Buying a bar in Spain
Ask ALBA!
Alba Consultas are leading integration consultants in Benidorm & the surrounding areas. Their qualified team comprises a Spanish qualified lawyer, personal tax and business accountant, property conveyance specialist and various translators, coupled with a team of builder´s and skilled craftsmen they have recently branched out into property rentals offering a fully comprehensive maintenance package.
We asked; how did you discover this niche in the market? As a legal firm we are often asked by Estate agents and private individuals to read over badly written rental contracts and instigate in the eviction process of bad paying tenants or chasing landlords to refund the deposit at the end of a lease agreement, so it seemed a logical step to carry out the process from beginning to end this way ensuring the rental contract has no loop holes and cutting down legal costs of getting people out of trouble rather than keeping them out of it in the first place. Another common case brought to us is that of untrustworthy key holders, and unreliable tradesmen, who gave verbal quotes and took their payment in cash.
So what sets your new venture apart from other property maintenance companies along the Coast? Weather you find your own tenants or we provide them and having prepared in YOUR OWN LANGUAGE the corresponding contracts and taken sufficient security deposit, we can oversee any tenant changeovers, cleaning and any property repairs, maintenance and reforms required- all underwritten by our legal office. Also when your property is empty we can arrange security checks and required maintenance repairs. We can also ensure that your amenities are never cut off and oversee rent payments – chasing tenants as and when necessary.
What do you offer as a package and how much will it cost? We have created monthly price packages depending upon your requirements and can quote any one off work before beginning work- always maintaining Alba´s price match guarantee. Having the whole management team “under one roof” takes the pressure off you for searching for the right man for the job and will work out considerably cheaper than employing the services of an Estate agent, a lawyer, an interpreter, a cleaner, handyman, and a supervisor to chase each of the above!
Our friendly bilingual team has used for many years their combined experience in helping local expats and business owners to negotiate their way through the maze of Spanish bureaucracy.
For more information on this subject or any other legal and business matter in Spain contact ALBA Consultas (contact info adjacent). Their offices are in Altea and Benidorm but if you are unable to visit them they can visit you. From helping you sign a contract to presenting your business accounts, ALBA will be with you every step of the way.
“I want to buy a bar in Spain…what should be my first move?”
ALBA’S REPLY: Buying a bar in Benidorm is so many people’s dream..but it can turn into a nightmare if you are not made fully aware of your commitment and obligations.
Therefore, your very first move to buying a bar in Benidorm or anywhere in Spain is to contract the services of an impartial, legal representative before you sign or agree to anything. ‘Buying’ a bar usually refers to buying the goodwill and F&F, not the premises, so first it has to be established that the vendor is in a position to ‘sell’ you the bar. To do that you will need to see a copy of the rental contract, to check out the ‘derechos’ de traspaso’ clause (the rights to sell the business). Many are the cases in which a buyer has handed over say £40.000 to purchase a bar to later find out from the owner of the building that the tenant did not have the right to ‘traspaso’. You then need to talk to the owner of the building to confirm the length of the rental contract (no point in sinking 40K into a business to find out the lease expires in a year!) and any rent increases.
Next, your legal representative will draw up a contract between the two parties detailing what you are purchasing (fixtures & fittings, goodwill, stock etc) and your legal representative will ask the vendor to prove at this point that all relevant taxes and utilities are paid up to date (you don’t want to adopt someone else’s bad debts!).
A separate rental contract will then be drawn up with the owner of the building detailing the length of the lease as well as any expenses you may be liable for (rubbish collection, or the council tax for example). It is important that both contracts be explained to you before you sign either and this is where the bilingual skills of the team at ALBA come into play as many of the landlords are Spanish.
Once the contracts are signed, your are officially the ‘owner’ of a bar in Spain! Congratualtions!
From helping you sign the contract to presenting your business or accounts, ALBA will be with you every step of the way.