Spanish property management
You are looking for a Letting Agency and someone to clean your pad in Chelsea, so after a phone call or two, you meet this guy in a bar, pay him a couple of hundred and hand over your keys. Sound familiar? Of course not – you simply wouldn´t think of it! So why then, do so many Spanish property owners do this exact same thing?Many people buying property in Spain need to cover a mortgage and the ideal solution is to hire a letting agency to help you gain that valuable income. When letting a property, you will need to have it regularly maintained and cleaned, meaning that you will also need to engage the services of a Spanish property management company.100's of owners of Spanish property hand over the keys to their holiday homes to Spanish property management companies and letting agents on a regular basis. Many of these owners have been met at their own property by any of the increasing number of expats operating this type of service from home illegally. Property owners can be sucked in by pretty websites or adverts in local papers, by people offering them all types of services - cleaning, property management, maintenance, rentals - generally at a cheaper rate than legal companies offering the same services. Owners then presume that they are getting better value for money (ie a cheap service) and hand keys to these individuals along with the consequent risks. For owners of Spanish property who need someone on hand to take care of things in their absence, or require a rental and changeover service, it is advisable to contact several property management 'companies' in the area in which your property is located. Many will offer to meet you at your property when you are next in Spain. This is necessary as the company needs to see the property to give a quote on services and required, and to judge what income may be generated from rentals. However, at this stage do not part with money or keys. Insist on a follow up visit to the offices of the management company, or perhaps visit their offices before they visit your property. Contract can be signed, keys handed over, and any monies paid once you are safe in the knowledge that you are dealing with people who are not going to disappear overnight. Instead of wasting your holiday time, check out these services before you leave. Searching the internet for property management services in Spain, can reveal a vast number of results. Make enquiries to various websites offering the type of services you are interested in, ask if you can meet them at their offices when you are next in Spain. I have recently undertaken some research myself, contacting owners of websites offering a range of property management and lettings services, and phoning adverts in local newspapers - a staggering 85 of replies were from people happy to meet me at the property, but unwilling to let me have an office location! Try it yourself - many will insist on meeting you at the property - or even a local bar! Others will not reply when you become insistent, which I take to mean that they have no office. One management and letting company I contacted attempted to dazzle me with the amount of websites they had to ensure that I would get maximum exposure to holidaymakers searching on the internet. That´s great for generating bookings (although none came up on search engines) – but would I be happy handing them my keys? Probably not as they have no address on the website and no office where I can meet them. In fact despite two requests for price lists, they were very reluctant to give me any details or information at all – preferring to discuss my requirements in person – at my property. Citrus Iberia Property Management (http:www.citrus-iberia.com) has been operating since 2002, at which time there were very few companies offering these services to Spanish property owners. In the last two years, the market has become swamped with individuals designing websites and running local ads offering the same services - the difference is that a high percentage are not legal. You wouldn't dream of handing over your house keys to a stranger in your home country, so why do it in Spain?
About the Author
I have worked in the rentals business for the past 6 years and living in Spain for the past 4. I now manage Citrus Iberia (CB), a British Estate Agents on the Costa Blanca offering Spanish property for sale, Property management, holiday
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