A complete, considered guide for the international buyer, taking you from your first enquiry to the moment the keys are placed in your hand.
Read in order, or dip into whichever chapter answers the question on your mind today. We have written this guide to be both a complete reference and a trusted companion.
Buying property abroad is one of the most significant decisions you will make. It deserves to be handled with care, candour, and the kind of unhurried expertise that comes only from doing this work, well, for a very long time.
We have been guiding international buyers through the Spanish property market for years now, and in that time we have come to believe one simple thing. The right way to do this work is to behave, throughout, as if every client were a friend asking us for honest advice. No pressure. No spin. No quietly omitted detail that becomes a problem six months after completion.
This guide is part of that promise. We have set out, as plainly as we can, everything you need to know before you commit to a property in Spain: the process, the costs, the pitfalls, and the questions that are most worth asking. Some of what follows may sound cautious. That is deliberate. The Spanish system is fundamentally sound and the country remains, in our view, one of the finest places in Europe to own a home. But the small minority of transactions that go wrong almost always do so for reasons that are entirely avoidable.
If, after reading this, you would like to talk through your specific situation, we would be delighted to hear from you. There is no obligation, just an honest conversation with people who have done this many times before.
The very best property purchases are won in the weeks before you set foot on Spanish soil. A little quiet preparation now will save you a great deal of time, expense, and worry later.
Spanish property prices look attractive on paper, but the figure shown is rarely the figure you will pay. On top of the agreed purchase price, you must budget an additional 10–12 per cent to cover transfer tax (or VAT on new builds), notary fees, land registry, and independent legal costs. A €300,000 villa is, in practice, a €330,000–€336,000 commitment.
Are you paying in cash, taking a Spanish mortgage, or releasing equity from your existing home? Each route has implications for timing and for the deposits you can safely commit to. Non-resident mortgages typically cap at 60–70% loan-to-value, meaning a minimum deposit of 30–40% plus the 10–12% fees. If you need to sell in the UK or Ireland first, please read the Cardinal Rules in Chapter VI before doing anything else.
Long before you find a property, choose your legal representative. The single most important rule of buying in Spain is that you must instruct an independent Spanish solicitor, never the seller's lawyer, never the developer's, and never one "kindly recommended" by an agent who stands to gain from the sale. We have a panel of trusted English-speaking solicitors we are happy to introduce, all of whom we have no commercial relationship with.
The buyers who come to grief in Spain are almost always those who skipped the preparation. Those who took the time to lay the groundwork rarely have a moment's regret.
From our archive of completed salesEvery Spanish property purchase, however grand or modest, follows the same eight steps. Understanding what comes next at every stage is what turns the process from daunting into entirely manageable.
The NIE is needed for every official act in the Spanish system, from signing the deed of sale to paying taxes and registering as the property owner. You can apply for it in advance via a Spanish consulate, or in person at a police station once in Spain. In practice, however, most of our buyers leave this in the hands of their appointed solicitor, who will arrange the NIE as part of the conveyancing process after a property has been found.
You have a choice here. The traditional option is to open a Spanish bank account, which Sabadell, CaixaBank and BBVA can all do in a single appointment with your passport and NIE. The newer option, popular with our international buyers, is to use a regulated multi-currency online account (such as one with a euro denomination) which can be set up entirely from home before you travel. Either is acceptable to your solicitor, your bank, and the Spanish notary. Whichever you choose, you will need it to pay the reservation deposit, settle community fees, and arrange direct debits for IBI (council tax) and utilities.
The notary in Spain does not perform legal due diligence. That is your solicitor's role. They will verify ownership, check for outstanding mortgages or debts, confirm the property has its Licence of First Occupation, and that community fees and IBI (council tax) are settled. Independent legal fees are typically around 1% of the purchase price, with a sensible minimum of €1,200–€1,800.
Spend at least two or three days viewing, never decide on a single afternoon. Visit the area at different times to gauge traffic, neighbours, and evening atmosphere. When you find the property, make your formal offer through the agent. Negotiation in Spain is expected; the asking price is rarely the final price.
Once your offer is accepted, a Contrato de Reserva is signed and a deposit of €3,000–€6,000 paid. This removes the property from the market while your solicitor completes legal checks. Never sign before your solicitor has reviewed the contract, see Chapter VI.
Within two to four weeks of the reservation, a more detailed Contrato de Arras is signed and a further deposit, typically taking the total to 10% of the purchase price, is paid. This is binding: withdraw and you forfeit your deposit; if the seller withdraws, they owe you double. Your solicitor will draft or vet every clause.
The escritura de compraventa is the official deed of sale, signed in front of a Spanish notario. The balance of the purchase price, all taxes, and all fees are settled on the same day, and the keys change hands immediately. You need not be physically present, your solicitor can sign on your behalf under a properly drawn power of attorney.
After the notary appointment, your solicitor settles the transfer tax (ITP) with the regional government and registers the property in your name at the Land Registry (Registro de la Propiedad). This process takes four to eight weeks. Once complete, you receive the original notarised deeds, incontrovertible proof of ownership.
Done properly, a Spanish purchase is a fluid eight-week process. Done hastily, it can become eighteen months of regret.
A common refrain from clients who came to us lateThe asking price is only the beginning. Here is what every buyer must budget for in addition, set out in plain figures, with no surprises.
| Cost | Rate / Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer Tax (ITP) | 8 – 9% | Resale properties only. 8% in the Murcia region; 9% in the Valencia region (Alicante province), recently reduced from 10%. |
| VAT (IVA) | 10% | New-build properties only, paid in place of ITP. |
| Stamp Duty (AJD) | 1.5% | New builds only, in addition to IVA. |
| Notary fees | €600 – €1,200 | Regulated by the Spanish government. Scales modestly with purchase price. |
| Land Registry fee | €400 – €800 | For registering you as the legal owner at the Registro de la Propiedad. |
| Independent legal fees | ~ 1% | Your solicitor's fee. Minimum typically €1,200 – €1,800. |
| Bank valuation (if mortgage) | €300 – €600 | Required by the lender for any Spanish mortgage application. |
| Total additional costs | 10 – 12% | Budget this above and beyond the agreed purchase price. |
For most international buyers, the difference between a poor exchange rate and a good one will outweigh the legal fees, the notary, and the land registry combined. A high street bank converting £250,000 to euros may quietly cost you several thousand pounds in spread alone. Always use a regulated FX specialist for the purchase. We work with a small number of trusted, fully regulated brokers and would be happy to introduce you.
Once you own a property in Spain, plan for these recurring outgoings: IBI (council tax), typically €250–€500 per year depending on property value and municipality; community fees for apartments and gated communities, typically €500–€1,000 per year; basic utilities and insurance; and, if you are not resident in Spain, annual non-resident income tax (IRNR), payable even on properties used solely as a holiday home.
These are the eight obstacles we see most frequently when buyers come to us, sometimes mid-transaction, often before they have even started. For each, here is how we make the difficulty disappear.
Contracts in Spanish, notary appointments conducted in Spanish, banks that quote terms in Spanish.
Our team works entirely in English with you, and we only introduce solicitors, banks and notaries who provide certified English translations of all key documents before signing.
Spain has unlicensed agents, dual-fee operators, and developer reps disguised as independent advisors.
We are a fully licenced agency, transparent about who pays us, and we never accept hidden incentives from developers. Every property we list is from a fully licenced source, and the advice you receive is genuinely independent.
Illegal extensions, missing licences, and properties without a valid Licence of First Occupation are common.
This is precisely why having your lawyer review the contract before any deposit is paid is so important. Should the property prove not to be legally clean, your solicitor will identify the issue, and any deposit you have paid can be refunded in full.
High street banks routinely take 3–5% in spread on large international transfers.
We introduce you to regulated currency specialists who typically deliver rates that save buyers thousands of pounds on a single transaction.
Many buyers commit to deposits before their mortgage is fully approved, a serious risk.
Our advice is straightforward, do not pay a deposit until all funds and any mortgage approval are formally agreed in writing. We will guide your timing so that nothing is committed before your finance is fully in place.
Non-resident income tax and IBI (council tax) catch many foreign owners off guard.
We provide a complete written breakdown of all upfront and recurring taxes so there are no surprises after the keys are handed over.
Limited time in Spain, expensive flights, and the wrong properties shown when you do arrive.
Before you fly, we pre-screen every property against your specific brief. Most clients view 6–10 carefully selected homes across two days, never a scattergun tour.
Many agents disappear the moment the sale is done. Utilities, taxes, and registration become your headache.
Utility transfers, IBI (council tax) registration, non-resident tax setup, even a recommended cleaner or pool maintainer, we treat the relationship as the start, not the finish.
Every cautionary tale we have heard in this industry comes back to one of the ten rules that follow. Keep this chapter close. Read it before signing anything. Re-read it whenever you feel pressure to act quickly.
Let it be the ten rules in this chapter. They are not technicalities. They are the difference between a smooth purchase and a costly, distressing one.
Once signed, a reservation contract is enforceable. Some contain clauses that forfeit your deposit if you withdraw for almost any reason, even if the seller cannot deliver clean title. Your solicitor will spot these in minutes. Always allow them sight of the document before you put pen to paper.
Pre-approval is not approval. Spanish lenders perform their own valuation (tasación) and can reduce the loan amount, or refuse it entirely, after a reservation deposit has been paid. Wait until the FEIN (binding mortgage offer) is in hand before paying anything substantial.
High street banks routinely charge spreads of 3–5% on currency conversion, plus fixed transfer fees. On a €250,000 purchase, that can equate to over £10,000 lost to your bank for no benefit. Always use a regulated FX specialist instead. We work with a small panel of fully regulated brokers and will be happy to introduce you. The savings will dwarf every other fee in the transaction combined.
In the UK and Ireland, a sale is not legally binding until exchange of contracts. Until that point, your buyer can walk away with no consequence. We have seen cases where a Spanish reservation deposit was lost because a UK chain collapsed two weeks after it was paid. Wait for exchange. Acting before then puts both your deposit and the whole transaction at serious risk, and there is no need to take that risk when a property worth buying is worth doing properly.
No matter how friendly the introduction, a solicitor recommended by the party selling to you cannot be truly independent. They may have an ongoing commercial relationship with the agent or developer, and even subconscious loyalty can lead to glossed-over issues. Always instruct an independent solicitor of your own choosing. We have a panel of trusted local English-speaking lawyers across Alicante and Murcia we would be glad to introduce you to, all of them fully independent of us and of any developer or seller.
Spanish contracts are technical and a single clause can shift hundreds of thousands of euros in liability. "It's standard wording" is not an acceptable explanation. Insist on a certified English translation of every document you sign, and have your solicitor walk you through it in plain language before you commit.
Spanish anti-money-laundering law strictly limits cash transactions in property purchases. Beyond the legal issue, every transfer should be traceable for your own protection, bank receipts are the proof that a payment was made and accepted. If anyone, ever, asks you to pay any part of the price in cash, walk away. There is no legitimate reason for the request.
Spanish law (Ley 20/2015 and its predecessor Ley 57/1968) requires developers to provide bank guarantees on every euro of deposit paid before completion. If the development is delayed, abandoned, or the developer becomes insolvent, the bank refunds your deposit in full. Always verify the guarantee exists, is from a reputable bank, and is in your name, before you part with a single euro.
Power of Attorney (poder) is a useful tool, it allows your solicitor to sign at the notary on your behalf when you cannot be present. But it must be drawn narrowly: limited to the specific property, the specific transaction, and the specific powers required. A broadly drafted poder could, in theory, allow your representative to commit you to other transactions entirely. Read every line, and have your solicitor explain every clause.
"There are two other buyers interested." "We need a decision by tomorrow." "The price goes up on Monday." These are sales tactics, not facts. The right property in Spain is almost never the one you must decide on in 24 hours. Take your time. Walk away if you must. The opportunity that disappears under pressure is rarely the opportunity you wanted in the first place.
Follow these ten rules and you will be ahead of nine out of ten buyers we have ever met. Ignore even one, and the consequences can take years to undo.
The Sunshine Homes TeamThe notary has signed, the keys are in your hand, and your Spanish home is yours. Here is what happens next, and what we will help you with in the weeks and months that follow.
Your solicitor will settle the transfer tax (ITP or IVA + AJD) with the regional government, typically within 30 days of completion. They will then submit the deeds to the Land Registry for formal registration. This process takes four to eight weeks and concludes with the original deeds being sent to you. Keep them safely; they are your incontrovertible proof of ownership.
Electricity, water and any internet contracts will need to be transferred into your name. The previous owner's contracts are not automatically novated, and if no action is taken, supplies may be cut off after a transitional grace period. In practice, your solicitor will handle these transfers for you as part of the conveyancing wrap-up, along with setting up direct debits for IBI (council tax), community fees, and household insurance, so that everything is in your name from day one.
If you are a non-resident, you are required to file an annual non-resident income tax return (IRNR, Modelo 210), even if you do not rent the property out. The tax is calculated on a notional rental value, typically 1.1% or 2% of the cadastral value, taxed at 24% (or 19% for EU residents). It is modest in absolute terms, typically a few hundred euros per year, but failure to file can lead to penalties on a future sale. We introduce you to a fiscal representative who handles this routinely.
Holiday lets in the Valencia and Murcia regions require a tourist licence (vivienda con fines turísticos), registered with the regional tourism authority. The application process varies by municipality and we can guide you through it. Rental income is taxable in Spain, but allowable expenses are deductible. A properly run holiday let on the Costa Blanca can comfortably cover all running costs and contribute to the mortgage besides.
We treat the keys-in-hand moment as the start of our relationship, not the end of it. Many of the clients we worked with five and ten years ago are still in touch.
When you are ready, whether that is today or six months from now, here is how to reach us. There is no obligation and no pressure, just an open conversation with people who know the market inside out.
Sunshine Homes
Costa Blanca & Costa Cálida, Spain
sunshine-homes.es
+34 711 020 343
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