Over recent months Villa Surveyors has been asked to undertake building surveys and valuations for clients who have not visited the property personally. These clients either don't have sufficient time or live too far away to undertake the property visits themselves. Therefore, they rely on the selling agents property descriptions,...
Why it is essential to get a building survey when buying an apartment in Italy.
Stan Dickens is just back from Palermo, Sicily. This video shows a classic situation of falling masonry from a poorly maintained building facade in Palermo. The example could just as easily have been from Rome, Naples or any number of other cities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93f28N3MIFw&feature=emb_title
A lawyer explains the property buying process in Portugal
Dearbháile Banahan Senior Associate at PLMJ The process for buying properties (real estate) located in Portugal is simple and, once you have agreed the essential conditions with the seller, everything can be concluded in a short space of time. In most circumstances, you can buy a property by following these...
How are residential mortgage valuations undertaken in Spain?
By law residential mortgage valuations in Spain have to be undertaken by a valuer working for a specialist valuation company. The companies that undertake mortgage valuations in Spain are known as Sociedades de Tasación (Mortgage Valuation Companies) and the people that undertake the valuations are called Tasadores (Property Valuers). They...
Some examples of snagging items we found in a newly refurbished house in Portugal
The photos in this article show just a few of the snagging items we identified in a house refurbishment project in Tavira, Portugal. Snagging items are most often raised due to poor workmanship. This can include incorrect storage on site of fixtures and fittings such as doors and windows which...
Villa Surveyors recommends: Miguel Urrutia, English speaking lawyer in Spain
Miguel Urrutia Santos (Colegiado del ICAM nº 83.584) is recommended by Villa Surveyors. Miguel has acted for a number of Villa Surveyors clients on various property matters including property conveyancing. Practice areas: civil law, banking law, horizontal property and inheritance law. Specialist in complex financial instruments, structured bonds, mortgages and...
Illegal use of a roof space identified by Villa Surveyors during a Condition Survey of an apartment
Our client left us the following 5 star Google review: I contacted Stan for a building survey in Madrid. I was thinking of buying a renovated attic flat in the centre of the city, but I was a bit concerned, because the building was over a hundred years old. I...
Villa Surveyors completes two expert witness valuation reports in Sardinia.
In February, 2020 Stan Dickens of Villa Surveyors flew to the island of Sardinia to undertake two expert witness valuations. These involved a two bedroom apartment and a four bedroom farmhouse with land. The valuations were required for court proceedings in the UK. Fortunately, although Covid-19 was already present in...
Villa Surveyors completes a Property Search in Lisbon
Satisfied clients provided us with the following review: "Stan did an amazing job helping us find a wonderful property in Lisbon, which was in support of our pursuit of a Golden Visa. We were not able to be in Portugal for the property search, so Stan served as our eyes...
Second snagging report this year of an Horizon Golf Townhouse
Villa Surveyors has completed it second snagging report this year on Horizon Golf, Cala Resort in Mijas. Two snagging reports in a year on one development is hardy a lot to be shouting about, but with almost three months of lockdown it seems pretty good to us. We have been...