One of the great dreams that all young people seek to realize as soon as possible is the buying a house. Whether it is to achieve the long-awaited family independence, to move from a small rented apartment to a property that belongs to us, or even to start a life as a couple, for newlyweds to start a family, buying a house has always been a of the primary and fundamental goals in the life of any person.
Just start looking into the search engine google so that we find all kinds of options on the net, from comfortable apartments for singles, to beautiful home homes that make us think that starting a family is the next big step we must take on our way to maturity.
However, after a while surfing the net, our illusions soon collapse, and suddenly reality comes to us like a bucket of cold water. It is then that we realize that property prices, no matter how small these may be, they are elevated through the roof in current times, especially for those young people who are just beginning to take their first professional steps and do not have a salary that even supports the possibility of a modest department, in special when you are just creating your credit history, therefore, large loans are not offered by banks that allow us to ensure the purchase of a property.
Similarly, not only young people have to face the difficult situation that exists with real estate prices, as this problem usually occurs for all types of people in different parts of the country. The worst thing about it is that things get quite complicated when one tries to get a home located in the large financial centers, which is where most of the jobs are, which makes the already high costs of the buildings.
How to insure the house of your dreams?
Consequently, it is natural that as a result many people choose a solution much more in line with the financial solvency of workers and the middle class, that is in the rent of the houses or apartments. It is likely that for several this would not have been the first option but it is definitely the one that allows us to build an independent life more quickly and easily.
It is worth mentioning that this solution can be a great option to postpone the purchase of a home, at least while one can settle down in their work and generate more income, as well as to start with the savings that allow us to get closer to that little by little. goal so longed for for him Personal development. Once we have the sufficient financial resources we can go back to searching the net and in advertisements for the house or apartment of our dreams.
It is at this point where another great inconvenience appears, that there is many times in the fact that we cannot gather the full amount of the property value, and although we seek to agree a deal with the seller, he simply refuses and continues to offer for sale the house of our dreams, or perhaps he accepts at the moment our offer to pay a part and the rest in payments, but then ends up laying down back when finding other buyers.
To avoid these bad experiences we can resort to the famous document known as "Earnest money contract", which basically serves so that we can get the house of our dreams ensuring that it is reserved for us, with the legal guarantee in between, that it will not be offered to anyone else while we collect the money for the value of the property or carry out the corresponding payments in time and form.
What is the Arras Contract?
In simple terms, the deposit contract is considered as an advance, but with legal basis, which means that it is a private contract where the two parties that sign it agree to the advance reservation on the sale of property or real estate, being delivered in exchange, and to give legal validity to the document, a certain amount of money that works as a signal, that is, the purchase of a pre-contract is established with which the subsequent purchase of the property in the near future.
In short, a A deposit contract is the document in which you can rely to be able to set aside, safely, a home or some other good, so that you can gather the amount of its value in a certain time and thus later sign the purchase document as such.
All this without the fear that in the time it takes you to collect the required money, the seller breaks his word and ends up later selling the possession to someone else, because that is what the amount you pay as a pre-contract or deposit contract is for, so that property that you set aside is reserved by a legal economic agreement and not just a pact of word.
This type of contract It is equally beneficial for both parties, because if one of them violates the agreement, they will have to face certain penalties translated into economic losses.
For example, If the seller fails to comply with the established agreement, as a result of the deposit contract made previously, he would have to pay as a penalty, double the amount delivered by the buyer when establishing the pre-contract where the property was set aside, which is a fairly significant economic loss.
But if on the other hand, The buyer is the one who does not comply with the established agreement and decides not to conclude the sale of the property, then he will have to get used to the idea of losing, partially or totally, the money he gave as an advance to set aside the property. As you can see, the deposit contract is an excellent legal option that should never be lacking when you intend to search for or acquire a property.
How can I have legal certainty with an Arras Contract?
Although the deposit contract is not specifically defined in the Civil Code of Spain, if reference is made to this when regulating the legal consequences that are acquired after signing one. Said reference can be found in article 1545 of the Civil Code, which establishes the following:
"If they have mediated a deposit or signal in the purchase and sale contract, the contract may be rescinded, the buyer agreeing to lose them, or the seller to return them in duplicate".
The message is very simple and basically establishes what was mentioned previously, that whoever wishes to break their deposit contract can do so, but under the condition of giving compensation for violating the agreement, which consists of the loss of the advance payment for the buyer or the return for a value of double the amount that was given in advance, by the seller. Of course, who receives the penalty will ultimately depend on whoever breaches the contract in the first place.
With these actions, the final objective of the agreement is protected, which is ensure and preserve the final operation of the sale, so that none of the negotiating parties has mistrust throughout the process.
Arras Contract Types
Like other documents, the deposit contract It also has some flexibility that allows it to be used for different purposes, which can be varied in the following examples:
Confirmatory:
This variety serves to confirm if you want to formalize the sale of a property, so if any of the parties involved does not comply with the agreement, through this document, the forced compliance of the agreement can be legally required, which makes it a Legal obligation to avoid the payment of compensation corresponding to the damages caused.
Penitential
This option is to legally establish the amount that the buyer will lose or must return, twice, the seller in case the successful purchase is not completed due to the non-compliance of one of the two negotiators.
Penalties:
This is where the penal clause is located, which serves to claim the fixed amount if any of the parties breaches the contract, in addition to the fact that it will also have the power that in addition to the amount paid, the fulfillment of the contract can also be claimed later.
Usually, the option most used by lawyers and specialists on the subject is the penitential deposit, since with these a greater fidelity to the contract is ensured since the amount to lose for not complying with the agreement can be indeed quite significant, so that no one would do well to back down once a penitential earnest money contract has been established.
Requirements for an Arras Contract
For all those interested in establish a deposit contract, can rely on the following documents and requirements necessary to draft the contract, minimum and general data that must be met to request the signing of one of these contracts in order to preserve the purchase of your future home or property.
It should be mentioned that these are basic data that must be taken into account but the most advisable thing is to go to a lawyer so that the contract is as well written as possible and no inconvenience arises if it is valid.
- Personal data of buyer and seller, with their corresponding identity documents.
- A description of the home.
- Final price for which you are going to purchase the home.
- Amount of money that will be paid as a down payment, clearly specifying that said amount is on account of the purchase and sale of the property and that it will be deducted from the final price of the house at the time of signing the deed. Also remember that if the house is newly built, this amount will have to be taxed with 10% VAT.
- Maximum time to formalize the sale.
- Possible property charges.
- Distribution of purchase and sale expenses.
Conclusion
Without any doubt, the best way to ensure the purchase of our home, is to inform ourselves as best as possible about all the legal means that we have at our disposal to guarantee that we do not have problems in the future, and one of these options, which we are prohibited from ignoring, are the deposit contracts, which of course, it would be desirable not have to use it, but in the event that it is so, we would appreciate having been careful with one of these instruments.