News: Your guide to getting ready to sell your property in Spain

When it comes to selling property in Spain, there's plenty of paperwork to complete.

In this article we explain what you need to have in place to be sure you don't keep your buyer waiting.

There are many reasons why people decide to sell their Spanish property. Circumstances change and ill-health or bereavement can often require us to change direction. There are also times when the house you bought years ago no longer fits your present requirements.

Whatever the reason behind the sale, it's important that you are prepared when you do find your buyer. Selling property in Spain is much easier currently than it was following the 2008 slump. Property is moving on and off the market and prospective buyers are almost at an even number to sellers. However, if you do secure someone to purchase your property you do not want to risk losing the sale.

For this reason it makes sense to be ready. You do need a number of documents and you should have these available to ease the selling process. Some of these should already be to hand, but some of them might require a little more forethought.

Documents you should have already

Hopefully you should already have your NIE certificate that includes your tax identification number. You needed this to purchase your property in the first place. If you bought your property with a mortgage then the bank will have your Title Deed, and this will be required for the transaction to go through.

It makes life easier if you can present your utility bills. Your electricity and water contracts will need changing once the sale has gone through. Having these available now will ensure that everything is transferred and you are not at risk of being held responsible for someone else's bills.

It may be that your property is part of a community. If it is, then you will need to be sure that you are up to date with all your community fees. The administrator should be able to provide you with confirmation that there are no outstanding debts.

Documents you might need to get

When selling your property you are required to present a CEE (Energy Efficiency Certificate). This is mandatory and shows how efficient your property is on a scale of A (most efficient) to G (least efficient). This certificate needs to be clearly displayed on all advertisements of your property. The certificate has to be signed by a qualified technician or architect and rates the usage of electricity, gas and water.

If you are a resident and want to make sure that 3% of the payment for your property is not withheld, then you will need to be able to prove that you have fiscal residency status. You can do this with a certificate issued by the Spanish Tax Authority and you might approach a tax adviser if you haven't already got one of these.

Whether you are a resident or a non-resident you need a certificate to prove that your property complies with the town hall's requirements for a dwelling. When your property was first built it should have received a licencia de primera ocupación. This licence is then replaced by the habitation certificate or cédula de habitabilidad.

Use our selling form to have us informed about your sale plan, by clicking this link