Legal documentation regarding your franchise
There are laws and rules for real estate franchising in Spain.
Franchising is Spain has several key legal documents, which Comaskey has prepared in conjunction with our franchise lawyers.
It’s hard to believe how much we’ve learned from the past year of dealing with solicitors and that’s exactly where our advice starts for you, the potential Comaskey Spain franchisee. Our final offering of documents will follow very closely along the lines we have detailed below but the exact details are not concreted just yet (as of April 2016).
We strongly suggest that you take advice on the whole process from a solicitor experienced in the franchising process – in fact, we insist. This is a very niche area of law and the money you can waste by using someone who does not fully understand exactly how this area of commercial law works is phenomenal. Spanish Solutions can give you general advice on company structure, tax rules, and employment, but to ensure there is no conflict of interest you must have a totally independent lawyer representing your interests here in Spain.
You have got to understand the terms and conditions of the agreement, what we are offering you, and so on. There are a few core documents that your solicitor will advise you on…
The marketing brochure
If you are at the stage where you are interested, you’ll already have read the Comaskey brochure. Although it is mostly a marketing tool, it is considered a part of the legal contract you will enter into while establishing your property business with us in Spain.
Non-disclosure agreement
We ask everyone to sign a non-disclosure agreement before we give away too much information. Check with your lawyer – this is perfectly normal. We are giving you sensitive information about our strategies, finances and projections, and we do not want that in the general domain.
Franchise information memorandum (FIM)
The franchise process is getting detailed at this stage. The FIM, which we will show you after you have signed a confidentiality agreement, contains the bulk of our business, how it is structured, how we save money, the commission we earn, the multiple streams of income we tap into and much more. It also forms a large part of the fourth and most important legal document that Comaskey franchising will be asking you to review and sign: the franchise agreement.
The franchise agreement
The franchise agreements sets out details of the parties involved in this deal, the system used by Comaskey and our franchisees, key features of your new Costa Blanca real estate business, training, staffing, accounting practices, banking, your obligations, Comaskey Properties’ obligations to you, our connection with Spanish Solutions and other tied suppliers, insurance requirements, and territorial information.
Trademark licence
Strictly speaking, this is included in the franchise agreement but, often, franchise advisers ask franchisors to mention it separately. The Comaskey brand is very valuable. Spanish property buyers, sellers, renters and investors all know when they see the Comaskey name over your door, they will get a very high level of service and care from the operator of the real estate unit. We wish to protect this Comaskey brand and our reputation; you are therefore limited as to how you can use it, change it and how you can promote the fact that you are a part of the Comaskey team.
Standard operating procedures document
The standard operating procedures document details the operational aspects of the business and how we run it so successfully on the Costa Blanca. We will provide you with electronic and hard copies of this document and you will see it only after you’ve paid your deposit and signing the franchise agreement. This is our playbook and tells you how to act, list a house, greet a client, organise your inbox, answer the phone and motivate yourself for clients. We tell you the important aspects of the business to concentrate on and simultaneously advise you on all you should really ignore. To the best of our knowledge there is no specific franchising lawyer operating on the Costa Blanca but we may be corrected on this. The British Franchise Association and the Spanish Franchise Association will direct you to a legal firm, which will help iron out any issues that you may have with the franchise arrangement. If there is anything that we can help you with, we’ll be delighted to do so – all you have to do is ask us!
The information here shall not be construed as constituting advice to you or any other person, as our advice depends on all the circumstances of the person concerned. Nothing contained here constitutes investment, legal, tax or other advice, nor is it to be relied on in making any decision. You should obtain relevant and specific up-to-date professional advice from experts before making any decision.
