Procedures and costs when buying.

There are usually 3 stages leading up to owning your new property in Spain:

The initial agreement to buy ie when an offer has been made and accepted and other issues agreed such as the proposed timing of the completion.

The contract stage. We usually prepare the legal contract between the buyer and the seller and when this is signed the buyer generally pays a 10% deposit.  (The official contract has to be in Spanish for legal reasons but we also provide English, German or French translations as required). It is at this point that there is a legally enforceable agreement between the parties with penalties on both sides should one or the other fail to proceed.

The completion.  The completion date is often about one month after the contract date, although it can be either sooner or later depending on the wishes of the two parties. At completion time, the new "escritura" (title deed) is signed in front of the Notary and the balance of the money paid.  Then this new escritura is registered - just a formality but it can take a few more weeks. 

The main buying cost is a government tax of 7% (8% on new properties bought from a development company), which is based on the price recorded in the new escritura. Other than this, the buyer can also expect to pay 50% of the Notary's fees, which means typically around €450 euros for the buyer (the seller usually pays the other 50%), registration costs of around €400 euros plus a gestor's fee of around €125 euros for helping pay the taxes and arranging the registration of the new escritura. 

There is one other tax which is called "plus valia" and according to law should be paid by the vendor. Some estate agents prepare contracts with the buyer responsible for the plus valia or even for all of the costs of the sale. Our contracts normally state that the seller pays the plus valia and half of the notaries fees and so, overall, the total buying costs should be no more than 8% of the  purchase price. In various guides to purchasing properties in Spain you will find a global figure of 10% or more mentioned, but this would probably include the plus valia, all of the Notary's costs and usually 1% or so for a lawyer. If you prefer to instruct your own a lawyer then you should also allow this 1% additional amount for legal costs, and for buyers who do not speak Spanish there is an English-speaking  lawyer nearby who we can recommend. It would not be entirely satisfactory to appoint a lawyer from another area as in Spain there is no system of searches with the local authority, and whoever you rely on to assist you through the buying process must have good local knowledge if they are really to be of much help to you. Eg knowledge of local water supplies, routes of new roads, financial state of the community of owners, planning/building rules that would apply to other land nearby,  etc etc. As well as having good local knowledge, whoever is helping you complete your purchase must of course be competent to confirm that the legal title to the property is entirely correct and without any encumbrances.

Most of our buyers rely on us to look after all of these matters on their behalf.  Margaret Lingwood studied here in Spain to gain her qualification (Gestor Intermediario en Promociones de Edificacones) and this, coupled with a great deal of local experience, has given her the necessary knowledge and relationships with local officials enabling her to perform all aspects of conveyancing and completion of the sales of properties that we offer. We retain the services of an excellent local Spanish lawyer who we consult whenever we encounter anything out of the ordinary. The contracts we prepare ensure that both parties are protected in the event that either party is unable or unwilling to proceed with a sale once the contract has been signed and the deposit paid.  

Once an agreement has been reached we do rather more work for buyers than for sellers, as all that the seller wants is to receive the financial proceeds of the sale.  We regard it as part of our job to ensure that our buyers receive not only the physical property concerned but also full registered title with no charges or liens registered against it and all outgoings paid up to date. On the day of completion, we make a detailed account between the seller and buyer to include an apportionment of any community fees, local taxes and any other regular outgoings. If the vendor has unpaid bills that would attach to the property we pay them on behalf of the vendor from the deposit we usually hold.  We change over the electricity and telephone contracts and property ownership records with the local authority.  

We assist non-resident buyers in obtaining their fiscal number and certificate of non-residence, and we can also help open a local bank account as well as change the names on the various utility and other bills relating to the property.  If finance is required, we can assist with a mortgage application to one of the local banks who are usually happy to lend up to 70% of the purchase price to non-residents. With relatively low euro interest rates (5.5%-6.0%), many buyers are finding it advantageous to finance part of their purchase with a Spanish mortgage rather than use their existing capital for the entire purchase price.  (If a local mortgage is required remember to allow +/- 3% of the loan amount for mortgage start up costs in addition to other purchasing costs mentioned above.) 

We can introduce you to reliable companies for insurance and fiscal affairs, building and maintenance works, letting and management services. We never accept introductory commissions from companies (including banks offering mortgages) that we introduce our clients to – instead, requesting them to reflect any commissions that they would normally pay to introducing estate agents in a better deal for our client.

Even when we handle all aspects of conveyancing, we make no direct charge to buyers for our comprehensive service as we consider this work to be part of our overall job in bringing each sale to a satisfactory conclusion for both parties.   We will happily pass on contact details of recent buyers so that you can hear directly from them how they feel about their experiences with us.   You might also like to take a quick look at our “Testimonials” page.