A.
Panorama always recommends that purchasers of property in Spain retain a qualified solicitor to represent them and qualified financial advisors to deal with tax issues.
Purchasing property in Spain is a relatively straightforward procedure. The “last word” in property ownership is the property registry, which will show immediately if the seller owns the property free of liens and encumbrances. Most frequently, unless an immediate payment of the full purchase price is made, a private contract of purchase is drawn up wherein the details of the purchase are reflected – the legal description of the property, purchase price, form of payment, date of completion, date of possession, etc. Upon signing the private contract, a payment on account of the purchase price is always made which can vary substantially according to the terms of the sale and the date of completion. A quite normal deposit for completion within 30 to 60 days would be 10% of the agreed purchase price.
New properties which are unfinished obviously are paid for over the construction period, and all payments on account before finishing must be guaranteed, according to the BUILDING ORDENANCE LAW (LOE), LAW 38/1999, by a bank or insurance company: if the property is not finished by a certain date, a purchaser has the right to reclaim the monies paid, plus legal interests. Additionally, this law obliges the property developer to arrange a TEN YEAR insurance policy with respect to any basic building defects with the purchasers as beneficiaries.
When the entire purchase price is paid for the property, the seller will issue the public deed of conveyance (escritura) to the purchaser, free of liens and encumbrances. This deed is issued before a Spanish Notary, is passed from the notary to the tax office to be assessed for Transfer Tax if the property is a resale or second hand property, or assessed for Stamp Duty if the property is sold directly by the developer. Is then presented to the Property Registry for inscription. A provisional inscription in the registry is made immediately upon issuance of the deeds.