For a non-resident buyer, a cash purchase typically takes two to three months from reservation to deed; longer with a mortgage. The process is well-established, professionally supported, and — assuming a clean title and the right legal counsel — predictable.
This guide describes the path as it stands in May 2026, including the changes following the abolition of the Golden Visa programme in April 2025.
Step 1 — NIE (Número de Identificación de Extranjero)
Every property purchase in Spain by a non-Spanish person requires an NIE — the Spanish foreigner identification number. It is the tax identifier used in the public deed, the IBI council-tax registration, the utility contracts, and the bank account.
There are two routes to obtain it: through the Spanish consulate in your country of residence, or through a Spanish lawyer holding power of attorney on your behalf. The state fee is about €10 per person; allow two to six weeks, depending on the police station or consulate and on whether a lawyer applies under a power of attorney. The lawyer route is usually faster but adds a power-of-attorney notarial step.
Step 2 — Spanish bank account
A Spanish bank account is required to pay the deposit, the deed-day funds, and the ongoing IBI / community / utility costs. Major Spanish private banks — Banca March, Bankinter Private, CaixaBank Premier — accept non-resident accounts on the strength of a passport and the NIE; some additionally request a source-of-funds reference letter from your existing private bank.
For Northern European buyers, our preference is to introduce to a private banking relationship from the outset rather than open a retail account that is then upgraded. The legal cost is the same; the operational ease over the next decade is meaningfully higher.
Step 3 — Reservation contract
Once a residence has been identified, the buyer signs a reservation contract and deposits between €6,000 and €10,000 (the lower end for residences below €5M, the higher end above). The deposit is refundable during a working window of typically 10 days for due diligence.
The reservation locks the residence — the seller cannot show it to other buyers — and triggers the legal due diligence phase.
Step 4 — Due diligence
The buyer-side lawyer obtains the Nota Simple (Land Registry extract) confirming title, mortgage status, and any encumbrances. Planning consent is verified against the residence as-built. Outstanding community fees, IBI debts and water/electricity arrears are confirmed and resolved at the deed.
For new-build, additional checks confirm the developer's bank guarantee on the deposit (mandatory under Spanish law since 1968) and the licence of first occupation.
Some due diligence reviews surface an issue meaningful enough to renegotiate or withdraw. The most common are unregistered extensions (a pool house, a garage), outstanding IBI from a deceased prior owner, and minor boundary discrepancies with the Land Registry plan.
Step 5 — Private purchase contract (Contrato Privado)
On clean due diligence, the buyer and seller sign the private purchase contract. The standard deposit at this stage is 10% of the purchase price, paid by bank transfer and non-refundable thereafter (unless the seller breaches, in which case the buyer is entitled to 20% — double indemnity).
From the private contract to the public deed is typically 30–60 days. The buyer's lawyer arranges the deed appointment with a Spanish notary and the seller's lawyer coordinates the cancellation of any existing mortgage on the residence.
Step 6 — Public deed (Escritura Pública)
On deed day, the parties (or their lawyers under power of attorney) appear before a notary. The notary reads the deed aloud, verifies the parties' identity and signatures, and witnesses the transfer of funds and keys.
The deed is then submitted electronically to the Land Registry the same afternoon. Provisional registration occurs within 24 hours; final registration is typically 10–15 working days.
Costs
On a €5,000,000 resale residence in Andalusia, the worked example in our guide to Marbella property purchase costs (museselection.es/marbella-buying-costs-guide) runs as follows:
— ITP (transfer tax) at 7%: €350,000
— Notary: €4,000, and land registry: €3,000 — both estimated invoices; the fees themselves are statutory tariffs, not percentages of the price
— Lawyer at 0.75%: €37,500, plus €7,875 IVA
— NIE for two: €20
— Total about €402,395, or 8.0% of the price. Only the tax is fixed by law; the other lines are estimates.
For new-build instead of ITP, the buyer pays IVA at 10% plus AJD stamp duty at 1.2% — total tax 11.2%, materially higher than the 7% resale rate. On a €5,000,000 new build the same lines come to about €612,395 (12.2%).
After Purchase — IBI, Community, Patrimonio
IBI is the cadastral value multiplied by the municipal rate, which the law allows between 0.4% and 1.10% for urban property (Article 72.1 of the Haciendas Locales law). The bill for a specific house is on its last receipt — ask the seller for it.
Patrimonio is Spain's wealth tax. Andalusia gives 100% relief on wealth tax (Article 25 bis of Ley 5/2021). While the state Temporary Solidarity Tax on Large Fortunes (ITSGF) is in force, that relief is limited to the difference between the two bills, so above the threshold the taxpayer pays what the solidarity tax would charge. Nothing is due while net wealth after the €700,000 allowance stays within €3,000,000; above that the scale is 1.7% to €5,347,998.03, 2.1% to €10,695,996.06 and 3.5% beyond (Article 3 of Ley 38/2022). Non-residents have the same €700,000 allowance and are assessed on their Spanish assets only (Article 28.Tres of Ley 19/1991).
Andalusia also offers a 99% reduction on inheritance and gift tax for direct relatives. For a luxury buyer planning intergenerational ownership, this is a defining advantage of the autonomous community.
Common Errors
Three errors recur. The first is buying off a public listing without testing the asking price. The gap between asking and closing prices cannot be published: Spain records no per-property closing prices — so the check is an independent valuation (tasación) of the residence itself, not a rule of thumb.
The second is engaging only one lawyer (frequently a friend of the seller, frequently recommended by the seller-side agency). The buyer-side lawyer should be independent of all seller relationships.
The third is failing to consider the Beckham regime before becoming a Spanish tax resident. The Beckham regime is a tax regime, not a visa: it gives no right of residence. Under Article 93 of Ley 35/2006, a person who moves to Spain for work and was not tax-resident there in the five preceding years can opt, for the year of arrival and the next five, to be taxed at 24% on work income up to €600,000 and 47% above. The option is filed on Modelo 149 within six months of the start of the activity shown in the Social Security registration (Article 116 of the income-tax Regulation, Real Decreto 439/2007).
Spain's investor residence visa (the Golden Visa) — every route, not only property — was abolished by Ley Orgánica 1/2025 of 2 January (final provision 21), in force since 3 April 2025. Buying property gives no right of residence at any price. Non-resident buyers can purchase without restriction. The residence routes described on this site are the Non-Lucrative Visa, the Digital Nomad Visa and the Entrepreneur Visa. The Beckham regime is a tax option that can sit on top of a work-based route; it is not a route itself.
The desk introduces buyers to independent lawyers, tax advisers and banks; the buyer chooses, instructs and pays them directly.