Owning a home in Spain as a foreigner: buy, rent out, defend, sell

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.

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.