Glossary of terms when buying property in Spain
Every term below is one you will really meet: in a listing, in a contract, at the notary, or on a bill. The terms are ordered along the purchase, not alphabetically, so the list also works as a map of what comes next. Each entry gives you one sentence you can rely on, a short paragraph of context, and a link to the page that explains the concept in full.
- terms you meet when buying
- 34
- stages of the purchase they are grouped by
- 6
- terms where the obvious guess is wrong
- 6
- terms that stay in Spanish
- 17
Read it in order and the dictionary becomes a map of the purchase
The terms are in the order you meet them, from the first document to the bills you pay years later, which no glossary in either language does. If you already know the word you are looking for, use the list below to jump; if you do not, start at the top and the sequence tells you where you are.Each entry opens with one sentence that is the whole answer, then a short paragraph on when it comes up and what to watch, then a link to the page that goes into it properly. A few entries carry a warning, because Czech instinct about the Spanish version of the concept is actively misleading.
Who really protects you in a Spanish purchase?
Your own lawyer protects you, not the notary. That single difference is the biggest one between buying in Spain and buying almost anywhere else, and it is the reason the first four terms below matter more than their length suggests.- NIE[ny-eh]
- NIE is the Spanish identification number for a foreigner, and you cannot buy a property, pay a tax or sign at the notary without one.Número de Identidad de Extranjero. It is not a residence permit, and it does not make you a resident of anything. It is the number the Spanish state uses to file you under. You meet it at the very beginning, because you need it for the deed, the tax payments, and the utility contracts. Your lawyer applies for it with a power of attorney, so you do not need to go in person. The mistake that costs time is waiting until a signing date is already in the calendar.Jak získat NIE
- NIF
- NIF is the Spanish tax identification number, used by companies and by Spaniards, and it is not the same document as a NIE.You meet NIF if you buy through a company, or read a contract that names one. The two names look interchangeable in a document, but they are not: NIE identifies a foreign individual, NIF identifies a taxable entity. Keeping them apart matters most when a purchase is structured through a company. Make this decision with a lawyer and a tax adviser before you sign anything, not after.Koupě přes společnost
- notario
- The notario witnesses the signing and turns the sale into a public deed, and does not check whether the property is a good idea.This is where most foreign buyers get Spain wrong. In your own country the notary may be the safety net; in Spain the notario confirms identities, reads the deed aloud and records the act. Checking ownership, debts, charges and permissions is your lawyer's job, and nobody else does it for you. You meet the notario once, at completion, and the meeting is short because everything has already been decided.Watch out. A Spanish notario does far less checking than the word suggests. Your protection comes from your lawyer, not from the notary's office.Notář a podpis
- gestoría[khes-to-REE-ah]
- A gestoría is a Spanish paperwork agency that files things with the state on your behalf, and most countries have no direct equivalent.Not a lawyer, not an accountant, not an estate agent. A gestoría exists because Spanish administration needs a lot of paperwork. It handles registrations, filings, vehicle transfers and tax forms as a routine service. You are most likely to meet one after you have the keys, when a form has to go to an office that only accepts things in a certain way.NIE a administrativa
- catastro
- The catastro is Spain's tax cadastre, which values and describes a property, and it is a different record from the ownership registry.Spain keeps two records of the same property and they do not always agree. The Registro de la Propiedad says who owns it and what is charged against it; the catastro says what and where it is, and what it is worth for tax. Your lawyer reads both, because a discrepancy between them, in surface area or in boundaries, is one of the commonest problems on an older resale. Your IBI bill is calculated from the catastro value.Watch out. One property, two registers. A clean ownership entry does not mean the cadastral record matches it.Katastr nemovitostí
- Registro de la Propiedad
- Registro de la Propiedad is the formal name of the Spanish land registry, the institution behind the ownership record.You will see this name on documents, in official citations and on the fee line in your purchase costs. It is worth recognising, because the registry entry is the single most important document in the purchase after the deed itself: it is where your ownership is finally recorded. The fee for registering it is one of the smaller costs of buying.Kolik stojí koupě
- nota simple[NOH-ta SIM-ple]
- A nota simple is the plain extract from the Spanish land registry showing who owns a property and what is registered against it, and it is the first document your lawyer reads before you pay anything.It is cheap, it arrives quickly, and anyone with a legitimate interest can request one. This is exactly why no money should move before somebody has read it. It gives you the owner of record, the property as the registry describes it, and the charges against it: mortgages, seizures, easements, and community debts noted on the unit. You meet it at the very start of the legal check, days after you settle on a property and weeks before completion. What matters is not the document itself, but its date. An extract pulled two months ago describes the property as it was two months ago. Only a current one is useful.Watch out. A nota simple is informative, not proof of title. The extract that carries legal weight is a certificación registral, and the two are not the same document.Co kontroluje právník
Which words in a listing change what you are really buying?
Two of them matter most. The square-metre figure, because Spanish listings quote several numbers and advertise the largest one. And the name of the development, because the community attached to it decides your monthly cost, and whether you can rent out the property at all.- apartamento
- An apartamento on this coast is a flat inside a managed development, which makes it a different product from a city flat in a block.A coastal apartment comes with shared grounds, a pool, a community that votes on things and a monthly fee. Two flats of identical size can therefore cost and behave very differently depending on what surrounds them. Spanish listings also use piso for a flat in a town building, so the two words are worth telling apart when you read a portal.Apartments on the Costa del Sol
- urbanización
- An urbanización is a planned or gated residential development with shared grounds and facilities.Most of what is for sale on this coast sits inside one. The urbanización decides the pool, the gardens, the security, the parking, the monthly fee and, in practice, whether short-term rental is possible at all. You meet it as soon as you start looking, and it decides more about how the property lives than the floor plan does.Poplatky společenství
- segunda mano
- Segunda mano is a property sold by an existing owner rather than by a developer, which changes the taxes, the contracts and the checks.The whole shape of the purchase depends on which side of this line you are on. A resale is bought with transfer tax (ITP) rather than VAT, it is contracted through a private deposit agreement, and the checks are historical: who owns it, what is charged against it and what has been built without permission. A new build is the opposite on all three counts.Resale properties
- obra nueva
- Obra nueva is a property bought from a developer, finished or still under construction, and paid for in stages rather than all at once.A new build is a payment schedule as much as a property. You reserve, then pay in stages tied to construction milestones, over a period of up to three years. Every payment made before the building is finished must be covered by a bank guarantee issued in your name; that guarantee, not the contract, is what gets your money back if the developer fails.New builds on the Costa del Sol
- metros construidos
- Spanish listings quote several different square-metre figures for the same property, and the one being advertised is usually the largest of them.Built area, plot area, and terrace area are three different numbers. A listing that gives one total has often added the terrace to the interior area. You run into this the moment you start comparing two properties by price per square metre, which is exactly the comparison these figures quietly break. Ask which measurement the number uses, and compare interior area to interior area. A large terrace is worth having, but it is not worth the same as a room.Prověření inzerátu
- solárium
- A solárium is a private roof terrace on top of an apartment, usually reached by its own stairs and usually counted in the advertised area.This is one of the features that genuinely holds its value on this coast, and one reason a top-floor unit costs more than the one below it. You meet the word in listings for penthouses and top-floor apartments. Check two things: whether it is legally part of your property, or a shared roof you are only allowed to use, and whether anything built on it had permission. An unpermitted structure on a roof becomes your problem once you buy.Nepovolené přístavby
- shortlist
- A shortlist is the small set of properties that passed a check against what you really asked for.The point of a shortlist is what has been left out. Anything that failed on price reality, noise, orientation, walkability, the community’s rules, or the off-season feel of the street has already been removed, with the reason given. You meet it early. A shortlist that contains everything you liked is not really a shortlist. It is just a search result.Jak hledáme nemovitost
- visita
- A prohlídka is a viewing, and on this coast it means seeing the street and the community as much as the property itself.A viewing that only covers the interior skips the part that decides whether you will enjoy owning the property: the noise at night, the walk to anywhere useful, the sun on the terrace at the time you would really use it, and how the place feels in February rather than in August. You do viewings on a trip built around several of them, or by video if you cannot travel yet.Prohlídkové cesty
Which document really commits you to the purchase?
The arras contract, not the deed at the notary. By the time you reach the notary everything has already been decided, which is why the private contract signed weeks earlier is the one to read twice.- contrato de reserva
- A contrato de reserva takes the property off the market for a short period against a small payment.This is the first document you sign, and the only payment made outside the guarantee system. That is exactly why it must be small, and why the contract has to state plainly what brings the money back. You meet it the moment you decide, often under time pressure, which is the worst possible moment to be reading a contract for the first time.Rezervace
- señal
- The señal, or deposit, is the large payment that follows the reservation and commits both sides to the sale.On a resale it is normally around a tenth of the price, sometimes more, and it is the largest amount that moves before completion. You meet it a few weeks after the reservation, once your lawyer has finished checking. Read what the contract says happens if either side walks away, because that clause, not the amount, is the part that matters.Watch out. This is earnest money, not a part payment held on account. Spanish practice writes consequences into the contract for whichever side breaks the deal.Kupní smlouva
- arras[AH-ras]
- The contrato de arras is the private earnest-money contract used on a resale. Buyer and seller sign it before the notary, and it sets the penalty if either side cancels the deal.This is the document that really binds the sale; the deed at the notary is the formal execution of it. It sets the price, the completion date, what is included, what happens to the deposit and what the consequences are for both sides. You meet it after the legal check and before completion. Read the clause about breaking the deal twice.Watch out. Arras is not a refundable holding payment. Depending on the type agreed, cancelling can cost the buyer the deposit, and can cost the seller double that amount.Kupní smlouva
- escritura pública
- The escritura pública de compraventa is the notarised deed of sale, the document that transfers ownership to you.You meet it once, at completion, when you pay the balance and collect the keys. Everything in it was already decided in the earlier contracts, so the signing itself is short. Your copy of the escritura, once registered, is the proof that the property is yours.Předání klíčů
- cheque bancario[CHEH-keh ban-KAH-ryo]
- A cheque bancario is a bank cheque drawn on your Spanish account, and it is the way the balance of the purchase price is often handed over at the notary.It exists because a notary appointment needs the money to be present and fully available, not still in transit. You meet it in the days before completion, when your lawyer or your bank prepares it against cleared funds. The reason it matters to you is timing: the funds must be in the account, and cleared, before the cheque can be drawn. Nothing can arrive on the day itself.Převod korun na eura
Which taxes you pay depends on one thing: who is selling
A new build from a developer carries IVA and AJD. A resale from an owner carries ITP instead. This single difference explains most of the gap between the price you agreed and the money you really need.- IVA
- IVA is Spanish VAT, and on a brand new home it is 10 % of the purchase price.This applies to a new build bought from the developer, and it is the largest single cost on top of the price. You pay it at completion, through your lawyer, along with the rest of the taxes. It does not apply to a resale, which carries a transfer tax instead. This single difference is why the total cost of buying is noticeably higher on a new build than on a second-hand property.Kolik stojí koupě
- AJD
- AJD is the Spanish stamp duty on the signed deed, a small percentage of the price, and in Andalusia it is paid alongside IVA on a new build.Actos Jurídicos Documentados. It always appears together with IVA in a new-build cost breakdown, never with the resale transfer tax. You pay it at completion, through your lawyer. You will only ever see it as a line item, not as a decision: there is nothing to choose here. It is in this glossary because it appears on every new-build cost sheet under an abbreviation that explains nothing.Daně a poplatky
- ITP
- ITP is the transfer tax paid when you buy a resale, and in Andalusia it is 7 % of the price.Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales. This is the resale equivalent of IVA, and the reason a second-hand purchase costs less to complete than a new build. You pay it at completion, through your lawyer. One thing to know in advance: the tax is not always calculated on the price you agreed. Spain also has a reference value for the property, and if that value is higher, the tax follows the reference value instead.Daně a poplatky
- valor de referencia[ba-LOR deh reh-feh-REN-thya]
- The valor de referencia is the reference value Spain sets for a property, and the resale transfer tax is calculated on it whenever it is higher than the price you paid.It exists to stop purchases being declared below their real value. In practice, for an honest buyer, this means your tax bill is not always what the price suggests. Your lawyer checks this number before completion, so you can budget for the tax correctly. This is the single most common reason a resale tax bill comes out higher than a buyer expected from the purchase price alone.Daně a poplatky
What has to happen between the building being finished and it being legally yours?
A licence, an inspection and a warranty. The town hall has to certify the building may be lived in, the defects have to be listed before you sign rather than complained about after, and the structure carries ten years of cover that the finishes do not.- entrega de llaves
- Completion is the day the balance is paid, the deed is signed and the property becomes yours, and on a new build it is a date that can move.On a resale, the date is agreed in the contract, and it usually stays fixed. On a new build, it depends on the building being finished and licensed, and developers often fall behind schedule. You meet it as the deadline that everything else works back from, which is why the money is planned to arrive earlier than needed. On a new build, watch what your contract says about a delay, because your dates and the developer’s dates are not the same document.Zpoždění dokončení
- licencia de primera ocupación[lee-THEN-thya deh pree-MEH-ra o-koo-pa-THYON]
- The licencia de primera ocupación is the first-occupation licence a new build needs before it can legally be lived in and connected to the supplies.The town hall issues it, and it confirms the building was completed as permitted. You meet it at handover on a new build. If it is missing, that is a real problem rather than a formality: without it you cannot contract utilities in the normal way, and the legal position of the property stays unresolved.Předání klíčů
- snagging
- Snagging is the inspection of a finished new build for defects and unfinished work, listed and handed to the developer to put right.The Spanish construction industry uses the English word too, so you will hear it on site. You meet it in the days around handover, and the timing is the whole point: a list made before you sign carries far more weight than a complaint made afterwards. Make sure the list is written down, dated and acknowledged. A verbal promise to fix something is not a record of anything.Snagging a přejímka
- Seguro Decenal[seh-GOO-ro deh-theh-NAL]
- Seguro Decenal is the compulsory ten-year insurance covering structural defects in a new building.Spanish construction law requires it. It belongs to the building, not to you, so it carries over to the next owner. You meet it in the developer’s documentation, and it matters most if something serious appears years after you get the keys. It does not cover everything: the ten-year cover is for structural failure. Cosmetic faults and finishing work have much shorter warranty periods.Vady stavby
Which obligations start the month you get the keys?
IBI to the town hall, the community fee, and a Spanish tax filing, whether or not you ever rent the property out. A rental licence is a fourth requirement, if renting is part of the plan, and it is not granted automatically.- IBI
- IBI is the annual Spanish property tax, paid to the town hall by whoever owns the property.Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles. The municipality charges it, and the amount varies from town to town. It is one of the smaller costs of owning a property here. You meet it in your first full year of ownership. Worth knowing before you buy: an unpaid IBI bill stays attached to the property. Your lawyer checks for this and clears it before you complete.Roční náklady
- comunidad de propietarios
- The comunidad de propietarios is the owners' community that runs the shared parts of a development and sets the monthly fee.It decides the pool, the gardens, the security, the maintenance and, in practice, whether short-term rental is allowed in the building at all. You meet it from the month you take ownership, through the fee and through the meetings. The fee is what most often surprises buyers, because it is charged whether or not you are in the country.Watch out. A comunidad is not a passive service charge. It is a legal body that votes, and since April 2025 a three-fifths majority of it can restrict or ban short-term rental in your building.Poplatky společenství
- Modelo 210
- Modelo 210 is the Spanish tax form a non-resident owner files, and it is due even when the property is never rented out.It covers the notional income Spain assumes a non-resident owner earns just by having the property available. It also covers rental income, when there is any. You meet it in the year after you buy, and most owners find out about it late. This is exactly why it is in this glossary. It is a filing, not a decision: the work is remembering it exists, and having someone file it on time.Daň nerezidenta
- VUT
- VUT is the Andalusian tourist-rental licence, and without one a property cannot legally be rented to holiday guests.Vivienda de Uso Turístico. Whether you can get one depends on the property, the municipality, and the community’s own rules. This means the answer is specific to the flat, not to the region. You meet it before you buy, if renting is part of why you are buying, because you check it before the reservation, not discover it afterwards. A listing that claims a licence is available is a claim to verify, not a fact.Krátkodobý pronájem
- okupas[o-KOO-pas]
- Okupas are squatters, and the word is used in Spain almost as a proper noun for the phenomenon rather than as a description of people.This is the risk foreign buyers raise most often, and it is worth separating from the headlines. It is concentrated in specific kinds of property and specific situations. The ordinary protections are occupancy, an alarm, a managed development and insurance that genuinely covers it. You meet the word before you buy, in the news. The useful response is to ask what the risk is for the specific property, not in general.Okupas a rizika
- plusvalía[ploos-ba-LEE-ah]
- Plusvalía is the municipal tax on the increase in the land value of a property, and it is a cost for the seller rather than the buyer.You meet it when you come to sell, along with the other exit costs and the non-resident withholding. It is in this glossary because a buyer planning a short hold needs to know that selling has its own taxes. The amount is set by the municipality, not by your gain on paper. Anyone thinking about selling in two or three years should price this in before they buy, not after.Prodej a náklady na výstup
Cannot find the word, or cannot read the document in front of you?
Send it over and you get the answer about your document rather than a general definition. This list covers the vocabulary of a normal purchase, and a contract, a listing or a registry extract will always contain something a glossary cannot anticipate.