The first important thing you should check is if the seller of the real estate really is the owner or has the authority of the owner to sell the real etate. This you can find out through the selling contract authenticated by a notary (Escritura Pública de Compraventa) which has to be confirmed by the land register office (Registro de Propiedad). It is also recommendable to check the power of attorney of the seller if he is not the owner of the property. Further it is important to know that according to spanish law a verbal contract can also be binding!

Check the correctness of the size of the property! Make sure the seller presents all the receits in order to proof that all the bills are paid to prevent later problems with power- or water suppliers. Get everything, even the smallest agreements, in writing and make sure the seller signs it.
Never pay more than 20 % deposit before your appointment with the notary and insist on being registered as the new owner at the land register office immediately even if you’ve agreed on payment by installments.
Get all inforamtion about taxes and other costs before the sale.
The following numbers will give you an aproximate idea of how much you’ll have to expect to pay:
Costs for notary, solicitor and the land register office will be approximatly 3-4 % of the sales prize as confirmed by the notary. Additional to this amount you’ll either have to pay the tax on real estate transactions of 6 % (though this doesn’t usually have to be paid since the tax office doesn’t get informed about private property sales automatically.

But note that the period of limitation starts when the tax autorities have been informed of the private sale.) or the VAT (7 or 16 %). It can also happen that the seller adds the land value increment tax (Plusvalia) of 5 % onto the sales prize.

You won’t have any additional costs if the sales should be concluded by an estate agencyassigned by the seller.

In case you assigned the estate agency you’ll have to pay between 5-10% of the sales prize.

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