Do I need a Spanish account for the mortgage?

Yes. Before you sign a mortgage you will need an account with a Spanish bank, because the monthly instalments are paid from it. That is the one place where the account stops being useful and becomes required.

Do I have to travel to Spain to open it?

Not necessarily. A power of attorney lets your lawyer handle a large part of the paperwork for you, including at the bank, and most of what you have to supply goes electronically from Czechia. Banks set their own identification policy, so your lawyer confirms what the specific bank requires rather than us promising it in advance.

Can the bank hold on to my money once it has arrived?

It can restrict access to it, yes, and the Bank of Spain says so plainly: a bank may require documentation on the origin of the funds paid into an account, may ask for it after the account is already open, and may block access while the origin is not justified. On a larger purchase this is normal rather than sinister. It is also the reason to assemble the source-of-funds paperwork before a completion date exists rather than during one.

How do I get money from Czech korunas into euros?

Through your Czech bank or through a specialist exchange provider, and on a larger amount it is worth comparing them. If you would rather not start from scratch, we can introduce you to a provider we work with, and you are free to use your own instead. What decides the outcome is the rate you actually get rather than the advertised transfer fee. The one rule we would insist on is not leaving it to the last day.

Which bank should I use?

We do not recommend one and we take nothing from any bank. Your lawyer will normally deal with a bank he works with regularly, which is usually faster, and you are free to choose your own. What we would tell anybody to do is ask about the monthly charge and the conditions to reduce it before signing.

What happens to the account after I have the keys?

It becomes the property’s account. The lawyer transfers the utilities into your name after completion and the direct debits start pulling from it. If you let the property through us, the rental income arrives in the same account each month.

Services

Opening a bank account in Spain when buying property

You can buy a property in Spain without a Spanish bank account, and almost nobody should. You need one before you sign a mortgage, and once you own the property the electricity, the water, the community fees, the local property tax and the refuse charge all come out of it month after month. Your independent lawyer opens it with the bank, usually alongside the NIE. Our job is that it exists before anything is waiting on it, and that you know which payment is due when.

Who opens the account, and where we stop

We do not open your bank account. An independent lawyer does that with the bank, usually at the same time as your NIE, and he is paid by you and works for you. What we do is hold the calendar around it, so the account is not the thing everybody is waiting for on the day of a mortgage signature or a first community charge.The distinction matters more here than on almost any other page, because the bank is the one party in this process that represents itself. It is not on your side and it is not on the seller’s side. It is a company selling you a product, and the price of that product is a number you have to ask for.

What has to happen	Who does it	What that means for you
Getting the account open
The NIE, first	The independent lawyer	The identification number comes before almost everything else. It has a page of its own rather than a paragraph here, and the short version is that it is started early because nobody can promise when it lands.
Opening the account	The lawyer, with the bank	He files it and deals with the branch. With a power of attorney a large part of it can be handled without you flying over for the appointment.
Choosing the bank	You	We do not choose it for you and we take nothing from anybody for sending you anywhere. Ask about the monthly maintenance charge before you sign, because a non-resident account is rarely the free product a resident account is.
Getting money into it
Moving your money from Czechia	You, with your Czech bank or an exchange provider	We do not move your money and we do not exchange currency. What we can tell you is when each amount has to be there, which is the part that actually goes wrong.
Proving where the money came from	You, for the bank, the lawyer and the developer	On a larger purchase this will be asked for. Get it together before you start transferring, not while a payment is already being held.
The purchase money itself	Usually not your account at all	On a resale property the funds normally go through the lawyer’s client account, and on a new build into the protected construction account. Your own account is for the running of the property, and the section below draws the difference.
Once the property is yours
The direct debits	The lawyer, after completion	The utility transfers are standard post-completion work. Once they are set up, the electricity, the water and the community all pull from this account whether you are in the country or not.
The annual tax filings	The lawyer or a tax adviser	Not ours and never presented as ours. What you get from us is knowing who holds them and when they fall.
The timing of all of it	Arevont	This row is the whole service. We do not open accounts, we do not hold your money and we do not give tax advice. We make sure the people who do those things start in time and stay in step.

One contact for you, and a list of things we watch so that you do not have to. Where a specialist is needed we introduce you to someone we trust and stay your main point of contact.

Do I need a Spanish bank account to buy a property?Not strictly, and we would rather say that plainly than sell you something. Our own answer on the homepage is that the NIE is required and the Spanish account is very useful in practice. It becomes a hard requirement the moment there is a mortgage, because the monthly payments have to come from a Spanish account.

Who actually opens it?Your independent lawyer, with the bank. The same office typically handles the NIE, the utility transfers and the annual tax filings afterwards, which is the practical reason it is worth having one lawyer rather than four specialists.

What actually comes out of it, and how often

The reason to have a Spanish account is not the purchase. It is the ten years after the purchase. A property here generates a small stream of payments that never stops, and most of them are set up as direct debits against a local account because that is how the suppliers, the town hall and the community of owners expect to be paid.The figures below are the ones we publish in our annual running-cost table. They are indicative for an apartment. A villa runs higher, especially on the local property tax, the insurance, the energy and the maintenance, and a pool or a garden adds to all of them.

What it pays	How often	The range we publish
Leaves the account whether you are here or not
Electricity and water	Monthly	100 to 300 € a month and sometimes more. This is consumption plus the standing charges, and the standing charges run even when the property is empty.
Community fees	Monthly or quarterly, billed as an annual cost	900 to 6.000 € a year. Pool, gardens, lift, security, the upkeep of the shared areas. In luxury communities considerably more, and this is often the biggest difference between two apartments that cost the same.
IBI, the local property tax	Yearly	400 to 1.000 € and higher. The town hall sets it from the cadastral value, so two similar properties can be charged differently.
Refuse collection, the basura	Yearly	80 to 200 €. Charged by the town hall, not by a utility company, which is why it arrives separately and surprises people.
Buildings insurance	Yearly	300 to 800 €, depending on the property, the cover and the value.
Only if you are borrowing
The mortgage payment	Monthly	This is the one that makes the account compulsory rather than sensible. A Spanish bank wants the instalments paid from a Spanish account, so the account has to exist before you sign.
Arrives in the account
Rental income, if you let the property	Monthly, in season	When we run the renting the income arrives in this account every month. Whether short-term rental is allowed at all depends on the property, the community and the municipality, and we check it before a reservation if it is part of why you are buying.

The non-resident tax filing, the Modelo 210, sits alongside these and is a separate subject with its own guide. Owning a property in Spain and not renting it still creates a Spanish tax obligation, and most owners find that out late.

Annual ownership costs

Do all of these come out of the account automatically?That is the point of having it. The utilities, the community fees and the mortgage are normally set up as direct debits against a Spanish account, and the lawyer arranges the utility ones after completion. IBI and the refuse charge come from the town hall and can also be direct debited, which is what you want if you are here a few weeks a year. Set every one of them up at the start rather than after the first bill goes unpaid.

What the bank actually asks for, and what it charges

This is the part we can describe but do not perform. What follows is what the Spanish central bank, the national police and one large Spanish bank publish themselves, because almost everything written in your language on this subject is second hand. Where a source says nothing, we say that instead of filling the gap.

What buyers assumeWhat the sources actually publish

No NIE, no account: Those are two different documents solving two different problems. The Bank of Spain says a bank must establish that you are not resident, and the national police issue a separate certificate of non-residency for exactly that, on form EX15 against the same 790 fee as the NIE, currently 7,31 €. At least one large Spanish bank publishes a non-resident account that needs a valid passport and nothing else. You still need the NIE to buy the property: it goes on the deed and on every tax filing afterwards.
A current account is free, the way it is at home: Opening one usually is. The recurring maintenance charge is the number to ask about, and it is where non-residents quietly lose money. The same bank publishes 0 € maintenance on its online non-resident account and 20 € a month on its ordinary current account, waived only by meeting linkage conditions: a salary paid in, regular domestic income, card usage. It is not formally a foreigner surcharge. It is that a non-resident buyer structurally cannot meet the conditions that make a Spanish account free.
You have to fly over and sit in a branch: Not always. One large Spanish bank publishes a fully online opening for non-residents: your details, a video identity check, a digital signature, and your home country is on its published list of eligible countries. That is one bank and not a rule, and others still want you at a counter. Your lawyer will tell you what the bank he actually deals with requires, and a power of attorney covers the branch route.
Once it is open, it is open: The non-residency declaration you sign at opening has a validity of two years under the Spanish order that governs it, and it has to be supplied within a month of the account being opened. In practice the bank comes back to you every two years for a fresh one. Owners who let those letters sit unopened in a Spanish postbox are the ones who find the account restricted at an inconvenient moment.
Money in my account is money I can use: The Bank of Spain is explicit that a bank may require documentation on the origin of the money being paid in, that it may ask for it after the account is already open, and that it can block access to the funds while the origin is not justified. This is the single best reason to assemble the source-of-funds paperwork before a purchase deadline exists rather than during one.
So how long does it take: We will not give you a number, and we would treat anybody who does with suspicion. The online route above is advertised as ready in minutes, and what is nowhere published is when the account can actually receive a large incoming transfer. The non-residency certificate carries a five-day statutory maximum for a decision, but not for getting to the point where the application is made. We start early because that is the only part of this anybody controls.

None of the above is a recommendation of a bank. It is the only set of terms we could quote from a Spanish bank’s own website rather than from somebody’s blog, and it is on the page so you can see the difference between a published figure and a repeated one. Ask your own branch the same three questions: the monthly maintenance charge, what it takes to have it reduced, and the cost of an incoming transfer from abroad.

Spanish bank account

Sources

What does a Spanish bank account cost to run?Opening is usually free. What varies is the monthly maintenance charge, and it can be anywhere from nothing on an account designed for non-residents to around 20 € a month on an ordinary current account that you cannot get waived without a Spanish salary going into it. Ask the branch for the figure in writing before you sign, because it is the one cost on this page nobody quotes you unprompted.

Do I need a certificate of non-residency as well as a NIE?Possibly, and it depends on the bank. They are different documents: the NIE identifies you for the purchase and for tax, the non-residency certificate proves your status to the bank. Some banks accept a passport instead. Your lawyer deals with whichever the bank in front of him wants.

Opening it without flying over

The question every foreign buyer asks second, after what it costs, is whether they have to stand in a branch in Marbella to sign anything. The honest answer has three parts, and only the first one is a promise.

A power of attorney is what makes remote work possibleIt is the single document that decides how much of this purchase you attend in person. With one in place your lawyer can handle a large part of the paperwork on your behalf, including the completion at the notary. It does not commit you to buying anything and it can be signed long before there is a property.
Sign it here if you are coming anywaySigning it at a notary during a viewing trip costs you an hour of a day you are already spending on the coast. Signing it in Czechia usually means an apostille and a sworn translation on top, which is work and money rather than a problem.
Tell the lawyer at the start that the account is in scopeA power of attorney is drafted for a purpose. It is not one universal document that covers whatever comes up later. If you want the account opened without you present, say so while the wording is still being decided, not afterwards.
The bank still has the last wordBanks set their own identification policy and they are entitled to want you in front of them. Your lawyer will tell you what the bank he deals with actually requires, and we would treat any promise of a guaranteed fully remote opening, from us or from anybody else, as a sales line rather than a fact.

One warning, and it is why none of this is treated casually. A forged power of attorney is a known way that property fraud is committed in Spain, alongside fake listings and the email that says the bank details have changed. Never pay anyone and never sign anything on the strength of a document that arrived by email without checking it with us or with your lawyer first.

NIE and administration

Can my lawyer open the account without me there?With the appropriate power of attorney he can handle a large part of it on your behalf, and that is how most of our clients do it. It is not something we would promise in the abstract, because the bank sets its own identification policy and is entitled to want to see you. Ask the lawyer at the point the power of attorney is being drafted, so the account is inside its scope rather than outside it.

Getting Czech korunas into it, without losing money on the way

The purchase price is in euros and most foreign buyers hold at least part of the money in korunas. At several hundred thousand euros the exchange rate stops being a detail: the difference between two ways of converting the same amount can run into thousands of euros. The currency switch on our website shows you an indicative koruna value for a property. The purchase itself happens in euros, and the rate you actually get is between you and your bank or your exchange provider.

Do not leave the transfer to the last dayA large international transfer can be held up by the bank’s own checks on the origin of the money, or by a daily limit. Purchase deadlines, meanwhile, are fixed. So the transfer gets planned in advance rather than on the morning of the notary appointment.
The bank’s rate is not the rate on GoogleWhat decides the outcome is not only the transfer fee. It is mostly the gap between the market rate and the rate the bank actually offers you. On a large amount even a small gap is a lot of money.
You do not have to convert it all at onceOn a new build the money is usually paid in stages against the project’s payment calendar, so you are not obliged to change the whole purchase price on one day. It depends on the payment dates and on how much currency risk you want to carry.
Prepare the source of funds earlyThe origin of the money is checked during a purchase. The bank, the lawyer or the developer will ask for documents showing where it came from, and on a larger purchase having them ready in advance is what keeps a transfer from being delayed.
You do not have to find a provider yourselfIf you would rather not start from a comparison site, we can introduce you to a currency provider we work with, which is usually the quickest way to get a real quote on a real amount instead of an advertised headline rate. You are free to use your own bank or any provider you like, and if you already have one you are happy with, keep them. Ask for the rate on your actual sum before you commit to anyone, ours included.

What we can hand you here is the calendar rather than the rate. Tell us roughly what you want to spend and when you want to buy, and we will tell you which amount has to be available on which date, so the transfer is never the thing running late.

Converting another currency to euros

When do I actually need each amount?On a new build: the reservation fee of roughly 6.000 to 11.000 € first, then usually 20 to 40 % of the price plus VAT at the developer contract, then payments against the construction calendar, then the remainder at completion. On a resale property: the same reservation fee, then normally up to 10 to 20 % at the arras contract, then the remainder at the notary. We put your specific dates against that before you transfer anything.

Your account is not where the purchase money sits

Foreign buyers arrive expecting the notarial escrow arrangement they know from home. It does not exist here in that form. It works differently, and not worse. The practical consequence is that on most purchases the money for the property never passes through the account you have just opened.

Where the money sits	Whose account it is	When it moves
Your Spanish account	Yours	The running of the property: the utilities, the community, the IBI, the mortgage instalment, and any rental income coming back. Not usually the purchase price itself.
The lawyer’s client account	Your lawyer, on a separate supervised account	The normal route on a resale property. Spanish lawyers hold client money on a segregated supervised account rather than on their own operating account, and the seller only receives it at the notary, at the moment the deed is signed.
The protected construction account	Ring-fenced for one specific development	The route on a new build. Your payments go by law to a special account for that build and each one must be covered by a bank guarantee in your name. Your lawyer verifies this before the first euro leaves after the reservation.
The bank draft at the notary	Drawn on a Spanish account	The balance is paid by cheque bancario handed over at the signing. The money and the keys change hands in the same room at the same moment.

The reservation fee is the one payment that sits outside this system of guarantees, which is why it should be small and why the contract has to state clearly on what terms it comes back. How the money is protected, and how bank guarantees work, are their own subjects with their own pages.

How your money is protected

Is my account the same as the lawyer’s client account?No, and confusing the two is common. The client account is a segregated supervised account in the lawyer’s name that holds the purchase money until the notary. Your own account is what pays for the property once it is yours.

What you will be asked for

Two lists in one, because they overlap and they are asked for by different people. The first is what a bank needs to identify you. The second is what everybody in the transaction needs in order to see where your money came from. Most of it goes electronically from Czechia.

What is needed	Who is asking for it	How it usually goes
To identify you
Passport or national ID card	The bank, and the lawyer for the NIE at the same time.	A scan to start with. The original is needed where something is actually signed.
Your NIE	The bank, once it exists. It is also on the deed and on every tax filing afterwards.	The lawyer files it, in parallel with the legal due diligence rather than after it.
Your Czech address and contact details	The bank and the lawyer, as part of standard identification.	Sent electronically with the rest. A recent utility bill or bank statement in your name is the usual proof.
Something showing what you do and what you earn	The bank. A non-resident file normally includes an employment or income document.	Electronically. The exact list depends on the bank, which is why your lawyer asks them before you assemble anything.
Where the money comes from
Bank statements	The bank, the lawyer or the developer, as proof of where the funds came from.	Electronically, and worth preparing before you start moving money rather than after.
Proof of the source of the funds	The same three, on any larger purchase. This one is not optional and it is where transfers get held up.	Typically statements, documents on the sale of another property, income or dividends. What is right depends on your situation.
Documentation for a more complex structure	The bank, if the money comes from the sale of a company, from investments or through anything layered.	Start this one earliest. It takes the longest to assemble and it is the one that stops a transfer dead.
Only if you are borrowing
Two or three years of tax returns	The Spanish bank, as part of the mortgage file.	Electronically. Translations where the bank asks for them.
Payslips, or company accounts	The Spanish bank, to establish the income behind the application.	Electronically, with the tax returns.
A credit register check and statements for existing loans	The Spanish bank, to see what is already committed.	Obtained in Czechia and sent on. Allow four to eight weeks for a mortgage decision once the file is in.
The power of attorney, if you are not coming	Your lawyer, so that he can act for you at the bank and at the notary.	Signed before a notary. Here during a trip, or from Czechia with an apostille and a sworn translation.

Almost all of it goes online from Czechia. The parts that genuinely need you in person are the viewing and, unless there is a power of attorney, the signature.

Obtaining an NIE

Where this sits in the purchase

The full purchase is fifteen steps from the first call to the keys. The account is opened at step ten, alongside the NIE and the legal due diligence rather than after them, and it then carries steps twelve and fourteen. That is the whole argument for starting it early: two later steps depend on it.

Steps 10, 12 and 14 of 15

NIE, the account and the paperworkAt the same time
The NIE is your Spanish identification number, needed to complete the purchase. The lawyer files it and handles the bank account and the rest of the paperwork as required. A power of attorney lets him do a large part of it on your behalf, so you are not travelling back to Spain for individual documents.
Payments and waitingBy property type
Between signing the contract and taking possession there can be weeks, and on a new build months or years. Throughout it we watch what comes next and when: the further payments, the documents, the deadlines. This is where the payment calendar and the account meet, and where a transfer that was left late becomes visible to everybody.
New buildFurther payments follow the specific project’s calendar. On some projects there are instalments throughout, on others one more payment and the balance at completion.
ResaleAfter the relevant contract is signed you normally wait for the agreed completion date at the notary.
The notary and the keysCompletion day
The deed is signed, the balance of the price is paid and the property becomes yours. The balance is paid by bank draft, a cheque bancario drawn on a Spanish account and handed over at the signing. You do not have to be there yourself if your lawyer holds the appropriate power of attorney, and we are there on the day either way.

The entire purchase process, step by step

Doing it yourself, or with us

The same account, arranged two ways.

	On your own	With Arevont
Getting it opened	You work out which bank, which branch and which documents, in Spanish, at a counter.	Your lawyer opens it with the bank as part of the paperwork he is already doing, and we agree with him when it starts.
When you find out it is missing	Often at the point you are supposed to be signing a mortgage, which is the most expensive possible moment.	It runs alongside the NIE and the legal due diligence, so it exists long before a signing date does.
The transfer from Czechia	Arranged the day before it is due, and then held for a check on the origin of the money.	Planned in advance against the payment calendar, so you know which amount has to be there on which date.
The source-of-funds paperwork	Assembled under pressure while a payment is already being held.	Requested at the start, when there is time to find a document from a sale five years ago.
The language it happens in	Spanish or English, with the branch, on their timetable.	Czech, from the first call to the keys, with people who are on this coast.

Calculated

At 500.000 € even tenths of a percent decide

This is not a client story and we are not presenting it as one. It is arithmetic, and it is on our homepage in the same words. It is here because it is the clearest answer to the question of why we bother talking about the account and the transfer at all.

Half a percent on 500.000 € is about 2.500 €That is the difference between two ways of converting the same amount of money on the same day. It is not a fee anybody quotes you. It is the gap between the market rate and the rate you are given.
A full percent is 5.000 €Which is more than the NIE, the translations and the utility connection put together, and roughly the annual community fee on a good apartment. It is a real amount of money and it is invisible on any invoice.
So compare the rate you end up with, not the fee you were quotedThis says nothing about what any particular bank charges, and we are not claiming that any provider takes half a percent. It is arithmetic on a stated percentage. The lesson is only that on a large amount the headline transfer fee is the small number.

The part of this we can actually influence is the timing. Knowing the date each payment is due is what lets you compare providers calmly instead of accepting whatever is available on the afternoon it is needed.

How much does it cost you?

Buyer0 €Our coordination is not billed. What you pay for on this page is the lawyer and whatever the bank charges, and none of it comes to us.
Developer or seller
New build
2,5 to 6 %
Resale property
1,5 to 4 %
The commission is already inside the price and is paid by the seller side, whether you come through us or go direct.
ArevontOur fee is part of that commission, and only if a purchase happens. No bank pays us anything for sending you to it, which is why this page names no bank.

Our side of this is free, as everything on the buying side is. Opening the account is part of the work your independent lawyer does around the purchase, and in our published purchase-cost tables his fee appears as one per cent of the price. The NIE and the translations sit on the same tables at roughly 150 €, flat, the same figure at 350.000 € as at a million.What the bank itself charges is a number we do not publish, because we do not have one we would stand behind for every bank and every situation. The research above is what the banks publish themselves, and the useful version of the question is the one you put to the branch before you sign: what is the monthly maintenance charge on this account for a non-resident, what does it take to have it waived, and what does a transfer in from abroad cost.The calculation is indicative. Exact costs vary with the price of the property, the mortgage and the specific transaction.

If you ultimately decide not to buy, you pay us nothing.

To be frank

What we do not do, and what we will not promise

We do not open your account, we do not choose your bank, we do not hold your money and we do not exchange your currency. An independent lawyer opens the account with the bank and he is paid by you. We are not a bank, we are not a payment provider and we are not tax advisers.The bank represents itself. That is not a criticism, it is the structure. Your lawyer is on your side, the notary is on nobody’s side, and the bank is a company selling you an account and possibly a mortgage. Its exchange rate is not the rate you see on Google, and a large transfer can be delayed by its own internal checks. Ask for the numbers rather than assuming them.You do not strictly need a Spanish account in order to buy. We say very useful, not compulsory, and we will not tell you otherwise to make the page tidier. It becomes compulsory the moment there is a mortgage, and it becomes obvious the first time a community charge bounces.Rules, fees and bank policies change, and they change without anybody telling us. What is on this page is what the sources published on the date shown next to them. Confirm the current position with your lawyer and with the bank before you rely on it.

The most common questions about a bank account in Spain

Do I need a Spanish account for the mortgage?: Yes. Before you sign a mortgage you will need an account with a Spanish bank, because the monthly instalments are paid from it. That is the one place where the account stops being useful and becomes required.
Do I have to travel to Spain to open it?: Not necessarily. A power of attorney lets your lawyer handle a large part of the paperwork for you, including at the bank, and most of what you have to supply goes electronically from Czechia. Banks set their own identification policy, so your lawyer confirms what the specific bank requires rather than us promising it in advance.
Can the bank hold on to my money once it has arrived?: It can restrict access to it, yes, and the Bank of Spain says so plainly: a bank may require documentation on the origin of the funds paid into an account, may ask for it after the account is already open, and may block access while the origin is not justified. On a larger purchase this is normal rather than sinister. It is also the reason to assemble the source-of-funds paperwork before a completion date exists rather than during one.
How do I get money from Czech korunas into euros?: Through your Czech bank or through a specialist exchange provider, and on a larger amount it is worth comparing them. If you would rather not start from scratch, we can introduce you to a provider we work with, and you are free to use your own instead. What decides the outcome is the rate you actually get rather than the advertised transfer fee. The one rule we would insist on is not leaving it to the last day.
Which bank should I use?: We do not recommend one and we take nothing from any bank. Your lawyer will normally deal with a bank he works with regularly, which is usually faster, and you are free to choose your own. What we would tell anybody to do is ask about the monthly charge and the conditions to reduce it before signing.
What happens to the account after I have the keys?: It becomes the property’s account. The lawyer transfers the utilities into your name after completion and the direct debits start pulling from it. If you let the property through us, the rental income arrives in the same account each month.

Not sure how far your budget really goes?

Talk it through with us