The Spanish estate agency contract (hoja de encargo): what you sign, what binds you, how to get out

01What you sign in a hoja de encargo

The hoja de encargo (in Catalonia, nota de encargo) is a brokerage contract: the agency looks for a buyer and you pay a commission if the sale closes. In practice it is the agency's form with two blanks that get negotiated, the price and the months. Every other clause is imposed, and that is where the cost of changing your mind is decided.

That matters for one concrete reason. If you are selling your own home, not as a business, you are a consumer in front of the agency (article 3 of Spain's consolidated Consumer Act), and the Act calls abusive any non-negotiated clause that, against good faith, creates a significant imbalance to your detriment (article 82). An abusive clause does not bind you even though you signed it. But it is a judge who declares that, if there is a dispute (article 83). That is why this guide says «may be abusive» and not «is void», and why the cheap move is to negotiate the clause before signing rather than litigate it afterwards.

One detail changes the rest of the guide: where you sign. If the agent brings the form to your home, or you sign by e-mail, the contract was concluded away from the agency's premises, and that opens a withdrawal period that does not exist in their office. See «You already signed».

• This is for you if an agency has left you a hoja de encargo to sign and you want to know what you are accepting.
• This is for you if you already signed and want to stop the renewal, end it early or sell on your own.
• This is for you if the agency is claiming a commission or a penalty from you and you want to know whether it has a basis.

02Ten points to check before you sign

Open each point: what to look for in your form, why it matters and what to ask the agency, in writing. A flagged point does not mean the contract is illegal; it means the clause should be negotiated or clarified before you sign.

03A sample hoja de encargo, clause by clause

Six clauses we drafted from the ones that appear most often in agency forms. Your form will use other words: look for the idea, not the exact sentence. Under each one, what it means for you and what to ask for in return.

04You already signed: how to get out

If you signed at home, by e-mail or by phone. The Consumer Act gives 14 calendar days to withdraw, no reason needed, from contracts concluded away from the trader's premises or at a distance (articles 92 and 102). If the agent came to your home without being asked, it is 30 days. And if you were never told about this right, the period stretches by up to 12 more months (article 105). A penalty for withdrawing within that period is void (article 102.2). Honest caveat: the Act excludes contracts for the transfer of real estate from this regime (article 93.e); brokerage is a service, not a transfer, but that the period protects you here is an interpretation the agency may dispute. Use it, and use it in writing; do not count on nobody arguing.

Two limits that change the money. If you asked the agency to start work straight away, within the withdrawal period, and then withdraw, you owe it the proportional part of the service already performed up to that day, calculated on the agreed price (article 108.4). And if the service has already been fully performed, that is, the agency has found a buyer and the deal has closed, the right of withdrawal is gone, provided you had first given your express consent to start and knew that, once the contract was performed, you would lose that right (article 103.a). If the sheet records neither that consent nor that warning, the agency cannot rely on the exception. Look at the sheet: a clause «I authorise the immediate start of the services» is exactly that.

If the term is running out. Tell the agency in writing that you are not renewing, before the notice date set in the form. If renewal is automatic and the notice period is so long that in practice you cannot avoid it, that clause may be abusive (article 85.2): say so in the same letter.

If you want to end it early. Read what penalty your form sets. A disproportionately high indemnity for the consumer may be abusive (article 85.6), as may obstacles to ending the contract or formalities beyond those that were enough to sign it (article 87.6). Negotiate in writing before you stop performing: an agreed exit covering the real advertising costs is cheaper than a lawsuit you win.

Send the letter in a way that proves date and content. How to do that is in our guide to the burofax.

05Template letters: I am not renewing, or I withdraw

Copy the template that fits, fill in the bracketed data and keep proof of sending. The first letter always works; the second only if you signed away from the office or at a distance and are within the period.

To: [agency name], [address]

I, [full name], holder of [DNI/NIE], signed on [date] a hoja de encargo for the sale of the home located at [address].

I hereby inform you that I do NOT wish to renew the mandate, which will end on the scheduled date, [end date]. From that day I ask you to withdraw the adverts for the property and to send me the list of the people who viewed it through your agency.

Should the form provide for automatic renewal with a notice period that this communication does not meet, I record that such a clause may be abusive under article 85.2 of the consolidated Consumer Act, and that my intention not to renew is expressed by this letter.

[Place and date]
[Signature]

To: [agency name], [address]

I, [full name], holder of [DNI/NIE], signed on [date] at [place: my home / by e-mail] a hoja de encargo for the sale of the home located at [address].

I hereby withdraw from that contract under articles 102 and 106 of the consolidated Consumer Act, the contract having been concluded away from business premises or at a distance. I ask you to withdraw the adverts for the property and to confirm receipt of this letter in writing.

[Place and date]
[Signature]

06A real case: exclusivity and fee even though the owner sold himself

What happened. An owner in Cantabria signed a six-month hoja de encargo in 2012, extended by another six, with a 4% commission plus VAT and a €6,000 minimum. The exclusivity barred him from selling through another agency and from selling himself. He found a buyer on his own, told the agency and declared the mandate over. The agency sued for the full fee.

What was not obvious. The form was a standard one: only the duration and the price had been negotiated. The owner stated, and the agency did not rebut it, that nobody had explained that the exclusivity stopped him selling personally. And the penalty for breaching it equalled the whole commission.

What the court decided. The Court of First Instance no. 10 of Santander, in its judgment of 25 February 2015 (ordinary proceedings 763/14), treated the seller as a consumer, held abusive the exclusivity that barred him from selling himself with nothing in return (articles 86.7 and 87) and also the penalty equal to the full commission (article 85.6), and dismissed the agency's claim. The agency had placed adverts, put up a sign and run four viewings.

Why it matters today. Those articles are still in force with the same wording. It is a first-instance judgment and was not final when issued: it shows how a clause can be assessed, it does not guarantee the outcome in your case. Source: judgment published by the Spanish judiciary.

07Catalonia, Valencia region and Andalusia: their own rules

Catalonia. The agency may not advertise your home without a nota de encargo signed first (Law 18/2007, article 55.5). The note must include, among other items, the agent's registration number, the duration, the asking price and the fee, and the agency may not charge both buyer and seller for the same transaction without express agreement (article 55.6). Before signing, check the agent in the Catalan register of estate agents.

Valencia region. The register of estate agents is compulsory and free, and the nota de encargo must state the registration number and the details of the agent's guarantee and insurance (Decree 98/2022, articles 3 and 4). It can be consulted from the regional government's housing website.

Andalusia. Housing Law 5/2025 creates a compulsory register of agents (article 50) and requires the nota de encargo to state the agent's insurance or guarantee (article 53.3). The regional government has up to two years from the law's entry into force to set the register up (seventh final provision): ask the agency whether it is already registered and have it put in writing.

Madrid, the Balearics and other regions. We have not found a compulsory register of agents. The consumer rules in this guide apply the same way everywhere in Spain.

08Update: October 2026

Checked on 5 October 2026 against the consolidated texts in the BOE: Consumer Act (articles 3, 82, 83, 85, 86, 87, 92, 93, 102, 103, 105, 106 and 108), Catalan Law 18/2007 (article 55), Andalusian Law 5/2025 (articles 50 and 53 and seventh final provision) and Royal Decree 390/2021 on the energy certificate (articles 6, 15 and 17); Valencian Decree 98/2022 read in the DOGV. The Santander judgment is cited from the text published by the judiciary.

09Sources

• TRLGDCU (RDLeg 1/2007) · arts. 82, 85, 86, 87, 92, 93, 102, 105
• Ley 18/2007 (Cataluña) · art. 55
• Ley 5/2025 (Andalucía) · arts. 50, 53, DF 7ª
• Real Decreto 390/2021 · arts. 6, 15, 17
• RDLeg 1/1993 (ITP) · art. 10
• Decreto 98/2022 (Comunitat Valenciana) · DOGV 9405
• Agència de l’Habitatge de Catalunya · Registre d’Agents Immobiliaris
• Generalitat Valenciana · registros en materia de vivienda
• JPI n.º 10 Santander · sentencia 25.02.2015 · JO 763/14