Buying a property in Spain
- To buy any property in Spain you will need an NIE number which must be applied for in person at an appropriate police station, for example Fuengirola, Marbella etc. It only takes max an hour to do this and your NIE number is issued a few days later (certificate). This can be collected by someone else and doesn´t have to be collected by you
- You will need a bank account in Spain to pay things like community fees, electric etc
- You would need a lawyer to assist with the purchase. If you wish you can give them Power of Attorney to act on your behalf so you wouldn´t have to fly over just to complete the purchase. This is simple to arrange and costs about 100 euros.
- When you wish to make an offer on a property you will normally be asked to pay a 3000-6000 euro deposit for re-sales and 6000 for a new property. If your offer is accepted by the vendor then this deposit becomes non-refundabale and is considered part payment towards the full purchase price i.e. you deduct it from the price.
- If you need a mortgage (more about this below) then the offer can be made subject to mortgage approval. This normally gives you 2-3 weeks with the property reserved to try and arrange a mortgage. In this case the deposit only becomes non-refundable when you have a mortgage offer - for that reason vendors only usually give a couple of weeks to organise a mortgage as they have no guarantee that the sale will go through until your mortgage is approved.
- If completion is to take place quickly (4-6 weeks) then usually the rest of the money is paid on completion. If the completion is to be delayed longer than this then the vendors usually ask for the 3000 or 6000 deposit to be made up to 10% of the purchase price and the rest paid on completion.
Mortgage
- Banks will usually lend up to a maximum of 70% of the purchase price of the property to non Spanish residents or 80% to Spanish residents.
- They need 3 months bank statements, last 3 pay slips for all applicants, credit reference report from country of residence for all applicants, last tax return for all applicants, any existing mortgage and loan statements, copies of passports, NIE numbers, details of any savings accounts
- They usually give a decision subject to valuation of the property to be bought and then arrange for a valuation (costs about 300 euros)
- The approval process usually takes approx 10 - 20 working days.
Currency Exchange
Our currency exchange partners, Moneycorp, can provide many different services to assist purchasers with achieving the best rates of exchange when purchasing a property or when sending the funds back to their home country when selling a property. They can also help to ensure market fluctuation risks, after you have committed to a purchase or sale, are minimised and you can establish at the outset how much your purchase will cost you in your own currency or how much you will receive when the sale completes.
For more information and details of how Moneycorp can help, please click the following link:
For more information and details of how Moneycorp can help, please click the following link: