Stage 4 of 6

Stage 4: Check the property and sign the contract

§ 1Where this stage sits in the purchase

You have decided to buy, worked out the money and chosen a place and a type of home. Those stages were about decisions. This one is about commitments. A purchase in Spain becomes hard to undo once a deposit is paid and a private contract is signed, so the order of the steps carries most of your protection.

After this stage you own the home, which brings insurance, yearly taxes and, one day, a sale or a letting. The full legal process section holds every page named below, so come back to it when you need the complete list of chapters.

§ 2What you should hold when this stage ends

Six questions need an answer, in writing where possible. Who is advising you. Whether the seller can sell all of the home. What weighs on it, including debts that never reach the registry. Whether it was lawfully built and is sound. What you promised in each paper, and how you can leave. Whether the deed is signed and registered in your name.

The answers make a short file: your NIE certificate, an engagement letter from your own lawyer, a registry extract, debt and tax certificates, licences, a contract with conditions, a copy of the deed and proof of registration. Each paper shows a position on one date, so ask your lawyer to mark which ones to refresh before the deed.

§ 3Start with your number and your own advisers

The NIE, the número de identidad de extranjero (the foreigner's identity number), is what the notary, the tax office, the land registry and the bank use to identify you, and a deed cannot be completed without it. The NIE application from form EX-15 onwards covers who may apply, how to apply in Spain or through a consulate, and which foreign documents need an apostille and a sworn translation.

The decision on the request is not the slow part. The foreigners' office must resolve it within five days of registering it, and the wait that hurts is the immigration appointment you book first. What to do when appointment slots run out explains how to widen the search, when a lawyer or gestor can file for you, and why a website that sells appointments is not the official channel. Apply when you choose the area, before any reservation.

The law does not oblige you to hire a lawyer, and nobody else reads the paperwork on your side. The notary is a public official who advises both parties impartially, and the agent is usually paid by the seller. Who does which job in a purchase separates these roles from those of the gestor (gestor administrativo, an agent for paperwork with public offices), the surveyor and the sworn translator. What an independent lawyer checks for you lists the work, from reading the contracts to attending the deed. Independence is the point: a lawyer with no tie to the seller, the agent or the developer has no relationship to protect.

Questions to put to a lawyer before hiring asks for a written quote and an engagement letter, the hoja de encargo, and names the red flags, among them a request to pay a large sum into a personal account. You may also choose the notary yourself, even where a developer proposes one, and what the notary does and does not do says to ask for the draft deed several days ahead.

§ 4Check the property before you commit money

The full list of pre-signing checks gives the order. Start with the cheap and quick items, the registry extract and the cadastre. Ask the seller for the debt and tax receipts next, then check the licences and certificates. Commission the survey last, once the paper checks give you a reason to go on. What a survey finds that paper cannot is the physical condition of the building, which no registry or notary checks. If a check fails, tell your lawyer before you tell the seller, and decide together whether to renegotiate, ask for the problem to be solved before the deed, or walk away.

Registry, title and charges

The first document to order is the nota simple, an informational extract from the land registry. It shows the property's description, the owner and any mortgages or seizures in force on the day you ask. How to read a registry extract goes through it in four parts and lists the usual surprises, such as a co-owner or a seizure by a creditor. Order a second extract shortly before the deed, because the first shows one day only.

Then ask whether the person at the table can sell. How to confirm the seller can sell says that all owners must sell unless one holds a valid power of attorney, and that heirs must record an inheritance first. Which charges on a property are routine separates the routine from the dangerous. A mortgage is normally repaid from the price at the deed. A seizure, or a usufruct (a right for someone else to use the property), needs your lawyer's advice before you pay.

The cadastre (catastro) describes the same property for tax, and anyone can look it up free of charge by address or cadastral reference. Comparing the cadastre with the registry shows how: a floor or a pool in one record and not the other may point to works done without a licence.

Debts, licences and the building

Some debts follow a home without appearing in the registry. For a flat, the buyer answers with the property for unpaid community expenses of the expired part of the current year and the three previous calendar years, and the local property tax can also stay with the home. Debts that follow a home unseen explains both, and which no-debt certificates to ask for lists the proofs. Ask for them close to the signing, since each shows a position on a date.

The first occupation licence (licencia de primera ocupación) is a municipal authorisation for a new or renovated building, and what the first occupation licence proves says to make its delivery a condition of the contract if it is missing. Many regions also ask for a habitability certificate, and the registrars list it with the energy certificate among the papers to check before signing. Names and rules differ by region and by town, so ask your lawyer which documents apply. If you borrow, tell the lender early about any licence gap, because the bank's valuation and its lawyer protect the bank.

§ 5Planning problems that the papers can hide

A property is irregular when it, or part of it, was built or used without the licence or against the plan. The planning risks of irregular homes explains why foreign buyers meet this often: rural houses built or extended without a licence, and urbanisations sold before their services were finished. "No licence" can mean a lost paper, a building older than the rule, or a building that could never lawfully stand. What a missing licence can mean says that only the town hall can tell you which, and that your lawyer should ask it in writing before you pay a deposit you cannot recover.

State law divides land into rural and urbanised, and the class decides what may be built. Building limits on rural land matters if you are looking at a finca, a country property: get the town hall's written confirmation before you pay for any plan to build.

Two words in a listing deserve a direct question. AFO (asimilado a fuera de ordenación) is a regional status for a building that can no longer be ordered back to the legal position, and what AFO status allows and forbids adds that a promise of AFO in a listing is not a certificate. The other word is "legalisable", and whether an irregular building can be legalised explains why the answer is rarely a plain yes and when to walk away.

§ 6If you buy a flat, you buy into a community

A flat comes with membership of a community of owners (comunidad de propietarios) under the Horizontal Property Law. Buying into a community of owners covers the meeting, the fees, the reserve fund of at least 10% of the last ordinary budget, and the vote of three fifths of all owners that approves, limits or prohibits tourist rental. Check that vote before you buy if you plan to let the flat to tourists.

Arrears that pass to a flat's buyer adds that the seller must declare in the deed that the fees are up to date, and says to ask the administrator for a certificate. A special assessment, the derrama, is a hidden debt of the same kind, and how to deal with a pending derrama says to write into the contract who pays each instalment.

§ 7Contracts before the deed

The papers you may be asked to sign

Agents and sellers often ask for a paper and some money before the deed: a reserva, señal, arras or contrato privado. None is compulsory, but each can bind you. The papers you may sign before the deed sets the family out in order.

A reservation takes the home off the market for a short time for a small payment, and it should not commit you to buy. The five things to read in a reservation runs from what the sum is for to who holds the money. Under arras, the buyer pays a sum on account of the price. The notary's own guidance says they are optional and that the confirmatory kind is the most common. Penitential arras apply only if the parties agree: a buyer who withdraws loses the deposit, and a seller who withdraws returns double. The difference between confirmatory and penitential arras explains why this looks even-handed and is less so.

A private purchase contract records the price, the property, the deadline for the deed, the conditions and the penalties, and it binds both sides. The clauses of a private purchase contract says what to read, and the conditions come first: finance, satisfactory documents, delivery of licences and clearing of charges, each with a deadline and a result. Without conditions your only exit may be to lose the deposit.

The money and the exit

"Deposit" covers a reservation fee, arras and an advance on the price, so the paper decides what the money counts for. Who should hold your deposit compares the holders: a seller or an agent asks you to rely on goodwill, while a notary, a lawyer's client account or an escrow provider is safer. For a home bought on plan the law requires advance payments to be secured and held in a separate account.

Know your exit before you sign. How to withdraw from a signed contract runs through the cases. A failed condition may let you withdraw and recover the deposit, penitential arras let you leave by losing it, and confirmatory arras or a bare private contract may expose you to a claim for performance or compensation. Withdraw in writing, by the deadline the contract sets.

§ 8Completion before the notary

Completion is the signing of the public deed, the escritura de compraventa, before a notary who verifies identities, capacity, ownership and charges and records how the price was paid. The day at the notary and what follows covers the whole sequence. Read the draft deed with your lawyer, order a fresh registry extract and the latest debt certificates, and arrange the payment with your bank in advance, because the notary prefers bank transfer or a nominative cheque. Documents to bring on completion day adds the rule for the day itself: do not sign if something is not as agreed.

If you live abroad you have three routes: a short trip, an attorney, or in some cases a Spanish consul or a foreign notary. The three routes for signing from abroad suggests working backwards from the date of the deed: the NIE first, then the bank account, then the power of attorney with its apostille and translation. How to limit a power of attorney covers the risk: the notary checks the attorney's authority, so keep the power narrow, give it an end date and revoke it once the purchase is complete.

§ 9Taxes and registration finish the purchase

The registrars describe five steps in a purchase: find the home, sign the contract, pay taxes, register, understand the costs. The registry waits for proof that the taxes are settled, and the registrars give 30 working days as the usual period after signing, which varies by region. What the registry checks in your deed explains who files, why to ask for the entry number and the date of presentation, and what happens when the registrar finds a defect.

Registration makes you the recognised owner against the seller's creditors and hidden charges. Without it, those creditors may still obtain charges against the property and you may be unable to sell or mortgage it. When it is done, order an extract and read it against the deed, including whether the seller's mortgage has been cancelled.

§ 10Scams and mistakes that cut across every step

Scammers use distance and urgency, and a buyer abroad has both. The real risks and the fraud patterns sets the routine: an independent lawyer, the registry checked before you pay, and any change of account confirmed by phone. How the common property scams work describes a fake owner who asks for a reservation, an impersonated agent or notary, and a new account number sent just before payment. If you are caught, stop paying and tell your bank at once.

Mistakes foreign buyers make most often gives the remedy for the ordinary errors: advice first, checks second, commitment third. Squatters are a separate worry for owners of empty second homes, and since the law on them has been changing, the risks chapter says to confirm the current position with a lawyer.

§ 11Plan for inheritance while you buy

Where the EU Succession Regulation applies, one law normally governs the whole estate: the law of the country where you had your habitual residence at death, unless you chose the law of your nationality in a will. How inheritance works for Spanish property also covers reserved shares. Whether a Spanish will is worth having says no law requires one, but that a badly coordinated second will can revoke the first.

§ 12Where readers get stuck

The first stumble is the reservation. An agent says another buyer is waiting, you pay a small sum, and then you learn that the NIE takes weeks or that the money is not refundable. A good home survives a few days of checking.

The second is the adviser. A lawyer introduced by the agent, the developer or the seller can be competent and still have a reason not to upset them. Ask for written confirmation that your lawyer acts only for you.

The third is a word in the listing. "Legalisable", "in process", "tolerated" and "sold as seen" each deserve a direct question.

The fourth is a debt the registry does not show: community arrears, the local property tax or a derrama voted but unpaid. The fix is certificates dated close to the signing and a clause that lets you retain part of the price if one is missing.

The fifth is the weeks after the deed. The keys have changed hands, and the tax return and the registry filing wait. Several rules in this stage are regional, such as habitability, AFO and the tax deadline, so your lawyer has to confirm the rule for the place where the home stands.

§ 13How to know you are ready for the next stage

• You hold a NIE certificate, or you know the date it will arrive.
• You have an engagement letter from a lawyer who acts only for you.
• Your registry extract matches the person selling and the home as it stands, and the cadastral record agrees with it.
• You have seen the debt certificates, the tax receipts and the licences, each dated close to the signing.
• Anything that needs the town hall's opinion has it in writing.
• Your contract names its conditions and deadlines and says who holds the money, and you know how to withdraw.
• The deed is signed, the taxes are paid and the registry shows you as the owner.
• You have asked a lawyer whether your will covers the Spanish home.

The next stage starts when the registry entry carries your name, even if you already hold the keys. Keep the deed, the receipts, the registry entry and the dated list of checks in one folder, because owning the home and one day selling it will ask for the same papers again.

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