Buying on the Costa del Sol: your checklist
Everything to arrange and check, in the order you will need it. Print it and tick things off as you go.
Before you start
Paperwork that takes time to arrange from abroad.
- Apply for your NIE at your nearest Spanish consulate, or through a lawyer in Spain.
- Open a Spanish non-resident bank account.
- Assemble proof of the source of your funds before transferring money.
- Check whether you, as a non-EU resident, have been asked to appoint a tax representative; consider one anyway.
- If you may not attend the signing, grant a power of attorney at a Spanish consulate, or before a local notary with an apostille and sworn translation.
- Decide how you will transfer the money, and whether to fix the exchange rate for completion.
- Choose an independent Spanish lawyer who works for you alone.
From offer to keys
The buying process, step by step.
- Reservation deposit small and refundable if the checks fail.
- Independent lawyer instructed before you sign the arras.
- Type of arras stated clearly in the private contract.
- Contract conditional on mortgage, AFO declaration, legalisation or payment of urbanisation charges, where relevant.
- Names and shares on the deed agreed with your lawyer, including how your marriage is recorded.
- Deposits paid only to verified accounts.
- Survey for an older building, a villa with a pool or a country house; for an off-plan purchase, an individual guarantee certificate for every payment.
- If the seller is non-resident, the 3% and the estimated plusvalía kept back from the price.
- Completion statement agreed before the notary appointment.
- Post-completion taxes, registration and utilities assigned to your lawyer or gestoría.
Legal checks before the private contract
What your lawyer should confirm before you pay the main deposit.
- Nota simple from the Land Registry: seller is the owner, charges identified.
- Catastro record compared with the Land Registry and with what you see on site.
- Building and occupation licences compared with the actual house, pool and annexes.
- Energy certificate available.
- For rural land: classification (specially protected, preserved or ordinary) confirmed, and either a matching licence or an AFO declaration for every structure.
- For a home in an urbanisation: whether it has been handed over to the town hall, any conservation body and its fees, any development charges.
- For Marbella: whether the home is affected by the 1986 plan, and what the new plan says about its area.
- Town hall planning certificate: no open infringement proceedings.
- Flood map checked; Coastal Law zone checked for seafront homes.
- For rural land: an authorised water supply, an authorised septic tank or treatment plant, and a legal, metered electricity connection.
- Tourist registration details confirmed, if relevant, and the town’s current rules checked.
- IBI, community and conservation fees shown to be paid up.
- Reservation deposit refundable if any of these checks fails.
Costs before you sign
Taxes, fees and the money to keep back.
- Check the Catastro reference value against the agreed price.
- Confirm whether the seller is resident in Spain for tax purposes.
- If not, write the 3% withholding and the estimated plusvalía into the private contract.
- Get written quotes from your lawyer, gestoría and valuer.
- Make sure your funds cover the price plus around 8% to 9%, or 12% to 13% for a new build.
- Agree who files form 600 and form 211, and diarise the deadlines: two months for form 600, one month for form 211.
From the checklists in Buying a Home on the Costa del Sol as a Non-Resident (2026–27 edition), which explains each point. Rules as in force in October 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.
