Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2017 10:03am
Hi Des
Welcome to the forum and good
luck with your property search.You can get an NIE in the UK if you are not far from a Spanish Embassy. I did that and it's handy if you have the time to wait.Also I would advise to search online for Solicitors /Abagado in your area of Spain and check out their websites. You can generally see if they speak English and what they do from a good website. Personally I would not use a Spanish solicitor who did not have a good website because when you are back and forth to the UK it's important to be able to keep in touch easily without having totake expensive phone calls..Some Abogado's have an online virtual office where you can access all your correspondence.
Remember also that you will be paying taxes in Spain related to your property and a good Abagado will be able to deal with this for you, usually for a yearly fee, and IMO this is worth it for peace of mind.
You will also need to set up a Spanish bank account and then the solicitor should be able to help you set up direct debits for your property bills - Suma, water, electric and community charge.
Hope this helps. At least if anyone recommends a solicitor you can check if they have a website. Often recommendations may come as ..."give this or that solicitor a ring" but if they have no website you can't see what they offer before contacting them and with a web presence you can feel a bit more assured that they are easily contactable and often they have reviews online too. Just put their name into Google and see what you find.
Jan