Buying a house in Spain

Buying Spanish property - the main steps

The following is only a guide to the basic procedure of buying property in Spain. There is no substitute for detailed research into the matter or professional advice. Check out our Bedtime Reading page for books on the subject which go into far more explicit detail than we can here. Remember, the cost of a couple of books will be far less than making a major blunder with you house purchase!

Anyway, first things first - you need to find a house! There are many, many houses advertised for sale on the internet, through publications like Dalton's Weekly and with various Real Estate Agents throughout the UK and Spain.

Prices can range from around 650,000 pesetas (about Ł2400) upwards. Don't expect much for your money at the bottom end of the market; you'll probably get a ruin or semi-derelict house on a small plot with no services, and fewer of these are actually coming up for sale. A few houses we've seen are pictured below; click on the images for a larger view and description.

Appoint a lawyer (Abogado) to work on your behalf and discuss fees, usually around 1% of the purchase price, before work commences. It is much cheaper to use a Spanish lawyer than one in your own country with offices in Spain. Never sign or pay anything without discussing it with your lawyer!

It is also advantageous at this point to open a Spanish bank account. Simply walk around the banks in your area until you find someone there who speaks English; they'll be happy to help you. We opened a current account requiring nothing more than our passports. If you don't yet have an address in Spain they can either send all documents to your home address abroad or hold them at the bank for you to collect when you next visit.

To be continued..............