John Roberts

Tenerife News letter to Editor Dear Editor I have owned a property in Tenerife for some years and I would like to highlight something (apart from the weather) that I believe is better here than the UK. Estate agency! Now before you raise your eyes in disbelief, hear me out! Estate agents in the UK are basically sales companies, and that’s all they do. We view them with such low regard because they don’t seem to do that much work for an awful lot of money. When I last bought a property in the UK, I never met the agent. I viewed the house with the owner after calling the agent to make an appointment. I faxed an offer and my solicitor dealt with the conveyancing. Everything else was up to me. When I wanted to know who to call about the electricity… they handed me a phone book! Thankfully, buying (and selling) in Tenerife has been completely different. Of course, I have only dealt with one estate agency, Tenerife Property Shop, so I suppose I’m not qualified to talk about the whole industry, but I hope it may apply. It seems that an agent here has a much wider responsibility to help. Many people don’t speak Spanish at the level that it takes to deal with all the paperwork, local authority issues, taxes and even their own lawyer! That’s where the pleasant surprises started when I first bought a property a few years ago. The agency, Tenerife Property Shop, had a whole department dedicated to making everything go smoothly. They dealt with the lawyers, all the services like electricity, water, and telephones, all the tax office paperwork and the local authority office papers. They even helped to make sure the furniture arrived on time. By the time I moved in, the file of work they had built up on just my case was as thick as my arm. The most pleasant surprise was that they never sent me a bill, "all part of the service" they said. A month ago, we decided to sell the apartment. We contacted Tenerife Property Shop again to start the process. We met the same man who had sold me the property those years ago! The apartment has already been sold! We came to their offices to deal with the paperwork, and lo and behold the same person dealt with our administration who had dealt with us before! There’s something reassuring about that level of continuity. We have since bought another property through Tenerife Property Shop, and although the process is still going through, I have no doubt that they will iron out any creases for me. I suppose it’s because we’re on a small island, where a good reputation is so important. But I have to say, the impression of estate agents that I left the UK with has been completely turned on its head, thanks to Tenerife Property Shop. Yours John Roberts Cheshire