The acquisition of property in Spain is a simple process within a legal system that grants substantial security to the parties involved if all steps occur correctly. There are no restrictions on foreign investors who may count on freely investing in Spain.
Below we include the fundamental steps to follow to acquire property in Spain.
On 8 March 2014, Spain’s Royal Decree-law 4/2014 on urgent measures concerning the refinancing and restructuring of corporate debt (the “New Reform”) was published in an attempt to improve the Spanish Insolvency Law.
The Spanish Labour Legislation contains a number of grounds for objective dismissal, and among these is the category of dismissals for economic, organizational, technical, and production reasons. These reasons are the same as the Spanish Legislation granted for collective redundancies, differing only in the number of workers affected by the termination of their employment contracts. This number must be less than the threshold of dismissals that determines the application of the regulations of collective dismissals.
The correct treatment of the Personal Information must be a priority for those responsible for the files and those in charge of handling this Information given that the Organic Law 15/1999, of December 13 on the Protection of Personal Information ( “LOPD”) establishes a strict penalty regime for for public administrations.
In Spain, local laws are implementing the Consumer Rights Directive (“Directive”). The Spanish Laws on consumer protection and information (“La Ley General para la Defensa de los Consumidores y Usarios” (“LGDCU”) and “La Ley de Servicios de la Sociedad de la Informacion” (“LSSI”)) include articles to enforce this Directive. They provide the duties of businesses regarding the enforcement of law and detail the consequences of breaching the Law.
Anyone who wants to invest in property in Spain could imagine that the price at which he acquires the property must coincide with the value declared in the official document the acquisition is drawn up with. However, throughout history, we have been faced with a variety of situations, depending on the economic environment and the changing behavior of the tax authorities.
Act 14/2013 on Support to Entrepreneurs and Internationalization (the “Act”) became effective on September 28, 2013. The Act gives foreign investors the opportunity to live in Spain. Obtaining this residence permit is very advantageous for non-European citizens, and this permit allows them to circulate freely in Member States of the Schengen Area for three months within a maximum period of six months. Additionally, it offers the possibility for the foreign investor’s spouse and minor (under 18) or incapacitated children to obtain the same permit.
Articles 618 et seq. of the Spanish Civil Code (“CC”) regulate the concept of donation, which define the concept as “an act of liberality under which one person transfers one good free of charge in favour of another person who accepts it.”
In Spain, the consumer must have given his or her prior consent for a retailer to contact the consumer by email. Consumers maintain the right to object to being contacted, and businesses must provide a free, clear opt-out option on every email.
The current EU Data Protection Directive applies to all European companies, regardless of their size. The EU Data Protection Reform aims to stimulate economic growth by reducing expenses and excessive regulation for small and medium enterprises (“SMEs”).
To facilitate small and medium companies breaking into new markets, the European Commission has proposed to exempt SMEs from several provisions of the draft EU Data Protection Regulation.
