Daniel Elro Braak (South Africa) wanted to come to live in Spain, and for this he planned to buy a home in San Sebastián. At Echeverria Abogados we helped Daniel manage the purchase of his new home, and thus obtain a residence authorization as an investor for him and his wife.

Investment in the Spanish real estate sector reached 20 million euros in 2018, 56.9% more than the previous year thanks to the momentum recorded in the second half of the year with large operations such as the purchase of Hispania and Testa by the fund Blackstone investment.

Inversión inmobiliaria en España (Imagen)
The CBRE consultancy estimates that real estate investment in Spain will exceed 16.000 million euros in 2018

In 2018, according to official data, 586 visas for real estate investment were presented, one of the cases contemplated by Law 14/2013. That represents 41.9% of the total operations of more than half a million euros corresponding to buyers from outside the EU, which were 1.398 according to the statistics registered.

What challenges did we encounter?

The challenges we faced were:

  • There were two phases, since the first was to buy the house during one of Daniel's trips to the Basque Country. The second phase consisted of gathering all the documentation for the application for the residence permit.
  • Regarding the purchase of the house, our work consisted of the review of the private contract of sale, the analysis of the state of the house in terms of ownership and charges, and of the assistance in the notarial purchase, as well as the payment of the corresponding taxes and registration of the sale in the property register.
  • About the residence permit. The application for this one must be submitted during the period that the client is as a tourist in Spain, that is, only 3 months and we did so.
  • Translated and legalized documentation of the country of origin had to be provided.
  • The price of the house should be more than € 500.000, but since it was not, we had to add the price of the purchase of a garage, which added to the value of the house exceeding in  € 500.000 (taxes are not included in this amount)
  • In order to request a residence permit for the wife, we provided the necessary documentation to demonstrate the economic means of the family group.

“Viviana is an affectionate person with a charming personality. She approaches her work with the enthusiasm necessary to guarantee success.”

For 5 consecutive years, Spain has beaten the record for the total number of golden visas. In total, 6.513 permits were granted, according to visa statistics issued at consular offices provided by the Ministry of Labor. It is the highest figure since the PP introduced that possibility in the law of entrepreneurs that was passed at the end of 2013. However, this number represents all the cases contemplated in the regulations and includes, among others, visas due to family reunification or transfers of highly qualified professionals, which are the two most recurring reasons.

How did our services help?

For the purchase of the home, our greatest effort was to review the entire private contract of sale, perform an exhaustive analysis of the state of the home in terms of ownership and charges; as well as, assist Daniel during the sale before a notary, in the corresponding tax payments and in the registration of the sale in the property register.

Results obtained

The processing of the residence permit required a lot of determination and coordination, since the application had to be submitted during the period in which Daniel was a tourist in Spain, that is to say only 3 months and we did so. Regardless of the volume of documentation to be provided, translated and legalized in the country of origin.

The price of the house had to be over € 500.000 to be able to access the benefits of the law, but it was not. And to solve it, the purchase price of a garage was added, which added to the price of the house, exceeding € 500.000 (taxes not included). By providing adequate documentation on the economic means of the family group, we were able to prepare and submit a residence permit application for Daniel's wife.

Daniel Elro Braak y Viviana Echeverria  (Imagen)Daniel Elro Braak and Viviana Echeverria

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