Purchasing real estate in Spain

The optimal way to obtain a residence permit and a citizenship of Spain in the future is purchasing real estate in this country. Our agency provides professional assistance in choosing objects, processing of documents and purchasing real estate in Spain. In our base we have a lot of objects, including elite ones.

By choosing us you get a full range of services in handling the transaction. All the stages, described below, are performed by our agency on our own or in cooperation with qualified lawyers, who can speak English, Norwegian, Swedish, German and Spanish, their services are provided on customer’s demand.

Execution of the purchase and sale transaction is performed in several stages:

Stage 1. Contract for purchasing real estate in Spain

When the customer has set his mind on a particular object, he must reserve it. In order to do so, sides conclude a reserve contract, then some sum is paid, generally it amounts from 3000 to 6000 euro, this sum is considered a non-refundable deposit, after that the object is taken off the market. For inexpensive real estate (up to 150 thousand euro) this sum is generally below 3 thousand euro. Reserve contracts (Letter of intentions), its execution and translation are controlled by our company. The following information is filled into the contract: the seller, the buyer, price of the object and payment terms, condition of the object, date of signing the contract of purchase, amount of deposit, additional terms and conditions, if any.

Stage 2. Account in a Spanish bank

This is a simple and necessary operation. Without a banking account a client can not conclude a contract of purchase and pay all the taxes and compulsory payments. We will collect all the documents, necessary for executing real estate mortgage. You can open an account for several people if there will be several owners, in this case all of them can use this account.

To facilitate the use of the account a plastic card is issued, with the help of individual code the account can be managed via Internet. Before visiting public notary the buyer transfers the necessary sum to this account, which will be the payment for the chosen object, after the process of purchasing is concluded all the necessary utility bills and other payments will be charged to this account, according to payment orders of corresponding organizations, notifications from them will be sent through postal mail.

Stage 3. Obtaining foreigner’s identification number (NIE)

NIE is an extremely important document. Without obtaining it one cannot purchase real estate, car, company, etc. in Spain. To obtain it one must provide the following:

• international passport and its copy. It must have a Shengen visa and a stamp of crossing the border of Spain;
• 2 photos, size 3×4 cm;
• return plane tickets and their copies;
• reserve contract and its copy;
• receipt of payment for non-refundable deposit;
• autographic claim by the applicant, in duplicate;

It is possible to apply for NIE by attorney, in this case notary certification is required.

This document is processed within the period from 2 to 7 days.

Stage 4. Real estate mortgage in Spanish banks

Our citizens can apply for real estate mortgage services in Spain, banks can provide credits of up to 50-70 per cent of assessed value. Interest rate is composed of bank’s interest rate plus EURIBOR, which together amount to approximately 5 per cent of annual interest. Period of credit can be up to 25 years, it depends on the age of mortgagor or mortgagors. This credit can be repaid in advance. To execute a mortgage contract the following documents are required:

tax on individual person’s income inquiry for two previous years and income declaration;
inquiry on current position on company’s letterhead paper with an indication of salary and period of work in this organization;
bank’s account statement for the previous year, regular cash inflow must be visible;
it is recommended that owners of companies provide certificates of registration of their companies;
credentials from a bank and certificate of availability of deposits in a bank will be beneficial;
also beneficial are state certificates of ownership for a house, a flat or any other real estate in any other country without encumbrance on it;
Inquiry from credit reference bureau;
NIE, issued in Spain.

Some banks may alter this list at their own decision. All documents must be provided with translation into Spanish.

We send copies of all documents to the bank for preliminary approval. Application processing in a bank may take from one week to one month.

Real estate purchase and sale transaction in Spain

When all preliminary stages are through, the collected documents are sent to a public notary and the date of signing a contract of purchase is decided upon. One may arrive at the notary’s office in person or issue a letter of attorney.

The contract is executed in Spanish. Legal review of transaction is performed by a public notary. Before signing the contract payment for the object is performed, its date and mode of payment are stated in the contract. After the transaction is performed and the buyer takes possession of the property, the following documents are handled over to him:

• right for maintaining the property, i.e. order;
• document, proving the existence of contracts with companies, providing public services and other services;
• keys.

Obtaining the right of ownership for real estate property in Spain

After payment for real estate the buyer also pays VAT (IVA), which amounts to 8%-10% for residential real estate and 21% for commercial real estate, also he pays for public notary, register of property and taxes, usually amounting to 3%-4% from the contract value.