# buying process



## caz12 (Jun 29, 2021)

could someone please tell me how the buying process works in spain.. im looking to buy a property but will need some capital from my house here { which i will be selling} does it work in the same way as the uk. that contracts will be exchanged on the same day?
i will have 3/4 of the amount in cash but will need to sell property here for the remainder
many thanks
caz


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

caz12 said:


> could someone please tell me how the buying process works in spain.. im looking to buy a property but will need some capital from my house here { which i will be selling} does it work in the same way as the uk. that contracts will be exchanged on the same day?
> i will have 3/4 of the amount in cash but will need to sell property here for the remainder
> many thanks
> caz


It works fairly differently here. Firstly a lawyer is not technically needed and most Spaniah dontuse one. I would however highly recommend one if you dont speak Spanish and don't know the process and the pitfalls inside out. 

If no mortgage is needed then it can be very fast. The actual signing happens in front of a notary. In general you will pay an initial amount to reserve the house and then compete within a specified time. 

Obviously you, or your lawyer will need to check every aspect of the house, its legality, all the papers, the deeds and so on. After the sale your lawyer will complete the rest of the formalities. In our case the gestor who the bank instructed (who we paid) was the one who finalised all the papers, completed the registration and paid taxes after the notary had done their job. But if you don't get a mortgage then your own lawyer or gestor will do all that. 

Keep in mind that in addition to the purchase price youll have to pay tax which, depending on the area is up to 10% of the cost. Also the notary will be anything from 1000 to 2000, valuation a few hundred and lawyer or gestor fees. Our gestor charged about 500, a lawyer will charge anything from 1000 to 2000 ish from what I have heard.


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## Barriej (Jul 23, 2012)

caz12 said:


> could someone please tell me how the buying process works in spain.. im looking to buy a property but will need some capital from my house here { which i will be selling} does it work in the same way as the uk. that contracts will be exchanged on the same day?
> i will have 3/4 of the amount in cash but will need to sell property here for the remainder
> many thanks
> caz


We purchased about two and a half years ago. Compared with the Uk its fast and very easy.

Offer in last day of Jan keys in our hand less than 5 weeks later. We were not even here as I worked away a lot so we gave the solicitor POA.
Ours was fully cash and our neighbours completed their purchase in less than three weeks (they were already here so it went faster)

As said people here dont use law firms but we used a local solicitor as it was easier.
We also didn't get a survey done (something else that doesn't happen here much) but I spoke with others in the development and found out all I needed to know.

Every thing gets done in front of a notary and the people we bought off were not there either.

Tax here in the Valencia region is 10% no matter the value, so you have to add that to the purchase price.
We paid €1400 for the complete paperwork, notary, solicitor etc.

Also ask for the utilities to be put into your name by the solicitor because its easier than doing it yourself.
In this area they will also contact Suma for the IBI (council tax), we have a bill for separate rubbish collection so that needed doing.
Usually things like the IBI the bill goes to who ever is the registered owner on the 1st Jan, so you may have to add that cost to your list (you will then be liable the next year). Car tax works the same here as well.

One final thing ask your solicitor what the Cadastral value (rateable value) is of the property and compare it with the selling price. If there is a large difference (i.e. you are getting it at a much lower price) then you may get a bill from the government to pay the extra tax. 
We did, we paid €78,000 and the Cadastral was €92,000 so we had to pay the difference.


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Barriej said:


> We purchased about two and a half years ago. Compared with the Uk its fast and very easy.
> 
> Offer in last day of Jan keys in our hand less than 5 weeks later. We were not even here as I worked away a lot so we gave the solicitor POA.
> Ours was fully cash and our neighbours completed their purchase in less than three weeks (they were already here so it went faster)
> ...


Make sure also you're aware of any community fees or other obligations. Make sure your house has a license of first occupation, or if over 10 years old, a 2nd occupation thats leas than 10 years old otherwise changing water over can be an issue. Ask to see the boletín or certificado de instalación eléctrica to check the kw rating. Again, if over 10 years old ask for a new one. Often houses have very low rated electricity connected, especially if used as holiday homea and you may want to increase that, but you'll need this document to do it. The other thing to check is that there are no infractions, particularly if you buy a house or campo rather than a flat. I've heard of even lawyers not checking this sometimes... Many houses have irregularities and its normal to buy and sell but one day the present owner has to face the issues. 

As said, it can all be very fast here. I bought with a mortgage and started thr process mid December and completed end of January which, considering christmas closures and considering the statutory 2 weeks cooling off period that is law with a mortgage before final signatures, after everything is done, and considering the valuer wanted a meeting with the town hall planner and had some holiday of her own to take during the process, i think 6 weeks was fast. But ive heard of people buying cash in a matter of days.

Dont use a solicitor in your country. Use a Spanish one, local to the property. Give POE is needed and dont cut any corners on checks.


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

I think the OP means can his UK house be sold and the Spanish house bought the same day? If so I would say no. We did sell and buy another Spanish house same dayas we had pets. Our Abogado said it was the first time he had done such a transaction, we were a couple of hours in the Notary.


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Isobella said:


> I think the OP means can his UK house be sold and the Spanish house bought the same day? If so I would say no. We did sell and buy another Spanish house same dayas we had pets. Our Abogado said it was the first time he had done such a transaction, we were a couple of hours in the Notary.


In the list UK its common for everything to happen same day.... Sell, buy, exchange and complete. But that would be the same solicitor handling it all. 

Obviously in the case of spain and uk they are totally different transactions. Technically it could happen if the sale in the UK happened and the uk lawyer sent the funds to spain but I don't see the logic. Sell the UK, get the money then buy in Spain. Makes much more sense. In the UK all the money is handles by the solicitors but in spain you turn up at the notary with your cheque and proof of any previous transfers. Far more old fashioned i guess although far more ceremoniously done, all sitting round the table and the notary reading the deed of sale!


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

xicoalc said:


> But ive heard of people buying cash in a matter of days.


When I sold my old house in Spain the sale took 3 weeks to be completed, from the date we accepted their offer. They were cash buyers and did have a survey done.

I didn't try to buy something else until the sale was concluded and the money in the bank, it just seemed too complicated and it took nearly 3 months to find the one we bought. We moved into a house lent to us by a friend in the meantime. That purchase was completed in one week, saw it come up on the estate agent's website for the first time on a Monday and I completed the following Monday at the notary's office. My lawyer said that wasn't the fastest sale she'd ever handled, either.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

xicoalc said:


> In the list UK its common for everything to happen same day.... Sell, buy, exchange and complete. But that would be the same solicitor handling it all.
> 
> Obviously in the case of spain and uk they are totally different transactions. Technically it could happen if the sale in the UK happened and the uk lawyer sent the funds to spain but I don't see the logic. Sell the UK, get the money then buy in Spain. Makes much more sense. In the UK all the money is handles by the solicitors but in spain you turn up at the notary with your cheque and proof of any previous transfers. Far more old fashioned i guess although far more ceremoniously done, all sitting round the table and the notary reading the deed of sale!


It doesn't always work perfectly, either. When I sold my house in the UK to move here, the funds were not received by my solicitor on the day of completion so I refused to let the estate agent hand the keys over to the buyer until the next day when I was assured the funds were in the solicitor's account.


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## timwip (Feb 27, 2017)

There is a lot of good information here. I would like to add the following points:
1. If you are buying a flat, talk to the president of the community to make sure there are no extraordinary assessments, such as, new roof, boiler, etc.
2. If their is a large difference between the purchase price and the cadastral price, you will get a bill from the autonomous community. However, you can protest this amount which we did and saved several thousand euros.
3, Some autonomous communities have different Impuestos sobre Transmissiones Patrimoniales (ITP). For example, my Principality has a higher ITP for larger purchase prices. In our case, we were barely over the higher ITP price. As a result, our notario split the deed--one for our piso and another for our parking space. This brought both under and we paid the lower rate for each.


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Lynn R said:


> When I sold my old house in Spain the sale took 3 weeks to be completed, from the date we accepted their offer. They were cash buyers and did have a survey done.
> 
> I didn't try to buy something else until the sale was concluded and the money in the bank, it just seemed too complicated and it took nearly 3 months to find the one we bought. We moved into a house lent to us by a friend in the meantime. That purchase was completed in one week, saw it come up on the estate agent's website for the first time on a Monday and I completed the following Monday at the notary's office. My lawyer said that wasn't the fastest sale she'd ever handled, either.


I agree with you about sell then buy. If the OP is selling in the UK, I think its better to close that off then buy, especially because in the UK with exchange and completion on the same day pretty much normal, if the OP has paid thousands of deposit in spain then the UK sale falls through, there are huge consequences.


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

Lynn R said:


> It doesn't always work perfectly, either. When I sold my house in the UK to move here, the funds were not received by my solicitor on the day of completion so I refused to let the estate agent hand the keys over to the buyer until the next day when I was assured the funds were in the solicitor's account.


True. Money is usually in our bank by 12 midday in UK but once had an unexplained delay when we were hanging around plus removal truck until 5pm on a Friday.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Another good reason for having the sale of the UK property completed before purchasing another one in Spain has occurred to me. In Spain, normally the buyer pays a 10% deposit (unless both parties agree to dispense with that and just pay the entire amount at the notary's office on completion). If the buyer then pulls out of the sale, the vendor is entitled to keep that 10% deposit (unless there's a clause in the purchase agreement allowing the buyer not to go ahead for specified reasons) - and if the vendor pulls out of the sale, they then have to pay the buyer double the deposit. So if a UK sale were to collapse at the last minute (and it can happen without any penalty, leaving the buyer out of pocket for survey and legal fees), it could mean the vendor losing a 10% deposit they've paid on a property in Spain.


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Lynn R said:


> Another good reason for having the sale of the UK property completed before purchasing another one in Spain has occurred to me. In Spain, normally the buyer pays a 10% deposit (unless both parties agree to dispense with that and just pay the entire amount at the notary's office on completion). If the buyer then pulls out of the sale, the vendor is entitled to keep that 10% deposit (unless there's a clause in the purchase agreement allowing the buyer not to go ahead for specified reasons) - and if the vendor pulls out of the sale, they then have to pay the buyer double the deposit. So if a UK sale were to collapse at the last minute (and it can happen without any penalty, leaving the buyer out of pocket for survey and legal fees), it could mean the vendor losing a 10% deposit they've paid on a property in Spain.


Thats very true. On that note, I would advise anyone to pay attention to this clause when the reservation contract is signed. The 10% and double are standard as you said and it is very rare that these caluses will be removed because the agent will also want their cut if the buyer pulls out. However, a clause should be insisted on which guarantees a refund to the buyer incase of certain circumstances leading to the sale being cancelled.

For example, as I was taking a mortgage, I insisted that it was stipulated that in the event of the bank declining the mortgage because the valuation wasn't enough, or, if anything came out of the woodwork relating to the house (irregularities in the papers, infractions etc) that we would be able to pull out and obtain a full refund. Or, make sure you've done all of your checks before handing over any money. But sometimes agents will ask for some sort of payment just to begin the process and give the buyer sight of any of the paperwork other than perhaps a nota simple.


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## Joey Testa (Jan 5, 2021)

Lots of good advice here. Be aware that if you sell a Spanish property, there is both a capital gains tax and a local authority tax. So the nominal value of a property needs to rise about 20% for you to break even.


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