When you have decide to buy a property on Spain, you need to know how to do and how the process works, from the beginning till you are the legal owner. Many things are different from other countries like the Scandinavians and many other European countries. We will here try to give you an overview how it works in Spain.
2. Lawyer control the property
After the reservation amount has been paid, your lawyer will start the important work of controlling the property. We have described this work abowe in "Lawyers important work"
3. Private Purchase Contract - PPC (Contrato de compraventa)
When you lawyer has finished the control of the property ans everything is fine to go to next step, your lawyer and the sellers lawyer will set up a private purchase Contract (PPC). When signing the PPC it is nomally to pay 10% of the total sales amount minus the EUR 6.000,- paid as a reservation amount. All payments goes to your lawyers clients account and from there to the sellers client account by his lawyer.
If the property are sold with some or all furniture, there must to the PPC attached an inventory showing which furniture are included in the sale.
4. Signing the Title Deed in the office of the Notary (Escritura Pública)
In the PPC (Private Purchase Contract) it is stated a date for completing the sale be signing the title deed in the Notary. Both parts will meet in the Notary together with their lawyers. Often one or both parts are represented by their lawyers who have the power to act on behalf of their client. The title deed will be signed and the outstanding amount of the sale will be paid to the seller with a Spanish bank cheque. Keys to the property will be given tio the new owner and the deal is done.
Choose the right real estate agent in Spain
To be a real estate agent in many countries (for example in Norway) you need a special education and a license from the government. In Spain you do not need a special license to sell a property but some property agents has education and passed a special course. Because of this it is very important to choose the right real estate agent when you want to buy a property in Spain. You can check if there is a register company behind the agent and you can ask also for references from lawyers, banks and other clients to be sure this is a real estate agent who has a good reputation and work serious.
One property can be listed and be sold by several agents
Real estate agents in Spain operates different then you might are used to from your country. It is quite common that a property owner list their property for sale with more then one real estate agent. Nearly every serious real estate agents are connected to a real estate network where most of the properties are available. For you as a buyer of a property this is easier since you then just have to find just find one real estate agent to work with and then have access to all the properties in the market.
Lawyers important work
To process and do the legal paperwork when buying a property in Spain is not very complicated, if you do everything 100% correct. You really need to use a good lawyer in the process, because it is nearly impossible for a private person with limited skills in Spanish to do everything correct, when all documents and contract all are in Spanish. To use a good lawyer is maybe the best investment for this process and the lawyer will help you to make this a easy finish of the buying process.
The lawyer will:
- Investigate if the property is correct and legally registered in the Spanish land registry
- Check that there are no mortgage registered on the property
- Check that the seller of the property is the real owner
- Check that all bills and fees are paid fully for the taxes, community fees, electricity, water, gas etc.
Cost when buying property in Spain
You can read about the different costs when buying property in Spain her:
https://bestinspain.net/cost-buying-property-spain/
Financing
Even if you are not resident in Spain you can finance your new property up to 60%-70% of the valuation of the property. If you are resident you might finance up to 80%.
Read more about financing / mortgage her; https://bestinspain.net/financing-mortgage-loan/
The buying process
1. Reservation contract (Contrato de Reserva)
When you have found the property of your dreams and agreed with the seller regarding the price and time to take over the property, the property agent will make an reservation contract and you pay the reservation amount of normally euro 6.000,-. Normally this reservation amount will be paid to your lawyer client account. The property will be taken off the market for the reservation period of normally 10 - 14 days.
When you have found the property of your dreams and agreed with the seller regarding the price and time to take over the property, the property agent will make an reservation contract and you pay the reservation amount of normally euro 6.000,-. Normally this reservation amount will be paid to your lawyer client account. The property will be taken off the market for the reservation period of normally 10 - 14 days.
2. Lawyer control the property
After the reservation amount has been paid, your lawyer will start the important work of controlling the property. We have described this work abowe in "Lawyers important work"
3. Private Purchase Contract - PPC (Contrato de compraventa)
When you lawyer has finished the control of the property ans everything is fine to go to next step, your lawyer and the sellers lawyer will set up a private purchase Contract (PPC). When signing the PPC it is nomally to pay 10% of the total sales amount minus the EUR 6.000,- paid as a reservation amount. All payments goes to your lawyers clients account and from there to the sellers client account by his lawyer.
If the property are sold with some or all furniture, there must to the PPC attached an inventory showing which furniture are included in the sale.
4. Signing the Title Deed in the office of the Notary (Escritura Pública)
In the PPC (Private Purchase Contract) it is stated a date for completing the sale be signing the title deed in the Notary. Both parts will meet in the Notary together with their lawyers. Often one or both parts are represented by their lawyers who have the power to act on behalf of their client. The title deed will be signed and the outstanding amount of the sale will be paid to the seller with a Spanish bank cheque. Keys to the property will be given tio the new owner and the deal is done.