Buying property in Spain follows a sequence that is genuinely different from the British, Irish or Dutch one. This is the checklist, in order, with the points where foreign buyers most often lose money.
The sequence, briefly
- Reservation. A small deposit takes the property off the market, usually for a few weeks.
- Contrato de arras. The private purchase contract, normally with a 10% deposit. Under the usual arras penitenciales form, if you pull out you lose the deposit; if the seller pulls out they pay you double. This is the point of no return, and it comes before the notary.
- Escritura pública. Signing before a notary, paying the balance, getting the keys.
- Registry. The deed is registered at the Registro de la Propiedad.
The critical difference: there is no equivalent of the English exchange-and-survey rhythm where you commission a survey after an offer and before being bound. In Spain you are effectively committed at the arras stage. Anything you want to know about the condition of the property, you need to know before you sign the arras.
What your lawyer checks, and what nobody checks
A good Spanish lawyer will verify title, charges and debts, planning status, that the property is properly registered, and that the seller is up to date with the community and with the IBI (council tax). That is the legal layer and it matters.
What the legal layer does not cover is the physical condition of the building. No lawyer is going to open the consumer unit, look behind the wardrobe, or tell you whether that hairline crack over the door is settlement or something worse. Nor will the bank’s valuer: a tasación establishes a mortgage value, not a condition report.
Documents to ask for
- Nota simple from the Land Registry: ownership, boundaries, mortgages and charges.
- Catastro reference and floor area. Compare it with what the listing claims. Discrepancies are extremely common.
- IBI receipt for the current year.
- Certificate that the seller is up to date with community charges.
- Minutes of the last two owners’ meetings. Where levies are approved. Request these. Always.
- The building’s ITE certificate and its result. How to check it.
- Energy performance certificate (certificado energético), which is compulsory for sale.
- Licence of first occupation or its equivalent, particularly on anything recently built.
- For new build: the libro del edificio and the developer’s warranty documentation.
Where foreign buyers lose money
Assuming a favourable ITE means the flat is fine. It means the common parts were inspected. It says nothing about the property itself.
Not reading the minutes. A levy approved for roof waterproofing three months before you complete is a number you will pay. Read it beforehand and it becomes a number you negotiate.
Enclosed terraces and unpermitted alterations. Extremely common on the coast. If the registered floor plan and the physical property disagree, regularising it is your problem once you own it.
Trusting the twenty-minute viewing. The seller’s furniture is against the walls for a reason, and freshly painted walls in an otherwise untouched flat deserve a question.
Assuming you have years to complain. On a resale, the general window for hidden defects is six months.
Things you can check yourself on a viewing
- Look behind the large furniture and behind curtains.
- Check skirting boards: swollen or lifting in one stretch means water.
- Smell. Damp cannot be painted over, and it is obvious walking into a closed flat.
- Visit after rain if you can. It is the best free survey there is.
- Look at the top-floor ceilings and any wall backing onto a terrace or courtyard.
- Open the consumer unit and see whether it looks like this century.
- Run the taps and flush, and watch the pressure.
Where we fit
Between the agent and the lawyer there is a gap, and it is the expensive one: nobody is assessing the physical condition of what you are buying. In Spain the professional qualified to do that, and legally answerable for the assessment, is a chartered architect.
We inspect up to 170 points, photograph every defect and cost it at real Spanish repair prices, and deliver the report within 48 working hours — in time to use it at the arras stage, which is the only stage where it still changes anything.
See pricing — flats from €249, in Madrid, Málaga and the Costa del Sol.