Key handover when buying property in Spain
In 30 seconds
Completion is one appointment at the notary, where you sign the deed and pay the balance. The keys should only change hands after you have walked through the property and written down any defects. Never before.
Completion day, in order
- Before the appointmentProperty inspected against the agreed conditionAny defects go on a written, dated list first.
- At the notaryIdentities confirmed, deed read aloud
- Same momentBalance paid
- Same momentDeed signed
- Same appointmentKeys handed overOnly after the inspection above, never before it.
- Same dayDeed filed for registrationSent to the land registry electronically. Full inscription follows later.
Who is in the room on completion day, and what do they do?
Up to four parties are in the room, and only one of them is protecting you. The Spanish notary witnesses the signing and turns the sale into a public deed, and does not check whether the property is a good idea. Completion, día de la firma, normally takes less time than people expect. The notary reads the essential terms of the deed aloud, and confirms the identity of the parties and any powers of attorney. The balance is paid, the deed is signed, and the keys change hands. What surprises most foreign buyers is not the procedure. It is who is, and who is not, protecting them in that room.
- The notaryA public official, for nobody
- What they do
- Verifies identity, re-checks the registry entry at that moment, gives the deed legal form.
- What they do NOT do
- Negotiate for either side, or judge whether the purchase is a good idea.
- Who pays them
- Set by a government fee scale. Usually the buyer pays, by custom, or the lender does on a mortgage.
- Your lawyerYou, and only you
- What they do
- Confirms the legal check still holds, explains the deed, can sign in your place under a POA.
- What they do NOT do
- Act for the seller or the bank at any point, or accept a verbal promise instead of a written one.
- Who pays them
- You, typically at roughly ~1 % of the price.
- The seller, or the developer’s representativeThe seller side
- What they do
- Signs, and hands over the property and the keys.
- What they do NOT do
- Promise anything beyond what the contract already promised.
- Who pays them
- Their own costs. On a new build, this cost is already included in the price you paid.
- The bankIf there is a mortgage
- What they do
- Sends a representative to sign the loan deed alongside the sale, releases the funds at that moment.
- What they do NOT do
- Release funds before the deed is signed.
- Who pays them
- You, through the loan’s own arrangement costs.
Does the notary check whether the property is worth the price?No. The notary confirms identity, re-checks the registry entry at that moment, and gives the deed legal form. Whether the price is fair, whether the building is sound, and whether the community has debts are separate questions. Your lawyer and a surveyor answer these beforehand, not the notary on the day.
Why does the inspection come before the signature, not after?
Because once you have signed and paid, you have lost the leverage that made the inspection worth doing. A completion run in the wrong order looks the same from the outside: a signature, a set of keys. The difference is who holds the risk the moment something turns out to be wrong. It comes down to three steps, done in the right order.
- The property is checked against what was agreedOn a resale property, this means confirming the condition matches the contract, and that anything named in the inventory (appliances, furniture, fittings) is still there. On a new build, it means the snagging inspection. Its timing depends on the developer: on some projects it happens before ownership transfers, on others afterwards.
- What is not right goes on a written listA verbal assurance that something will be fixed "next week" is worth nothing once you have signed. A defects list, dated and given to the other side before completion, is the document that turns a dispute into an agreed set of outstanding items.
- Only then the deed, the balance, and the keysThe signature and the payment happen together, and the keys should follow in the same appointment. Reversed, the buyer has already lost the leverage that made step two worth doing.
No single law sets out this exact order as mandatory. But it is standard, sound practice, and your reservation and purchase contracts should state it explicitly. A contract that is silent on the order leaves you relying on goodwill, not on a document.
What if a defect is only found after the keys have already been handed over?It is a harder conversation on a resale property than on a new build. A resale property carries almost no warranty, beyond a claim for hidden defects the seller knew about and hid. On a new build, the statutory warranties described below still apply, no matter when a defect is found, within their own time limits.
What warranty do you have once you have the keys?
On a new build, there are three separate warranty periods, running from the day of completion, up to 10 years on the structure itself. On a resale, there is almost none, beyond a narrow claim for a defect the seller knew about and hid. This is the single biggest legal difference between the two kinds of purchase, and it decides how carefully the pre-completion inspection is worth doing.
Handover day10 years later
- Finishes: paint, tiling, carpentry1 year
- Installations and habitability3 years
- Structure: foundations, beams, load-bearing walls10 years
New buildResale property
- A ten-year warranty against defects affecting the structural safety of the building: foundations, beams, load-bearing walls.
- No statutory warranty of this kind. The seller answers only for hidden defects he knew about and hid at the time of sale. This is a narrow claim, and hard to prove.
- A three-year warranty against defects in installations or building elements that breach habitability, safety or functionality requirements.
- Not applicable. Whatever is inside the property at completion is what you own, age and wear included.
- A one-year warranty against finishing defects: paint, tiling, carpentry, held by the builder.
- Not applicable, for the same reason.
- A two-year window to bring a claim once a covered defect shows itself, counted from that moment, not from completion.
- The equivalent claim here is against a hidden defect the seller knew about. This is a fact you would have to prove, not a warranty period that runs automatically.
This practical consequence comes directly from the law, not from opinion. On a resale property, the work that protects you happens before the signature, because very little stands behind you afterwards. On a new build, the warranties exist regardless, but they still depend on the defect being documented. That is exactly what the snagging inspection and the written list are for.
Who owes me the ten-year warranty on a new build?All of the agents involved in the building process, typically the developer, the builder, and the technical professionals, are jointly and severally liable under the law for structural defects within the ten years. Your lawyer identifies exactly who to claim against for a specific defect, because more than one party can be responsible at once.
Do you have to be in Spain for your own completion?
No. If your lawyer holds a power of attorney that covers it, he can sign the deed on your behalf, and completion happens without you in the country. This is one of the more useful things Spanish practice allows, and one of the least understood by first-time buyers. The choice between the three routes below is a personal one, not a professional recommendation.
- Option 1Attend in personYou see the property and the room yourself, on the day it becomes irreversibly yours.
- Trips to Spain
- One, for this day
- Who signs
- You, personally
- Watch out for
- Ordinary travel logistics only
- Option 2RecommendedPower of attorneyYour lawyer completes the whole appointment on your behalf.
- Trips to Spain
- Zero, for this step
- Who signs
- Your lawyer
- Watch out for
- The POA must specifically name completion
- Option 3Hybrid, by video callYou follow the appointment remotely while your lawyer signs under the same power of attorney.
- Trips to Spain
- Zero, but you watch
- Who signs
- Your lawyer
- Watch out for
- Still needs the same POA as full delegation
What should be confirmed before you treat the property as handed over?
This is what to check, whether you are there in person or relying on your lawyer’s report. None of it is a service offer. It is what a completion is legally supposed to include.| What to confirm | Why it matters | What a bad answer looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Before the signature | ||
| The property matches the agreed condition | What you are buying is the property as it was when the price was agreed, not as it happens to be after the previous occupant moved out. | No written record of the pre-completion check, or a verbal assurance instead of one. |
| A dated defects list exists, if anything is wrong | It is the document that turns an agreed list of outstanding items into something you can prove later, instead of a dispute with no evidence. | Nothing in writing, and a promise that something will be sorted "later". |
| On a new build, the completion certificate and the first-occupation licence exist | A property cannot legally be lived in or connected to the utilities without the licencia de primera ocupación, and it usually arrives at the very end of the build. | A move-in date promised before either document has been issued. |
| At the appointment itself | ||
| Every key and access card is accounted for | A gated development often issues more cards and fobs than the set you are handed on the day. | A single key with no confirmation of how many exist in total. |
| The meters are read and recorded, with a date | This is where an argument over who used what usually happens, after completion. | No reading taken on the day, so the first bill is a guess for both sides. |
| The balance is paid the same moment the deed is signed | This is the mechanism that makes the transaction safe: money and keys change hands together, not on trust in advance. | Any request to hand over funds before the appointment, outside the guarantee system on a new build or your lawyer’s client account on a resale property. |
| In the days after | ||
| The deed is really presented for registration | Signing at the notary is not the end of the paperwork. The tax has to be paid and the deed lodged with the Land Registry before the property is formally inscribed in your name. | Nobody able to confirm, weeks later, that the registered copy has come back. This is your lawyer’s job to follow up on, and it is worth asking about directly. |
| IBI and the community fee are apportioned for the year of the sale | Both are billed for periods rather than for days, so part of what has already been paid for the year belongs to the buyer and part to the seller. | A verbal "it is all sorted" with no figures attached. Ask your lawyer to show the split. |
Where completion sits in the purchase
The full purchase has fifteen steps, from the first call to the keys. Completion is the last three of them, after the waiting period that follows the binding contract.Steps 13, 14 and 15 of 15
- The final checkBefore completionThe property is inspected against the agreed condition and, on a new build, snagged for defects. This is the step covered in detail below.
- Notary and keysCompletion dayThe public deed is signed, the balance is paid, and the property becomes yours. The keys should follow the same appointment, once the inspection and any defects list are already settled.
- After completionFrom day oneThe deed still has to be taxed and registered, the utilities transferred, and the annual tax duties picked up. None of this ends when you leave the notary’s office.
General information, not your completion file
This is general information about how completion works under Spanish law. It is current as of 17 August 2026, and based on the source text, not copied from a blog. It is not legal advice about your purchase. The warranty periods, the notary’s role, and the order of events described here are the general position. The documents attached to your specific property, and your specific contract, are what really govern your transaction.None of this describes a service, and nothing in it promises that anyone attends your completion on your behalf. Whether that is arranged, and by whom, is a separate question with its own guide.Rules and standard practice around completion can differ by notary, by developer and by the type of property, and the law itself is amended from time to time. An independent lawyer confirms what applies to your purchase before you sign anything.
Frequently asked questions about key handover
- How long after signing the private contract does completion happen?
- On a resale property, usually one to three months. On a new build, it depends on the stage of construction: often around two months if the building is nearly finished, and up to roughly three years if building starts from the ground up. Neither figure is fixed by law. Both come from how contracts on this coast are typically structured.
- Can the seller refuse to hand over the keys at the appointment?
- The purchase contract should tie the handover of the keys to the same moment as the signature and the payment of the balance. If it does not say this explicitly, that is a gap worth having your lawyer close before you sign. Do not simply assume it will happen anyway.
- Is a snagging list the same thing as the ten-year warranty?
- No. Snagging is the practical inspection done around completion, to catch unfinished or faulty work while there is still leverage to get it fixed. The ten-year warranty is a separate statutory right under the Ley de Ordenación de la Edificación. It exists no matter what was caught at snagging, and it covers structural defects specifically, not cosmetic ones.
- What happens if the developer has not obtained the first-occupation licence by the promised date?
- Without it, the property cannot legally be occupied or connected to the utilities, no matter what the brochure said about a move-in date. This is a contract and licensing question, not a warranty question. It is worth confirming the licence exists, not just that the building looks finished.
- Does a resale property ever come with any warranty at all?
- Only a narrow one: a claim against the seller for a hidden defect that existed at the time of sale, which the seller knew about and hid. It is a real right, but it is much harder to prove than a statutory warranty period. This is exactly why the pre-completion inspection matters more on a resale property than on a new build.
