LEGAL ISSUES WHEN BUYING A PROPERTY IN MALLORCA

Legal issues when buying a property on Mallorca;

As a first-time property buyer on Mallorca, you may be surprised by how different the legal process is in Spain compared to your home country.
Once you have decided that you want to go ahead with a property purchase on Mallorca.

1. Formal offer - An ‘option contract’ is the first step and usually requires you to pay 10% of the full purchase price in advance and commits both buyer and vendor to the sale.  
2. Paperwork - An NIE tax number must be held by an overseas purchaser to buy a house, car or many other things. You will also need to provide certified copies of identification – usually your passport.
3. Finance - If you are not a cash buyer it is a good idea to investigate your mortgage options as early as possible.  You will also probably need a Spanish bank account to run your property
4. Searches - It is very important to ensure that the property that you are buying is officially owned by the vendor, has no debts against it, and is fully legalised.  
5. Taxes - While you should allow approximately 10% in addition to the purchase price for all costs and taxes .
6. Completion - Spanish law requires that all parties are present with the official "notary" for the final exchange of contracts, including any banks involved with mortgages held by the buyer or seller.  All monies need to be paid at the same time and all paperwork must be correct or the sale will not go through.  
After the completion there is also quite a bit of paperwork to complete to transfer the utilities and payments for community charges, this will be done by your ‘gestoria’.  

We hope you have found this bit of  information useful, but please bear in mind that Living Pollensa provide official legal advice and you should always consult our expert when buying a property in Spain.

Don’t hesitate to contact us, without any obligation, at maria@living-pollensa.com - Tel; +34 651 149 122