"Italy," said Ian Rush, the former Liverpool Football Club striker, when asked about his experience of living there, "is like a foreign country." Fortunately, Rush had his brains in his feet, so to speak! but you can kind of understand what he meant.

Our increasing familiarity with the European neighbours makes it easy to forget that not only are customs different abroad but so is the law, particularly when it relates to buying, owning and selling a property.

Spain is the number one destination for UK second homebuyers and over two million Britons own a property on its shores.

Far too many people are buying a cheap place in Spain, not getting the correct legal advice and this is where the problems start ...

Buying cheap usually means you buy twice, we have all heard the saying.

Buying cheap often ends in tears, and then a TV production company comes along and bang your on the TV telling millions of viewers about your terrible, sad experiences ...

We have created a simple tick list, to make sure you are not featured on these programmes.

1. Buy from a licensed agent / real estate company with a good track record

2. Make sure you have legal advice (the best 1% you will ever spend)

3. Check around the neighbourhood before you buy, ask residents what it is like

4. Never buy from a friend of a friend or the ‘nice bloke’ you just met in the bar

5. Make sure all the legal checks are in place before signing any paperwork

6. If the deal seems to good to be true, it often is ... Leave your rose tainted glasses in the UK, and make sure the property is sound, ask questions

7. Check the property over really well ... check all walls for solidness, check for any damp from the ceilings and floors (all rooms), check the water supply, electricity, if there is a terrace check for broken tiles, gutterings, drains ... Really give it a good going over.

8. Older properties, ruins or fincas ... Be really careful here, buying this kind of property has its risks, make sure you can get electricity and water to the dwelling, get this in writing from the agent, be cautious of the rough estimates on re-furbishment, as these are usually way out, get the advice of a local builder before you purchase ... Or even better buy one that has been renovated, make sure you see the title deeds of the property ... Yes it may cost a little more, but we don’t want you on the TV do we!

9. Off plan sales usually are the best option for investment, but be careful, delays in build are quite the norm in Spain. Don’t pre rent your home out before its finished, and always allow an extra month or so on top of the contract. A good example of this is for a completion in August or December these months the lawyers have there holidays, so it is very unlikely that you will complete in these months.

10. Avoiding the pitfalls is really down to you, we make sure that all the properties we promote are safe, have no issues attached to them and have clear title.
You must have a clear head, ask the silly questions, get the correct legal advice and your purchase should be smooth and fuss free.

And remember the saying ‘You buy cheap ... You buy twice’

We do not sell cheap property, property with bad title, all our properties are checked out before we list them, all new developments have full build license, all resales are checked out before we promote them, should a resale property have any niggles attached we will not sell to the client.

We will never sell a property with debt, ownership problems or planning issues. That’s our GUARANTEE