My partner and I have lived in a rural area on La Palma in the Canaries for the past 22 years but are now in the process of selling our property due to family matters.
The sale is going OK but after 8 months of paperwork, the estate agents have now asked us to apply to the UK for a Criminal Certificate which would be posted to us here in the Canaries and which proves we are not criminals.
Once that is done, we then have to send it back to the UK, get it Apostilled in the UK then sent back to us.
We have nothing to hide but we are not sure this 3 month process is oficially required.
For information, we have our residencia right from the start of living here and of course have our ID card, first the NIE card, now a TIE card.
Also, we pay our tax here and are fiscally resident.
It seems that British buyers in the Canaries/Spain have to go through the process of Criminal Certificate and Apostilled.
But I can't find any information on sellers having to do the same.
I'd be very appreciative if anybody can advise us on this.