Chapter

Buying an apartment in Spain: what to check

§ 1What you are buying

A Spanish apartment is a separate unit in a building divided into units, under the horizontal property law. You own your flat outright and a share of the common parts, expressed as a quota. The community of owners, the comunidad de propietarios, manages the shared parts through the owners’ meeting, a president and often an administrator. This page belongs to the section on property types.

§ 2The community

The community is the first thing to check, because it decides your running costs and part of your freedom. Ask for the statutes, the last three sets of minutes, the current budget and the accounts. Penthouse looks at the top floor of a building, where questions about roofs and terraces matter most. The legal process section of this handbook explains how communities of owners work and how debts attach to a unit.

§ 3Fees and debts

Owners share the common expenses by quota. The law makes a buyer answerable, with the flat, for unpaid general expenses of the running year and three earlier calendar years, as the law reads in the text we checked. Ask the administrator for a certificate that the seller is up to date, and make sure the deed contains the seller’s statement to that effect.

§ 4The building

Look at the structure, the roof, the facade, the lifts and the pipes. Ask whether an inspection report has been made and whether major works are planned or voted. A special assessment can follow a purchase, so ask what has been agreed and what has been discussed. The reserve fund is a sign of how the community plans.

§ 5Certificates and papers

Ask for the energy performance certificate, which is compulsory when you buy or rent, and for the nota simple from the registry. Compare the description in the nota simple with the cadastral reference and with the flat itself. A mismatch in surface or in the number of rooms should be explained before you sign.

§ 6Tourist lets

If you plan to let the flat to visitors, read the statutes and the minutes. The law lets the owners, by a qualified majority, approve, limit or prohibit tourist rental. Regional and municipal rules apply as well. Do not assume that a flat advertised for holiday lets can be let by you.

§ 7New or resale

A flat bought from a developer carries VAT instead of transfer tax and comes with guarantees on the building. A resale flat carries transfer tax and has no developer behind it. The costs section explains both, and the buying process section explains the steps.

§ 8Other kinds of home

Houses, rural property, plots and renovation projects raise different questions.

Read villas for villas and townhouses for townhouses.

Read country houses and rural property for country houses.

If the home is a project, read renovation projects, and if you want to build, read land and self-build.

For a home by the sea or on a golf resort, read beachfront and golf.

§ 9Before you sign

Visit more than once and at different hours. Talk to neighbours. Ask your lawyer to review the community papers with the title. And keep the clearance letter, the minutes and the budget with your purchase file.

§ 10Insurance and fees

Ask which insurance the community holds for the building, what it covers and what remains your responsibility inside the flat. Ask for the policy, the premium and the claims record. Check how the administrator is paid, how the president is chosen and whether the accounts have been approved at the meeting. A building with clean accounts and regular minutes is easier to live in and to sell.

§ 11Parking and storage

Parking spaces and storerooms may be part of the flat, separate registered properties or rights of use over common areas. The registry description and the title show which. Ask whether the space is in the sale, whether it has its own cadastral reference, and whether the community has rules on its use. Spaces sold apart from the flat can carry their own taxes and fees.

§ 12Back to the section

Types of property explains the kinds of home a foreigner can buy and what each needs checked.

Legal note. How the process works in general. It is not legal advice, and it never replaces an independent Spanish lawyer acting for you.