Purchasing
a Property
Step
1: Once you have decided on the property that you wish to purchase and the
terms and conditions have been negotiated with the vendor, you real estate agency
has to carry out all necessary searches on the property in the land registry ;
to ensure that it is owned by the vendor, it has planning permission, there are
no outstanding debts or charges on the property and other legal encumbrances.
Step
2: A private contract has to be signed between both parties and a deposit
of 10% of the purchase price is required to secure the property and as official
confirmation of your intent to purchase that property. The remaining 90% is payable
on the signing of the title deeds before the Notary. The
typical agreement in Spain (called contrato de arras) is if the buyer backs out
of the contract, they lose the deposit; if the seller backs out, they have to
pay double.
