Buying property on the Costa Blanca, step by step

A purchase on the Costa Blanca follows the same sequence as anywhere else in Spain. What sets it apart are the rules of the Valencian Community and the part of the coast where you are looking.

When something goes wrong, it is rarely because the procedure is difficult. It is because something was signed before it was checked.

Before you start looking

Three things belong at the start.

An NIE, the Spanish identification number for foreigners. It is also your Spanish tax number, and the Land Registry will not record a purchase without the tax numbers of everyone involved. How to get one is explained in the guide to the NIE number.

An account with a Spanish bank, from which property tax, utilities and community charges are usually paid once you own the property.

A budget that includes the costs on top of the price. On a resale you pay transfer tax, the Spanish counterpart of stamp duty in the UK; buy from a developer and you pay VAT instead, plus a tax on the deed itself (AJD). With transfer tax, once the value exceeds one million euros a higher rate applies to the whole value, not just to the part above the threshold. The Valencian Community lowered the general rate of transfer tax, and the rate of the tax on the deed, for purchases from 1 June 2026; some older calculators online still use the old rates. The calculator in the guide to buying costs works out the figure for your price.

North coast and south coast

The Costa Blanca is the coast of the province of Alicante. The procedure is the same all along it; what you need to check is not.

In the north, around Dénia, Jávea (Xàbia), Moraira (Teulada), Benitachell and Calpe (Calp), the mountains come down to the sea. If you buy a house with its own plot here, the checks centre on permits, extensions and boundaries.

In the south, around Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa and Guardamar, the coast is flat, and large developments of flats, bungalows and terraced houses characterise the landscape. Buy into one of these developments and you also buy into an owners’ community, whose paperwork matters as much as that of the property itself.

In 2025, more than six times as many homes were sold before a notary in Torrevieja as in Jávea, according to the statistics of the Spanish housing ministry. Where many homes change hands, there are plenty of comparable prices; where few do, each valuation depends more on the individual property.

Moraira, incidentally, is not a municipality in its own right but part of Teulada; Orihuela Costa belongs to Orihuela, and Cumbre del Sol to Benitachell. Property tax, certificates and permits come from the town hall of the municipality.

Reservation

Once you have found the property, the usual next step is a reservation agreement with a modest deposit, which takes the property off the market for an agreed period. It should set out what happens to your deposit if the checks bring something to light. Do not sign a reservation that returns nothing under any circumstances.

Under Spanish housing law you can also ask, before you pay anything, for basic information in durable form: who is selling and who is acting as intermediary, the total price and what it includes, the floor areas, the age of the building, the energy performance certificate, and the registry details with all charges. Ask for it.

The checks before you sign

The nota simple is the extract from the Land Registry. It shows who owns the property, how it is described and what charges it carries: mortgages, court attachments, rights of way. Alongside it comes the record held by the Cadastre, the state property survey. The two must match each other and what is actually built.

A pool, an extension or an enclosed terrace that appears in neither is a question for the seller. For work carried out without permission, the town hall can, under current law, order the property to be returned to its lawful state for up to fifteen years after completion. That time limit does not apply on land not classified for development (suelo no urbanizable), nor on land the plan sets aside as green space, roads or for public use, nor on public land. In each case, the limit that counts is the one in the law in force when the work was completed. And even once the limit has passed, such a building does not become legal: it may be neither altered nor extended.

Occupancy. In the Valencian Community, the first occupation of a new building and every later occupation of a home go through a declaration filed with the town hall, the declaración responsable (a statement made on the owner’s own responsibility). The option for town halls to require a licence for this by local bylaw was abolished with effect from 1 January 2024. With older houses, an earlier occupancy licence may be among the papers. Ask to see which document exists, whether it matches the property as it stands today, and whether your purchase calls for a new declaration.

The owners’ community. The property itself is liable for the previous owner’s unpaid community charges, for the current year and the three calendar years before it. The seller must therefore present a certificate from the community at the notary stating what they owe, unless you expressly waive it. Do not waive it. Read the minutes of the last few meetings as well: special levies that have been voted through are recorded there, not in the sales particulars.

Property tax. The property is also liable for unpaid property tax (IBI). The receipts for recent years belong in the checks.

The energy performance certificate. On a resale, a copy of the registered certificate is attached to the purchase contract. Every advertisement must already show the energy rating.

Holiday letting. A registration as a holiday let does not simply pass to you with the purchase. You have to register the property afresh, with a new favourable report from the town hall, and in a building with an owners’ community you may first need the community’s express consent. Town halls may cap the number of holiday lets per building or per zone. Never buy on the assumption that this can be sorted out later. More in the guide to holiday letting.

New build from the developer, or resale

When you buy off plan, you pay before the house exists. The law protects those payments: from the moment the building licence is granted, the developer must secure every advance payment, together with statutory interest, by an insurance policy or a bank guarantee, and the money must be paid into a special account with a bank. Ask to see the guarantee that covers your payments before you transfer anything. More in the guide to buying off plan.

On handover, your papers should include the declaration for first occupation, the energy performance certificate for the finished building and the ten-year insurance against damage to the load-bearing structure. Without that insurance, the deed declaring the finished new building (declaración de obra nueva) can be neither executed before a notary nor entered in the Land Registry.

On a resale, there is one point particular to more recent houses. If a private individual built a single-family house for their own use and sells it within ten years, they must take out this insurance for the remaining period, unless you expressly release them from it. Think carefully before you do.

The arras contract

Once the checks are clear, a private preliminary contract usually follows, the contrato de arras (a contract secured by a deposit). In the form described in Article 1454 of the Spanish Civil Code, if the buyer withdraws, they lose the deposit. If the seller withdraws, they pay it back twice over.

Have your lawyer confirm which form your contract actually takes before you sign. From this point both sides are bound; by this point everything should have been checked.

At the notary and the Land Registry

Completion takes place before a notary. The notary is a public official, not your representative, and records in a public deed what has been agreed. The deed of sale (escritura pública) states the tax numbers of everyone involved and how payment was made; if the parties refuse to state how payment was made, the Land Registry will not record the purchase.

The deed then goes to the Land Registry. The purchase is entered only once the tax on it has been paid and the municipal tax on the increase in land value (plusvalía) has been declared. Registration protects your ownership against third parties: what is not registered cannot be relied on against them.

If the seller is not resident in Spain

If the seller is not tax resident in Spain and has no permanent establishment there, you as the buyer must withhold a share of the agreed price fixed by law and pay it to the tax authority on Modelo 211 within one month of the transfer. This is not an extra cost but an advance payment on the seller’s tax, and it comes off the purchase price. If it is not paid, the property itself remains liable for it.

The plusvalía is owed by the seller; if the seller is an individual not resident in Spain, the law makes the buyer liable for it in the seller’s place. Agree in the contract that this amount, too, is withheld.

After completion

The tax on the purchase falls due within a set period from the signing of the deed. Property tax, utilities and community charges are transferred into your name; IBI is owed on 1 January each year for the whole year. As a non-resident owner you have annual filing obligations in Spain, even if the property earns nothing. That is covered in non-resident property tax.

Where we stand

We advise; we do not represent you legally. We coordinate the sequence, carry out the checks that are ours to run, and work alongside the lawyer and tax adviser you appoint. Your contact for the Costa Blanca is Ion Postolache, Sales Director at MARNER ESTATES. Our view of a property is guided by your goals, not by a developer’s sales targets.

Frequently asked questions

Can foreigners buy property on the Costa Blanca?

Yes. For citizens of EU countries, nationality makes no difference to the process. If you are from outside the EU, have your lawyer check before you sign whether the property lies in an area where Spanish law requires a permit from the Ministry of Defence. For your taxes afterwards, what counts is where you are tax resident.

Do I need a lawyer?

It is not compulsory. We recommend one on every purchase. The notary confirms that the deed is correct. Nobody in the room checks whether the deal is good for you unless you appointed them yourself.

What is the reference value, and why does it affect me?

A value the Cadastre sets for each property. If it is higher than the agreed price, transfer tax is assessed on it. Buying below the reference value therefore does not reduce the tax.