Before finding the home you like:
If you are thinking about buying a home in Spain, I recommend you take the following steps:
- Contact a lawyer in the area; this is not because I am a lawyer but because I recommend you go to the lawyer’s office and tell him/her what you expect to find when buying your home (family home, second home, future residence, investment, etc.). The Lawyer will be able to advise you on the area to buy, prices, forms of payment, etc.
The lawyer will be the only independent professional who can advise you and defend you, without having any interest in selling you a specific portfolio of properties.
- You can apply for your NIE (Foreign identification number), which is the number granted by the Spanish authorities necessary to carry out any economic transaction in Spain.
- You can open a bank account in a Spanish bank, since you will also need it at the time of purchase, so it is better to start the procedures as soon as possible and it is always better to be known in the Bank with time to spare than three days before the purchase.
When you find the property that interests you:
It is very important that you do not sign any reservation document or anything similar before your Lawyer checks the property.
1st) tell your lawyer that you have already found the property you want to buy. The lawyer can assist you if you wish, your lawyer can finish negotiating the offer on your behalf or contact the estate agent.
2nd) Once the price of the property has been agreed upon, the lawyer will need the documentation that he will request through the real estate agent to the seller or the seller directly in order to verify the property.
In this check of the property, it will be studied that the property has no charges, liens or mortgages, that the sellers have sufficient power to sell the property and that all the expenses inherent to the property have been paid (taxes, supplies, etc.), as well as that The property complies with all the legal requirements to be transmitted so you will not have problems with a future sale if you wish to sell. This check may last approximately 2 to 5 days.
Our fees for checking the property will be 200.-euros pus VAT.
3rd) Once the legal status of the property has been checked, the lawyer will inform you of the situation of the property and if everything is correct, the private deposit contract will be prepared immediately.
4th) In the signature of the deposit contract, the buyer and the seller agree the price of the sale, the expenses of the purchase, deadline to sign the final purchase and also, it could be added other conditions of the purchase. It is very important that this contract is clear for both parties because this is the basis of the final purchase.
5th) When everything is prepared, the public deed of sale will be signed before the Notary appointed by the buyer.
Tha day that you sign the deeds of the purchase, sellers and buyers meet in the Notary and there, you will have to pay the rest of the price to the seller and the seller will give you the keys and also, some documents which states that all the expenses from the property has been paid by the seller until that date. A certificate of Energetic Eficiency is mandatory to be issued too.
That deed of sale has to be registered in the Land Regitry once the Taxes of the purchase has been paid. This process could take 2/3 months and after that, you could pick up the original of the deeds that you have to keep with you until you wish to sell the property and four years minimum after that.
Once you are the owner of your home in Spain, we will inform you about the yearly expenses of the property that you will must pay, because almost all properties in Spain have to pay City Hall Taxes (IBI), a minimum of the supplies (electricity, water, etc.) and Non Resident Taxes (IRNR) or Income Taxes (IRPF) if you become resident in Spain.
