Buying in Spain, with someone on your side
The estate agent is paid by the seller. The developer's lawyer acts for the developer. Spanish law does not require you to have anyone of your own, which is exactly why you should.
What we check before you pay a deposit
Spanish property carries its debts with it. Unpaid community fees, unpaid council tax, a mortgage that was never formally cancelled — these attach to the property, not to the person who ran them up. Buy without checking and you buy the lot.
- Title, and whether the seller is actually the registered owner.
- Charges, mortgages and embargoes registered against the property.
- Planning status, and whether what is built matches what is registered. Extensions and pools are frequently neither.
- Licence of occupation, and the energy certificate.
- Community arrears, and any levy the community has already voted through.
- Whether the property is on rustic land, and what that means for what you can do with it.
£750 for those checks on a property you have found. Credited in full against our fee if you go ahead.
Have a property checked — £750
Do not sign the reservation first
The commonest expensive mistake. An agent produces a reservation contract, asks for a few thousand euros to take the property off the market, and it feels harmless. It usually is not: it will often be non-refundable, and it can commit you to terms you have not read in a language you do not speak.
Send it to us before you sign it. Reading a reservation contract takes us twenty minutes and it is the cheapest thing we will ever do for you.
What the purchase costs, beyond the price
Budget roughly 10% to 14% on top, depending on the region and on whether you are buying new or resale. That covers transfer tax or VAT, notary fees, registry fees, and our fee of 1% with a minimum of £1,500. We give you the actual numbers for your specific property before you commit, not a range.
While you are at it
Two things are far cheaper to do at purchase than later: getting your NIE and a power of attorney in place, and deciding whether you want a Spanish will. And from the year you complete, you will owe an annual Spanish tax return whether or not you let the property. Better to know that on day one than five years in.