Is a reservation contract legally binding in Spain?

Yes, as an ordinary private contract, even though no specific law governs its content. Both sides can be held to whatever they signed. This works both ways: it protects you if the wording is good, and protects the seller if it is not. This is exactly why the checklist above matters more than the fact that the document is short.

Does the reservation contract replace the private purchase contract?

No, they are two different documents at two different points. The reservation comes first, usually before any legal check has happened. The binding private contract, in Spanish practice almost always an arras contract, comes after the check clears and carries its own statutory consequences under the Civil Code. Signing a reservation is not the same commitment as signing an arras contract, even though both involve a deposit.

Can I sign a reservation contract remotely, before I first visit the property in person?

Yes, nothing in Spanish law requires you to be physically present to sign a reservation. It is routinely done by email, or through a lawyer acting on your behalf. What matters far more than where you sign is whether you have really seen the property, in person or by a proper video viewing, before you commit even a small deposit to it.

Can the seller accept a better offer after taking my reservation deposit?

Not without breaking the contract you both signed, if the contract says the property is off the market for the reservation period. Whether this costs the seller anything beyond returning your deposit depends entirely on what penalty, if any, the contract sets for the seller’s side. This is exactly the point covered in the checklist above: a reservation with no consequence for the seller only binds you, not them.

Guides

Reservation contract when buying property in Spain

In 30 seconds

A reservation contract takes the property off the market for a few weeks, in exchange for a deposit of 6 000 to 11 000 €. No Spanish law says what the contract must contain. This is why the wording decides whether you get your money back.

Contrato de reservaPrivate reservation agreement, no statutory form

Property identified: Ref. XXXX · Calle ______
Deposit and where it sits: X.XXX € · Cuenta cliente
Refund if the legal check fails: [ blank ]
Expiry date: DD/MM/AAAA

Specimen. The values shown are illustrative.

Property identified. Full address or the catastral reference, never just "the apartment we viewed on Tuesday".
Deposit and where it sits. States the amount AND names the account: a lawyer’s client account, not the seller’s own pocket.
Refund if the legal check fails. The clause most often left out. Nothing written here means nothing comes back if your lawyer finds a problem.
Expiry date. Without one, "reserved" can continue for weeks with nobody sure whether it still counts.

What is a reservation contract, and will I get my money back?

This depends entirely on what the two of you wrote down, because no Spanish law defines what a reservation contract must contain. A contrato de reserva takes the property off the market for a short period against a small payment. Unlike the arras contract that usually follows it, this document exists under the general freedom-of-contract rule in the Civil Code, article 1255. That is the same article that lets two parties agree to almost anything, as long as it is not illegal, immoral, or against public order.This lack of a fixed template is the single most important fact about a reservation. A reservation contract is whatever the two sides wrote down. If it is vague, you only find out how vague at the moment you need it to be precise. The specimen below shows the four clauses that really decide the answer, with the one most often left blank shown blank.

What buyers assumeWhat the contract really decides

A reservation is a small formality, basically a booking fee: It is a contract with real money, and, if it is badly written, real consequences. It is small compared with the purchase price, but not small in what it can cost you if the wording is loose.
Reserving and signing the purchase contract are the same step: They are two different documents at two different points in the process. The reservation comes first, usually before the legal check. The binding private contract, in Spanish practice usually an arras contract, comes after the check clears.
Spanish law sets minimum terms for a reservation, like it does for the arras contract: It does not. The arras contract has a named article of the Civil Code behind it. The reservation has none. Whatever protection you get, you wrote into the contract yourself, or your lawyer did on your behalf.

Glossary: reservation contract

How much is the deposit, and who holds it?

Based on our own published figures, expect a reservation deposit of roughly 6 000 to 11 000 €, or around 1 % of the price on a more expensive property. English-language sources more broadly quote a wider range, commonly 1 to 5 % of the price, or a flat sum from about 3 000 to 12 000 €. This is because practice varies far more between agencies and developers than it does between countries.Either way, this is the one payment in the whole purchase that sits outside the bank-guarantee and client-account protections that cover everything after it. This is exactly why it should stay small, and why who holds it matters more than the amount.

Option 1Recommended
A lawyer's client accountYour own independent lawyer holds the money, separate from anyone with an interest in the sale going through.
Who controls it
Your lawyerKept separate from the firm’s own funds by a professional rule.
Refund route
Direct instructionReleased only with your permission, following the refund clause you agreed.
Risk
LowestThe one route with no conflict of interest in who is holding the money.
Best if you are buying a resale property through an agency and can insist on the term before paying anything.
Option 2
The selling agencyCommon in practice, and not the same protection as a lawyer’s client account.
Who controls it
The agencyA business with an interest in the sale completing.
Refund route
Depends on the agencyNo professional rule to keep the money separate applies, the way it does for a lawyer.
Risk
MediumAsk for a written receipt naming the account before you send anything.
Best if the agency is well established and the account and refund terms are named in writing.
Option 3
The developerThe normal route on a new build, where the deposit sits ahead of the staged payments a bank guarantee will later cover.
Who controls it
The developerNot yet covered by the bank guarantee, which only starts once building has begun.
Refund route
Set by the projectThere is no fixed formula. Ask what happens to it if the project stalls.
Risk
HighestThis is the one payment on a new build with no guarantee behind it at all.
Best treated as unavoidable on a new build, and kept as small as the developer will accept.

Whichever route holds it, the amount itself is negotiable. A vague verbal figure with no account named in writing is the version worth pushing back on.

How long does a reservation last?

A reservation typically holds a Costa del Sol property for about 2 to 4 weeks. This is not a coincidence. It is roughly how long the legal due-diligence check that follows takes to complete. The reservation exists to give that check the time it needs, nothing more.This figure is a norm, not a rule, because nothing in Spanish law fixes it. The real length is whatever expiry date the contract states. This is exactly why a fixed date is one of the four clauses that decides whether the document does its job. An open-ended reservation, with no date by which something must happen, can continue for weeks with nobody quite sure whether it still holds. This helps nobody, least of all you.

What are you entitled to see before you pay a reservation deposit?

In Andalusia, if you are buying through an estate agency, rather than directly from a private individual, the seller’s side must give you a documented information sheet before you pay anything. This right does not exist when the seller is a private individual selling directly, with no agency involved. Almost every purchase we see goes through an agency, which is exactly when this right applies. So it is worth asking for the information sheet by name, rather than assuming someone will offer it to you.

The true identity of the ownerThe information sheet must name who owns the property, not just describe the listing. It is handed over before you pay anything.
The surface area, from a nota simple no older than three monthsThe figure on the sheet must be backed by a recent land-registry extract, not by the number the listing advertises.
The current community feeThe real recurring monthly cost, stated in the same sheet, before you commit any money.
Confirmation that IBI, the local property tax, is paid upA certificate the agency includes in the sheet, so an unpaid tax bill is not something you discover later, at your own expense.
Any condition attached to your visitIf one applies, for example an exclusivity period, it must be stated in highlighted text, not hidden in small print.

All five items come from the same document, handed over at the same moment, whenever a professional or an agency is involved in the sale. As of August 2026, this right comes from Andalusian consumer-protection regulation. A truly private, non-agency sale is exempt from it, by the regulation’s own wording.

Sources

Decreto 218/2005, de 11 de octubre (Junta de Andalucía, BOJA) ↗

What can go wrong with a reservation deposit?

Almost every reservation that goes badly fails for one of four reasons, and every one of them is visible before you pay, not after.

Highest riskThe deposit is to be paid straight to the seller’s personal accountNo client-account or escrow protection applies. If the deal falls through, getting the money back means a dispute, not a routine bank process.
What to do insteadInsist on a lawyer’s client account, named in the contract, before sending anything.
Highest riskNo refund condition is tied to the legal check, and no expiry date is statedIf due diligence finds a real problem, the deposit can simply sit there with no written protection, and "reserved" can continue indefinitely.
What to do insteadRequire both, in writing, before the money moves.
Verify before payingYou are asked to pay by cash, or to split the payment across two transfersSpanish law limits large cash payments for buyers. The exact limit that applies to a reservation specifically is not settled, so confirm it with your lawyer. Splitting a payment to avoid a cash rule is its own separate problem.
What to do insteadPay by a single traceable bank transfer and have your lawyer confirm the current cash rule before you send anything.
Worth avoidingYou have not seen the property in person or by a proper video viewingNothing in Spanish law stops you signing a reservation remotely, so this is not a legal protection gap, it is the risk of committing money to something you have not really seen.
What to do insteadView in person or by a genuine video walkthrough before any deposit leaves your account.

None of these four is a reason to walk away from a genuine property. All four are reasons to fix the wording, or the account, before you pay rather than after.

Refund of the reservation deposit

What a reservation contract must say to protect you

Six things. If any of them is missing or vague, ask for it in writing before you pay, not after.

The exact property, unambiguously identifiedBy address, registered description or catastral reference, not just "the apartment we viewed on Tuesday". A dispute later turns on this line first. A description vague enough to fit more than one unit in the development is a bad version.
The amount and how it is heldIdeally a client or escrow account rather than the seller’s own pocket, so the money is still somewhere identifiable if the deal falls through. "Pay the owner directly", with no account or receipt named, is a bad version.
A refund condition tied to the legal checkThe whole reason a reservation exists this early is that nobody has checked anything yet. The contract should say plainly what happens to the deposit if the check finds a real problem. No mention of the legal check at all, or a refund clause that only covers the seller changing their mind, is a bad version.
A fixed expiry dateWithout one, "reserved" can continue for weeks with nobody quite sure whether it still holds. An open-ended reservation with no date by which something has to happen is a bad version.
What happens if the seller backs outUnlike the arras contract, there is no statutory doubling-back rule for a reservation. Whatever penalty exists has to be written in, or it does not exist. Silence on the seller’s side entirely, with penalties only for the buyer, is a bad version.
A language you can readYou are entitled to ask for the document in a language you read, or for a sworn translation, before signing. A Spanish-only document handed over minutes before signature, with translation offered only afterwards, is a bad version.

Whether a specific finding during the legal check gets your deposit back depends entirely on how these six points were written, which is the full topic of a separate page.

Refund of the reservation deposit

A new-build reservation and a resale property reservation are not the same document

Both take a property off the market for a deposit. What differs is who you are contracting with and what happens to the money.

	New build	Second-hand
Who you sign with	The developer, or the developer’s own sales contract	The selling agency or the seller directly
What sets the amount	The project. There is no standard figure. Ask early, rather than assume	Roughly 6 000 to 11 000 €, more on an expensive property
What happens next	Staged payments follow, each due to be covered by a bank guarantee once building starts	A binding private contract (usually arras) follows, once the legal check clears
The biggest risk in the wording	A refund clause that does not survive a delay in the building licence or the completion date	A refund clause that does not survive a legal-check finding, or a deposit paid straight to the seller instead of a client account

Frankly

General information, not your reservation contract

This is general information about how a Spanish property reservation works, current as of 17 August 2026. It is not legal advice about your specific contract. No law sets minimum terms for a reservation, the way one exists for the arras contract or for community law. So the checklist above is a summary of good practice, not a summary of a right you already have. An independent lawyer should read the exact wording before you pay. That is not a formality we are talking you out of.One real case shows what is really at stake, without us retelling it here: a reservation deposit on an apartment came back in full after a community vote turned out to affect exactly what the buyer needed the property for, because the contract’s refund wording covered that situation. The full case, with what was found and what we did, is told properly on one page, rather than repeated in short form on several.We do not hold reservation deposits ourselves and we take no fee from either side of one. What we do is make sure a lawyer reads the contract before the money moves, and tell you plainly if the wording does not protect you the way it should.

Frequently asked questions about the reservation contract

Is a reservation contract legally binding in Spain?: Yes, as an ordinary private contract, even though no specific law governs its content. Both sides can be held to whatever they signed. This works both ways: it protects you if the wording is good, and protects the seller if it is not. This is exactly why the checklist above matters more than the fact that the document is short.
Does the reservation contract replace the private purchase contract?: No, they are two different documents at two different points. The reservation comes first, usually before any legal check has happened. The binding private contract, in Spanish practice almost always an arras contract, comes after the check clears and carries its own statutory consequences under the Civil Code. Signing a reservation is not the same commitment as signing an arras contract, even though both involve a deposit.
Can I sign a reservation contract remotely, before I first visit the property in person?: Yes, nothing in Spanish law requires you to be physically present to sign a reservation. It is routinely done by email, or through a lawyer acting on your behalf. What matters far more than where you sign is whether you have really seen the property, in person or by a proper video viewing, before you commit even a small deposit to it.
Can the seller accept a better offer after taking my reservation deposit?: Not without breaking the contract you both signed, if the contract says the property is off the market for the reservation period. Whether this costs the seller anything beyond returning your deposit depends entirely on what penalty, if any, the contract sets for the seller’s side. This is exactly the point covered in the checklist above: a reservation with no consequence for the seller only binds you, not them.

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