Owning a home in Spain as a foreigner: buy, rent out, defend, sell
Spanish property law is generous to the owner who documents things and brutal to the one who signs blind. This desk collects the whole journey — from the deposit contract to the 3% refund when you sell — with the deadlines that actually decide cases.
- Código Civil
- LOE 38/1999
- LAU 29/1994
- LPH 49/1960
- IRNR · modelo 210
01Buying: the papers decide everything
Almost every expensive story we see starts before the notary: a deposit contract (contrato de arras) signed without reading, a “reservation” paid to an agency, a mortgage that was never made a condition. There is no cooling-off period for private purchase contracts in Spain — the paper you sign is the deal.
Start here, in this order:
- Deposit contract (contrato de arras): check it before you sign — the flagship check. Type of arras, exit prices, financing condition, deadlines.
- Taxes and costs when buying as a non-resident — ITP or IVA+AJD, the cadastral reference value that can override your price, and the 3% trap when the seller is a non-resident.
- New-build defects: the 1/3/10-year guarantees — what the developer answers for and the two-year clock to act.
- Foreigner identification number (NIE) for the purchase — the three official routes and when to start so the deed date holds.
- Buying remotely: power of attorney and apostille — sign the deed without flying to Spain, and keep the poder on a short leash.
Holding a property paper you don’t fully trust?
Contract, reservation, junta minutes, tax letter — upload it and get a legal read in your language: what it says, what’s risky, what to change.
02Owning: two taxes and one community
Once the deed is signed, three obligations follow you every year even if the flat stays empty: the municipal property tax (IBI), the non-resident imputed income tax (IRNR, modelo 210) — the one most foreign owners discover late — and the homeowners’ association (comunidad de propietarios) with its fees and meetings.
- Non-resident owner taxes: modelo 210 and IBI, without a gestor — who must file, on what base, and what four missed years cost.
- The complementaria: appealing the “second tax bill” — when the tax office values your purchase higher than you paid, and the one-month window to fight it.
- Comunidad de propietarios: fees, special levies and how to fight decisions — the 3-month window to challenge a junta resolution, and the address rule every absent owner breaks.
- Water leak: neighbour, community or your insurer — who pays — the 7-day insurance clock and the liability map.
03Renting out: licence first, contract second
Short-term and long-term letting are two different legal worlds. Tourist rental now runs through a national registration number and, since 2025, your community can block new tourist lets. Long-term leases give the tenant five years by law — whatever the contract says.
- Tourist rental licence + the national registry number — registering, platform delisting, fines.
- Renting out long-term: contract, deposit, rent caps — the landlord’s guide: fianza, the IRAV update cap, agency fees on you.
04When it goes wrong: defend with paper, not nerves
The Spanish system rewards the party with the better file. Whether it is squatters (okupas), a tenant who stopped paying, or an insurer that went silent — the sequence is always the same: document, formal written demand, then the specific legal route with its specific deadline.
- Squatters (okupas): what actually works in 2026 — the first 48 hours, the fast-track law, and the mistakes that turn owners into the accused.
- Tenant stopped paying (impago): the owner’s route — certified demand (burofax), eviction, and the payment-catch-up rule.
- Insurance claim denied — the escalation playbook when the insurer refuses or lowballs.
05Selling: plan the exit taxes before the notary date
Selling as a non-resident has one rule the buyer’s side never explains: 3% of your price is withheld and paid to the tax office in your name (modelo 211). Whether you get it back — and how much municipal capital-gains tax (plusvalía) you owe — depends on paperwork you can prepare in advance.
- The 3% retention and how to claim your refund — modelo 211, modelo 210, the plusvalía challenge after the 2021 ruling.
- Inheriting Spanish property as a non-resident — the 6-month tax clock, the regional rules you may apply, and the paper chain.
06How this desk works
Every guide above ends in an action, not a lecture. The two instruments repeat across the cluster because they solve most owner problems at a fixed, known price:
- Document check — €9.90. Upload the paper (contract, junta minutes, tax letter, insurer reply); a legal review in your language answers within 24 hours: what it means, what is risky, what to do next.
- Action plan — €59. For situations, not documents: squatters, non-paying tenant, tax arrears. A step-by-step plan with your deadlines, templates and the exact bodies to address.
- NAVI first, always free. Describe the situation in your own words — the assistant sorts out which instrument (if any) fits before you pay anything.
“RightNOW was born from a very simple foreigner’s pain: in Spain you can be right and still lose months to one form, one deadline or one wrong next step. So here we first put the facts in order — and only then choose the action.”
Made by foreigners, for foreignersFAQFrequently asked questions
I don’t live in Spain. Can I use any of this remotely?
Yes — that is the point of the desk. Document checks and action plans are fully remote, and most owner problems (taxes, comunidad, tenant issues) are handled with paper, not presence. Where a step needs someone physically in Spain, the guide says so.
Which languages do the guides and reviews work in?
The property guides run in English, Dutch and Russian (more coming); document reviews answer in your language regardless of the document being in Spanish.
Is a €9.90 review real legal help or a teaser?
It is a real review of one document with a concrete answer: what the document does, where the risk sits, what to ask to change or what to do next. It is not representation in court — when a case needs that, the review says so honestly.
My problem spans several guides — where do I start?
Start with NAVI (free) and describe the situation in plain words. It maps the situation to the right route — check, plan or escalation — so you don’t pay for the wrong instrument.
Are the legal facts here verified?
Every deadline, percentage and article number in the cluster is pinned to consolidated BOE texts and re-checked before edits (last verification: July 2026). Where something is market practice rather than law, the guides say so explicitly.
Informational material, not legal representation. Each linked guide carries its own verified legal facts (BOE, July 2026); the safe course of action always depends on your documents and deadlines.
🏠 Spanish property taxes love surprises. Hear about them early — not from a penalty letter.
Modelo 210, IBI, plusvalía, the non-resident tax — amounts and deadlines change, and Hacienda won’t remind you. Leave your email: we’ll warn you of deadlines and changes early, in your language.
Need everyday protection, not just a one-off check?
Included: checks of Spanish documents, letters, requests and contracts before signing, Action Plans, consultation and sending your claims by burofax.