Buying a flat in Spain is a chain of documents, not a single decision
Buying a flat in Spain looks little like the story told on viewings: it is not a decision taken on one day but a chain of papers signed in a fixed order. Each has a different issuer, and almost all of them can be read before anybody hands over money.
This guide follows the documents rather than the mood. The papers that exist without you, the ones your deal creates, the ones that describe the building, the ones that prove who is selling, and the ones Spain will ask of you as a foreigner. Set out that way, the purchase stops holding surprises and starts holding a checklist.
Who it is for
- Buyers signing their first Spanish purchase who do not know which paper comes before which.
- Buyers who have already chosen a home and want to know what can be read before committing money.
- Buyers purchasing from another country who need to know which steps require their physical presence and which do not.
- Buyers who hear reserva, arras, contrato privado and escritura used as though they were the same thing.
What it covers
Before buying a flat: the papers that exist without you
The property has a history of its own, written before you appear. The nota simple from the Registro de la Propiedad gives the registered owner, the surface the home is registered with, and the mortgages, seizures or annotations over it; anybody may request it. The Catastro adds the referencia catastral, the cadastral surface and the boundaries — a separate register, describing the physical thing rather than who owns it. The certificado de eficiencia energética, the energy certificate, is supplied by the seller and issued by a technician. From the comunidad de propietarios, the owners' association every Spanish block has by law, come the statutes, the minutes of the last meeting — where approved derramas, the one-off levies for works, appear — and a certificate that the charges are paid up. From the town hall: the licence file and the latest receipt for IBI, the municipal property tax.
The documents your deal creates
The hoja de reserva takes the home off the market and fixes property, price, annexes and the deadline for signing the private contract; it normally involves handing over money. The contrato privado de compraventa, with or without arras, is where nearly everything is actually decided: the description of the property, the surface, the annexes and whether they are separate registered units, the price with the tax shown separately, the payment schedule, who pays which cost and what happens if either side fails to perform. The escritura pública before a notary transfers ownership, and the later entry in the Registry is what protects it against third parties. The acta de entrega, in a new home, is where defects are recorded on the day of the keys.
The building's own documents, when it is new
A newly finished building has a file of its own, and it is worth asking for all of it. The licencia de obra authorises construction; the certificado final de obra, signed by the architect and the technical architect, closes the works; the declaración de obra nueva and the división horizontal create each home as a separate registered property with its cuota de participación, the share that fixes its vote and its charge; the licencia de primera ocupación allows the home to be occupied and the utilities connected; the libro del edificio holds the project, the materials and the maintenance; the memoria de calidades describes what was installed inside; and the aval or insurance for sums paid on account protects money handed over while the works advance.
The documents of whoever is selling
Two things have to be proved: that they own it and that they may sign. A private seller shows the title and identification; someone signing for another shows a poder notarial, a notarial power of attorney, and it is worth reading exactly which powers it contains. A company shows its full registered name, its tax number, its registration details and who represents it with sufficient authority; the commercial register of the country of incorporation confirms that the company exists, who administers it and that it is not in liquidation. In a new home there is one check more: that the company signing with you is the same one recorded in the Land Registry as the owner of the plot.
The documents Spain will ask of you
The NIE is the identification number any foreigner needs in order to sign and to pay tax in Spain; without it there is no deed and no tax return. You will also need a Spanish bank account to pay from, because the deed has to identify every means of payment one by one: amount, date and originating account. If you will not be present at the signing, a notarial power of attorney in favour of whoever represents you — apostilled and translated by a sworn translator if it is granted outside Spain. And if you borrow, the lender's own file, which runs on its own calendar and is not part of the seller's paperwork. One warning worth repeating: the escritura is read in Spanish, and an official interpreter or a sworn translation is your protection, not a formality.
From reservation to deed
What gets signed is not the picture: it is a dimensioned plan, a specification and a guarantee over the money handed over.
How a new-build purchase moves, step by step
Check before you pay
The healthy order is to read the property before talking about money: nota simple, Catastro, licences and the state of the community. It is the only phase that costs nothing and the only one in which you can still change your mind without consequences. Almost everything that goes wrong in a purchase was written in a document that could have been requested here.
The reserva: what is blocked and what is not
A reservation commits the seller not to offer the home to anybody else while the agreed period runs, and commits you to negotiate on the written terms. It transfers nothing. What decides its reach is not the title of the paper but its content: there are reservation forms that describe the full price, the payments and the signing date and are in truth a contract of sale under another name.
The private contract: nearly everything is decided here
It is the longest document and the least read. Whatever the brochure or the viewing promised and the contract does not record is, in practice, not promised: finishes, orientation, joinery, air conditioning, parking space and storage room go into the text or into an annex signed with it. Two clauses deserve attention of their own: who decides whether a substituted material is «equivalent», and what exactly happens if either side fails to perform. Note also how the arras are qualified — penitenciales, which let a party walk away at a fixed cost, or penales, which do not — because the label changes your exit.
The signing and, afterwards, the Registry
Nothing is decided on the day of the deed: things are checked. In Spain the buyer chooses the notary, and it is worth asking for the draft with enough margin to read it alongside the nota simple. Remember what that official is: he checks the document and warns both parties, he does not act for you, and a lawyer of your own is a separate hire. Signing is not the end either — ownership is protected by registration, and before registering, the tax on the transaction has to be paid.
Buying a flat off plan: the same order, a different risk
Off plan the sequence is identical but inverted in time: you sign first, pay in stages and own at the end. That adds two indispensable documents and one habit. The documents are the aval or insurance policy for sums paid on account, with the individual certificate in your name, and the dimensioned plan attached to the contract. The habit is to ask that each payment fall due against a certified stage of the works rather than against a date in a calendar.
What you can check yourself, and whom you ask for the rest
Yourself, with no intermediary: the nota simple at the Registro de la Propiedad; the referencia catastral, surface and boundaries at the Catastro; the licence file at the town hall; zoning in the plan general; and the selling company in the commercial register of the country where it is incorporated, with its administrator and its status.
From the seller you ask for what is in his hands: title or power of representation, a current energy certificate, the community statutes and minutes, the certificate of charges paid up, the IBI receipt and, in a new home, the licencia de primera ocupación, the certificado final de obra, the memoria de calidades, the libro del edificio and a copy of the guarantee for sums paid on account. From the notary's office you ask for the draft deed early enough to read it.
None of this is a guarantee from us or legal advice: your notary and your adviser answer for your case. It is the inventory of what can be read and the name of whoever has to hand it over. The practical rule fits on one line: no payment before the document that justifies it, and no document signed before it has been read in full.
Questions about new-build on the Costa Blanca
- 01
Are the reserva and the arras the same thing?
No. The reserva sets the home aside for a period and, in most wordings, does not oblige you to buy. A contract with arras is already an agreed sale, and leaving it has a cost that depends on how those arras are qualified in the text itself. If the document does not say, the interpretation is rarely the one the buyer assumed.
- 02
Who chooses the notary and who pays for him?
In a Spanish property sale the choice belongs to the buyer, and it is worth exercising, because he is the one who will read the small print in your name. How the costs are split is agreed in the contract within what the law allows, which is why it is a clause to settle in the private contract rather than on the day of signing.
- 03
Can I buy without travelling to Spain?
Yes, through a notarial power of attorney in favour of your representative. Granted outside Spain it will normally need an apostille and a sworn translation. What cannot be delegated is the reading: ask for the draft deed and the private contract translated or explained before your representative signs for you.
- 04
What if the Registry surface and the Catastro surface do not match?
It is more frequent than it sounds and there are procedures to correct it. What matters is spotting it before you negotiate, because it affects the description of what you are buying and can delay registration. The notary's office sees it when assembling the file; you see it earlier by comparing the nota simple with the cadastral record.
- 05
Which paper proves the home may be lived in?
In new construction, the licencia de primera ocupación from the town hall, together with the certificado final de obra. With those the utilities are contracted and the deed goes through normally. Some regions also have a specific habitability document; what is required depends on where the property is, and it is a question for that municipality's town hall.
Tell us what you are looking at
Two or three sentences are enough: which area you are looking in, whether new-build or resale interests you, and how you would like to be answered. The person who handles the Spanish market replies.