanted to add that if he can’t deliver one of our number 1 priority lands, the deal would not go on even if it was less than 10%.

We had the option to call Yasmin if we would get lost in the Spanish language but Maaike did a very good job of understanding all. So after about half an hour everything was clear and then unexpectedly Marcelino came in with his nephew. Although taken by surprise it which was great because then we could discuss everything with him in person and speed up the process.

At the same time our girls were working hard on making drawings and puzzles.

Luckily for us, Maria could do the talking with Marcelino, because Maaike had difficulty to understand him, she does not have the level jet to understand mumbling fast talking Spanish. All three points which were important to us were agreed upon. Marcelino looked at our number 1 priority list, and said to every plot, oh that’s not a problem at all. He did not remember he had the water permit but there was no issue that we would take it over. So faster than we expected we ended the meeting and we had an agreement for the contrato de arras.

 With the deal done we needed to sign it. Maria had to do a lot of work on finalizing the contract, hence we setup an appointment for the signing was set for two days later. Two days later we were at the notary office again. This time Marcelino was there with his nephew and son, Alejandro (on the image the most left one).

First thing we had to do was to transfer 10% of the purchase price. Tibor had checked with the bank that it was possible to transfer large amounts to foreign IBN. The bank told me there should not be any problem. So at the start of the meeting we immediately added the transfer into the bank app. And than waited.

 

While waiting Marcelino and Maria were discussing some things and in the meanwhile we talked to Alejandro. He told us that he got married in Bárcena 10 years ago and showed some nice pictures. And we talked about Burgos and schools there, because he lives there with 2 children, about the same age as Trisa and Riva.

In the mean time I was checking the payment. As it was still pending I emailed a screenshot to Maria as proof but before she received the email the payment was done and I could send the real proof. I asked if Marcelino could see the transfer on his account, but the laughed and said he was not that digital.

Then the documents were ready and Maria, to follow the law, had to read out the full contract, which means that she had to mention every plot, houses and land, with it’s size, cadastral number and price. A total of about 90, which, as one can imagine, took a very long time.

Marcelino’s nephew is a cartographer and was checking everything very closely. There were some minor errors but all in all it was fine.Then finally everything was said and we could do the signing.

Now we are obliged to follow through with the deal. If we would retract we would lose our 10% down payment. If they will not follow the deal the have to pay us the 10% back double. So we both have quite an incentive to fulfill the deal.