Buying property in Spain is exciting, but it comes with its own legal procedures and potential pitfalls. The system works differently from the UK and Ireland, and understanding who does what can save you a great deal of stress and money.
Here’s a clear look at the key professionals you’ll need on your side when buying in Spain, and how to minimise the risks along the way.
A lawyer (abogado)
Whilst hiring a conveyance lawyer is not mandatory in Spain, we strongly recommend that you do so to avoid the many pitfalls.
Unless you have an excellent command of Spanish law, language, and bureaucracy, you need to find an English-speaking lawyer to act on your behalf. It helps a lot if they are local, although it’s not essential. It’s important to find one you trust and recommended to you by someone who has used it. Make sure they specialise in property law.
Our law firm offers the following service: Conveyancing in Spain – Buying
Other sources:
- The UK government publishes a list of English-speaking lawyers in Spain at gov.uk/government/publications/spain-list-of-lawyers (not all offer conveyancing services).
The Irish government publishes a list of English-speaking lawyers in Malaga:
A surveyor
A property in Spain is as likely to have defects as one in the UK, and you might be surprised to learn that the most common problem is damp.
Few Spanish house-buyers use a surveyor, generally trusting to good luck. An estate agent may even try to persuade you that there aren’t any. But increasing numbers of RICS chartered surveyors and specialist architects are now providing this service to house buyers.
An experienced and conscientious building surveyor can save you many times their fee by giving you the ammunition to argue the price down. If they don’t find any problems, then the surveyor has bought you peace of mind.
We recommend this company, which is RICS regulated: SurveyinSpain
A notary
You’ll need a notary for drawing up the deeds (escritura) and to witness the signing of all the legal documents. It is the legal right of a buyer (not the seller) to choose the notary they want to work with (normally arranged by your appointed conveyance lawyer). The buyer normally pays the notary’s fees and so gets to choose which one to use. Your lawyer will probably recommend one and visit their office with you.
Notaries (notaria) are legally trained representatives of the state, and their fees are set so there’s no point in shopping around. The fees range from 0.1% of the value of the deeds for expensive properties to 0.4% for cheaper properties. Fees may also be higher if there’s a mortgage involved, for example.
Notaries and banks do not provide business or fairness advice to any of the parties involved. They do not carry out due diligence or background checks. Their role is to ensure that the documents have been written correctly, complying with the law. They are not an alternative to a lawyer.
The risks and how to avoid them
Developers
Spain has had something of a reputation for unscrupulous property developers in the past, and not without reason. Examples include:
- Properties built without planning permission. Buy one, and it could end up being torn down by the authorities.
- Failure to comply with building regulations. You could be forced to shell out big money to bring it up to standard.
- Properties bought off-plan, which never actually get built.
- The property turns out to be smaller or built to a lower specification than advertised.
- Deposits paid on developments which land was not owned by the developer.
That said, new, stringent pro-consumer laws passed over the last decade have winnowed out the majority of cowboy developers, leaving mostly professional and hard-working companies.
More on this in our article: Off-plan construction guarantees in Spain
Debts associated with the property
In Spain, unsettled debts associated with a property stay with the property. So, if you buy a house which has outstanding community fees, community of owners’ fees, property tax (impuesto sobre bienes inmuebles or IBI), or even a mortgage, those debts become the debts of the new owner.
More on this in our blog post: 8 things to look out for when buying property in Spain
Minimising the risks
Your lawyer will:
- Check the property with the land registry (Registro de la Propiedad).
- Check that planning permission was granted when it was built, and for any subsequent improvements
- Ensure there are no outstanding debts attached to the property.
- Ensure there are no embargoes – effectively a freezing of the property by the authorities, preventing it from being sold until an associated debt is cleared.
Your surveyor will carry out a condition report, building survey or structural report for you as appropriate, and check that the property matches the paperwork.
Buying a new-build or off-plan property requires additional caution. Check the company out thoroughly before handing over any deposit, and be sure you are guaranteed to get it back quickly should the project never come to fruition. Have the ‘finished’ property ‘snagged’ to make sure that it is in perfect condition.
