Buying Property in Spain

STEP ONE "RESERVATION"

Once you have found your dream Spanish property for sale and agreed on a price with the seller the first step is to make a reservation and show your intent to purchase the property. This does 2 things in general, it stops any other party from coming and making a higher offer as the property is taken from the market, and secondly, it allows your lawyer time to check the property licenses and make sure everything is in order. Usually, a reservation fee of between 3000€ - 6000€ is acceptable and the time allowed for your lawyer to complete their works is between 4 to 6 weeks. Again both are negotiable at the point of sale, nothing is set in stone at this point. Once you’re ready to do a reservation there is a simple two-page document to sign with your lawyer along with the reservation fee to pay.

STEP TWO "PROMISSORY"

Once your lawyer has completed all their checks on real estate documents, they will give you a report on the property. They will also request a promissory contract from the seller which will include all the important points of the sale and a complete rundown of the property; they will send you this along with their thoughts and advise you about eventual alterations to the contract.

Once both you and the property seller agree on the promissory contract, you will pay a second amount that is usually a percentage of the sale price that varies from 10% to 60% of the final sale price. At this point, the contract is legally registered and it is very difficult for the seller to pull out of the sale. In fact, Spanish law states that if a seller pulls out of a promissory contract then they have to pay double to the amount already paid back to the buyer, this gives assurances to the buyer as the penalties to pull out are very severe and virtually stops anybody from doing it.

STEP THREE "DEEDS"

This is a fairly straight forward process as a large amount of the work is done on the first step: Promissory. If the property in Spain that you purchased was off-plan then the lawyer at this point will check that all of the licenses are in place and that the property is free from debt. Once this is all certified you will then complete your purchase along with payment of the balance, your lawyer will then register the property under your name and you will own the freehold of a property in Spain.

If the Spanish property you are looking to purchase is ready and you have the funds in place it is possible to skip step 2 and go straight to step 3, Deeds. However, not many people have the full amount available in 15-30 days which is why there is a Promissory contract signed in around 90% of property purchases.

Buying property in Spain is a transparent process and you, as a buyer, are completely protected during the whole process. Spanish Homes is here to make this whole process even easier for you, supporting you on each step of your journey of buying a property in Spain.