Buyers want to start work before completion

[LeakyPotatoes]

I'm trying to sell a property in Europe for an elderly sick parent who is in the UK and cannot travel.

The property itself is quite nice, but it has suffered somewhat from neglect, lack of maintenance and upgrading. As a result, it really needs a lot of effort and money to get it back looking good. I was there last month, and the roof had started to leak, cracked render that was causing rising damp, and the roof nearly falling in on an outbuilding. Together with windows that don't open properly, a weedy garden, it goes on. It's currently empty and no-one due to stay or visit it again now.
We've found some buyers and have negotiated a price which was heavily discounted, but are now at the point of drawing up contracts. A price was agreed late last year with an anticipated completion date of June this year, because they were in rented accommodation. It was at this point I took over the process, and was not involved until then.

They then sent a surveyor/builder round and revised their offer downwards having gotten an idea of the amount of money they will need to spend on it. New price agreed again, but I said we want to move faster. The draft contract has been drawn with the original dates expected to complete end June, although they have to complete within one month of paying the deposit, so this could be faster. I should say the property buying/selling process is much simpler than here and not as drawn out with searches etc.

The property has been on the market for a year, and the market not so buoyant, so we don't have the luxury of putting it back on the market, and as we are so close, I just want to get it over the line.
We have received a request this weekend from the agent/buyers, and they want to access the property as soon as they've paid the deposit, to start clearing up, do some essential maintenance work on the roof etc, with a caveat that if contract falls through they will lose any money they've spent on it.

I'm considering the request, what are the pros and cons of allowing them access before completion?

I believe Spain have some new laws around squatting that make it virtually impossible to move people out once they’re in. Do not under any circumstances give someone access until they actually own it.

It's the 48 hour rule.

If squatters are there for longer than 48 hours you need a court order to get them out. They've just introduced new laws to try and speed the process up as it's been such a problem for property owners.

This. Absolutely no way if it was a UK property, but it could be the norm in some countries in which case I’d say go for it.

dont do it.

if it’s a dealbreaker for them give them a £1k discount which would pay for their rented property so they couod keep staying there for a month so they can buy yours at the same time and not lose out. it’s them getting free access for a month effectively but you will be safe from sky legal ranglings or damage they may accidentally do that costs you money.

Then definitely do not agree to it. In Spain, the property owner is usually held liable for accidents occurring on their premises, and your insurance probably wouldn't cover it. Also, many people have mentioned the squatters - if you give them access and they refuse to leave afterwards, it'll be a nightmare to get them out. Just move the notary date forward so they own it sooner.

I wouldn't. In Spain everything happens very quickly. We only had 14 days from buyers paying deposit to them securing the mortgage and there is a 10 day cooling off period that bank insist on after the mortgage offer. This was the only bit that pushed the completion two weeks out otherwise, we could have done within couple of weeks. They can wait.
Having gone through a lengthy and expensive process of evicting tenants from my flat in the past, I will not have anyone accessing my property without them owning it first.
There was absolutely no need for them to wait a whole year to purchase as they could have given notice to their landlord right away. Spanish rental contract are very flexible for tenants (not so much for landlords) so I think they have already shown themselves to be unreliable.

Thanks all for the advice. I have decided to decline their request and ask them to focus on completing sooner.

No way. If nothing else, if there's an accident who will be liable?

It’s nigh on impossible to get people out of a Spanish property OP. It takes years and years. You are right to decline the request.

They have so much time to prepare for this: they can pay the deposit and complete next day and start then!

Or complete a couple of weeks before their rental runs out if they want work done before they move in

They have already been compensated for the fact that the house is not immediately habitable by the discount you agreed, this should cover the fact that they will be renting while paying the mortgage and doing work on the property.

Absolutely a no no!

if the sale doesn’t go through for whatever reason, you are left with the costs to make the property habitable!

I actually had this on a rental property I was selling to the tenant a few years ago - we had agreed to sell to them and they asked me if renovation works could start before the sale completed - I said no - because if the sale somewhat fell through then I’d be left with costs to fix.

I agreed for them however to get quotes but I was strict in building work starting…

Long story short, they had ripped out the bathroom and kitchen and knocked walls down before the completion which I wasn’t impressed about.

At that stage. I was more keen to get the house sold and off my hands!