Having bought a finca in the campo we needed an address to advise the utility companies, the tax authorities, the bank and anyone else who might want to write to us. Unfortunately, post is not delivered to rural houses in the campo, so it is normal to get a post box in the nearest town. Although Monda is our nearest town, the previous owner said we had to go to Coin to get a post box.
We visited the local post office (Correlos) in Coin and their system and charges seemed very reasonable. However, we were told we could not set up a post box until we had the deeds to the house. At this point we had not signed on the property so we would have to wait and return after the completion day. The post office also confirmed we would need other identification including NIE numbers and passports.
At the notary office on completion, we met a local Gestor for Coin who had acted as the selling agent and he turned out to be a mine of useful information. Speaking 7 languages he asked us what plans we had for a post box. He advised us that the post office would be a good post box, but would not sign for any recorded post. Also, obviously they would not open any mail from the tax or local authorities and in Spain this is important. Apparently, many authorities do not chase their letters and sometimes you only have 14 days to respond as a right of appeal to query anything. If you do not appeal then you have to deal with the situation they are advising you about, which may not be ideal and may be costly.
His company (TodoServ) offers a service where they open important post and advise us of the contents. The service is the same price as the Post office so we signed up for this. Also, we can have small parcels delivered to the office at no extra charge – so I have already used this by sending some items from Amazon.co.uk to Spain.
So with our new address, we could advise our solicitor to notify the utility companies of the change of contract from the previous owner of the property to ourselves.
TodoServ in Coin also offer other maintenance services should we need it, but Danny (the Gestor) was very laid back about ‘pushing’ his services on us. I liked their approach and will be using them as we need any support in the area.