Costs involved with mortgages/purchasing in Spain

In Spain the conveyancing costs for the purchase of an off-plan property include VAT (of 7%, or 5% in the Canaries) whereas for the purchase of a re-sale property the costs will include transfer tax (which is also normally 7%, 5% in the Canaries). Other than the VAT or transfer tax the compulsory conveyancing costs also include stamp duty, land registration and the time and disbursements of the legal representative that is appointed to conveyance the purchase, the notario. In total all of these conveyancing costs will typically come to 8-9%.

In addition to these compulsory costs, you will need to think about appointing your own legal representative, a specialist Spanish property solicitor based either in the UK or Spain (we can recommend and put you in touch with one of our panel of solicitors if you wish). This solicitor will be able to offer you the advice that is not provided by the notario (inheritance and tax advice for example) and assist you with the Power of Attorney document and in obtaining the NIE (similar to our National Insurance Number - all owners of Spanish property must obtain). The cost of this solicitor really does vary depending on how much advice you require.

There are additional costs related to the mortgage: mortgage stamp duty and mortgage registration charges which are both compulsory and are at a set, non negotiable rate (typically 1-1.5%).

When making a mortgage application to a Spanish lender you will need to include a cheque to cover the valuation cost of the property (even if the property you are purchasing is off-plan). For properties of a value of up to €500,000 you will not expect to pay more than £500 for the valuation. For most purchasers it will be lower than this. For an exact idea of how much your valuation fee will be call 0845 400 8000 to speak to one of our advisors.

Spanish lenders always charge a mortgage arrangement fee. This is not normally charged until your funds are released from your mortgage so if you are forced to cancel your purchase and subsequently your mortgage you will not have lost these fees that won’t yet have been charged. This arrangement fee is normally between 1 and 2% of the mortgage amount. However, Assetz Finance has negotiated this fee for our clients so that you will never pay more than 1% of the mortgage amount. This arrangement fee can sometimes be added to the mortgage amount.

Assetz Finance offers its Spanish Mortgage Service to all clients purchasing through the specialist Spanish property agent Assetz Spain or via any other Estate Agent or Developer. All of our advice, assistance and simulations are free of charge. We do charge a small fee (£199) if you decide to proceed with a mortgage application to one of our lenders with our assistance.

To our knowledge, there is no other company in the market offering as comprehensive a service as Assetz Finance without charging a fee of some type. This is because the commissions received by brokers from Spanish lenders are very minimal and cannot cover all the time and resources required in order to be able to offer the type of high level, impartial advisory service that we do. Our non-charging competitors are subsequently unable to offer the amount of time and assistance that our services involve and that UK purchasers of overseas property require. In comparison to other overseas mortgage brokers that charge a fee, we have found that Assetz Finance consistently charges less and we have received continual praise on the value for money we provide to our clients.