Youve found the house and negotiated a price. Youve arranged your Spanish mortgages All there is to do now is complete the purchase. How?

In Spain, the process of purchasing Spanish property is regulated, and the best thing that you can do to protect your interests is to employ an English-speaking solicitor or lawyer to assist you. Be certain there are no debts or restrictions on the property you plan to purchase.

The legal process for purchasing property located in Spain falls under two types of transactions. First you have the Contrato privado de compraventa, or the preliminary contract, and then you have the Escritura de compravents, or completion contract.

Once both parties have agreed to the price, then a preliminary private sales contract should be signed. Before this Contrato privado de compraventa has been signed, however, the vendor needs to be able to provide proof that he or she owns the property, and that it is free of any charges. It is Spanish law to charge all outstanding debts to the actual property, and any remaining debt would be the new owner’s responsibility. Nota Simple documents were developed to validate if a property has an outstanding debts.

The preliminary sales contract will be drawn up to contain all of the necessary details including the date of completion, the purchase price and the description of the property. A 5% to 15% deposit of the final purchase price will be required. This money shall be held in escrow for your benefit. A person would theoretically be able to sign the initial sales contract without a deposit, but it isn’t necessarily a good idea.

The ultimate stage is the decond stage only as it will decide the future of the contract. It is also known as Escritura de compraventa stage. The customer will need to pay all fees and the price of the product on the date of completion. Next, the seller and buyer meet and sign a contract, which is essentially a claim to the property. In front of a Notary Public the buyer will receive the deed of conveyance which is known as escritura in Spain. To make this legal, a copy of the dded must get to a tax office, and then sent to a property registry. In Spain, Notary Publics are public officials required to witness a deed of sale, but you should also make sure to have your own independent expert legal advice to make sure that your own interests are protected during this legal process. Remember too that as the buyer you will be responsible for paying the Notary Public’s charges along with the real estate sales taxes.