Buying land in Spain: transfer tax by region, costs, the nota simple, land classification and every check before you sign

A plot of land in Spain changes hands in a notary's office and becomes safely yours when it is entered in the Land Registry. The decisions that make or break the purchase come earlier, before you sign the deposit contract (arras). The notary checks who is selling, under what authority, what the Registry shows against the property and how you pay. The notary does not walk the land, does not tell you whether you can build a house on it, does not check the track you drive in on and does not open the flood map for you.

This guide follows a purchase from the listing to registration, with the taxes in force on 2 November 2026, the rule behind each one and the arithmetic on typical prices. It is written for buyers who live outside Spain or are new to the system: each Spanish term is explained the first time it appears, and there is a section on what changes when you buy from abroad. It covers rural land (olive groves, almonds, dry farmland, woodland), building plots in towns and new developments, and the land around a country house, which is often most of what is being sold.

Words you will meet

Before you start: what you need as a foreign buyer

Most of this can run in parallel with the checks in section 2, but some of it takes weeks, so start early.

An NIE. You cannot sign the deed or file the taxes without one. You apply on form EX‑15 and pay the fee on form 790, code 012. Inside Spain you book an appointment with the National Police through the Ministry of the Interior's online booking system; from abroad you can apply at a Spanish consulate if you have a reason such as buying property. Bring your passport and a document that shows why you need the number: a reservation, the arras or the draft deed. Our guide to the NIE for foreign buyers has the details. The fee is small and changes; check it on the form when you pay.

A way to pay. Spanish law caps cash payments at €1,000 when either party acts as a business or professional, and at €10,000 for a private individual whose tax home is outside Spain. In practice the price goes by bank transfer or a bank draft, and the notary records every payment in the deed (Article 177 of the Notarial Regulations). Ask the notary whether transfers from your foreign account will do; a Spanish account makes the taxes and the annual bills far easier.

A power of attorney, if you will not fly in to sign. You can sign a power of attorney before a Spanish notary or consul, or before a notary in your own country. A foreign power needs the apostille of the 1961 Hague Convention (or consular legalisation if your country is not a party) and a translation. The Spanish notary then states in the deed that the foreign document is equivalent to a Spanish one, under Article 60 of Law 29/2015 on international legal cooperation. In 2020 the Directorate General of Legal Certainty accepted a power granted before an English notary on that basis. Ask the Spanish notary to review the draft power before you sign it at home.

Non‑EU buyers and defence zones. Law 8/1975 on defence zones creates areas of restricted access to property for foreigners, where a foreign buyer needs military authorisation. In 2023 the Directorate General applied that requirement to a non‑EU buyer in A Guarda, on the Galician coast near the Portuguese border. British buyers have been non‑EU since Brexit. If the plot is on the coast or near a military site and you are not an EU citizen, ask the notary before you sign the arras.

A language plan. The deed is drafted in Spanish. If you do not read it comfortably, agree with the notary's office who will interpret, and ask for the draft a few days before.

No cooling‑off period to rely on. Once the arras are signed, getting out costs what the contract says. Your protection is in the clauses you negotiate, which is why the checks below come first.

The route in nine steps

Steps 1–4 cost a few euros and can be done from home in a week. Leave them until after the arras and you find the problem with your deposit already paid.

1. What kind of land are you buying?

The answer drives almost everything: the tax, the plusvalía, the IBI, a neighbour's right to buy the land from you and, of course, whether you can build.

National law has two categories; the regions have the names you will see. The Spanish Land and Urban Regeneration Act (TRLSRU, Royal Legislative Decree 7/2015) says in Article 21.1 that all land is either rural or urbanised. The classes you meet in planning documents (rústico or no urbanizable, urbanizable, urbano) come from each region's planning law and each town's plan. Castilla y León and Andalucía say suelo rústico; the Valencian Community says suelo no urbanizable. Our guide to rustic, urban and developable land sets the terms side by side.

The plan decides; the Catastro describes. The Catastro labels each property urban or rustic for local taxes. That label is not the planning class, although the two usually match. One case catches buyers out: land the plan calls urbanizable but whose detailed development plan has not been approved. In a judgment of 30 May 2014 (appeal 2362/2013) the Supreme Court held that such land is not urban for cadastral purposes, so town halls must charge it IBI as rustic land. The consequence for a buyer: lower IBI, and no plusvalía on the sale while the Catastro treats it as rustic.

The Registry says who owns it. Not the Catastro, and not the listing. The owner the law protects is the one entered in the Land Registry, and you read that in the nota simple.

Check the land class and constraints on your parcel in a TerrenoCheck report, from €29 → · See a sample report

2. The checks before you make an offer

2.1 Identify the parcel

Every cadastral parcel has a 20‑character reference. Ask the agent or seller for it in writing. "About 8,000 m² next to the track" identifies nothing, and the boundary lines drawn on listing photos are guesses.

With the reference you can, on the Catastro's website:

• see the parcel on aerial imagery, with its shape and mapped area;
• download the cadastral map and description as a PDF, which is not a certificate but is enough to decide;
• look up the valor de referencia, which you will need in section 5.

Our guide to the cadastral reference explains the format. For a rural parcel, see finding rustic land by polygon and parcel; for a house or flat, finding the reference by address; in Navarre, which runs its own land survey, rural parcels in IDENA. If the seller sends you a cadastral certificate, verify its CSV code; for the boundary coordinates, see georeferenced coordinates.

Catastro area against Registry area. They rarely agree to the square metre. Work out (cadastral area − registered area) / registered area. If the gap is over 10%, raise it before the arras. Our guide to boundaries, Catastro and Registry explains the causes and fixes. If you are paying by the square metre, have it measured.

2.2 The nota simple

The nota simple is requested online from the Association of Registrars (registradores.org) with the registry property number, the cadastral reference or the owner's name. It costs €9.02 plus VAT per property, about €10.91. Agencies that order it for you charge well over twice that. The Ministry of Justice put a draft change to the online nota fee out to consultation in 2026, so check the price when you order.

It is in Spanish and in a set format. Read it in this order:

1. Description (descripción): rustic or urban (rústica / urbana), the place name (paraje), registered area, boundaries and, if recorded, the cadastral reference. If the registered property does not match the parcel you were shown, stop there.
2. Ownership (titularidad): who owns it, in what share and by what title (compraventa purchase, herencia inheritance, donación gift). If it says participación indivisa of a percentage, you are buying a share of a larger property; read buying a share of rustic land first.
3. Charges (cargas): mortgages (hipoteca), attachments (embargo), registered claims, easements, conditions. Our guide to charges, mortgages and embargoes explains each.
4. Marginal notes (notas marginales): the tax lien (afección fiscal, the property answers for a previous transfer tax that the tax office can still review), the planning lien on land that came out of a reparcelling, or the start of an enforcement case for unlicensed building. A note does not stop the sale, but it tells you someone can still claim against the property.
5. Pending entries (asientos pendientes): documents filed but not yet registered. They can change everything.

If the seller inherited the land, check that the inheritance has been registered in their name. The guide to inherited property covers the usual problems.

2.3 The plan: what it says about your parcel

Three ways in, from quickest to most reliable:

1. The SIU viewer. The Ministry of Housing's Urban Information System gathers the plans the regions send it. It gives a first answer in minutes; our SIU planning viewer guide explains how to read it and what it leaves out.
2. The town hall's or region's plan. The plan in force, with its rules: permitted uses, minimum plot, buildable area, setbacks. Read the article for your zone, not just the colour on the map.
3. The cédula or certificado urbanístico. The town hall's written statement on one property. Each region regulates its name, deadline and fee; see the guide to the planning certificate. It is the one document you can make the purchase conditional on.

Then ask what you may actually do there: what you can build explains uses and parameters, and if you plan to build soon, read building permits: time and cost.

2.4 Constraints that change the value

The forest rule is enforced. In August 2026, authorising the removal of burnt timber after that summer's fires, the Madrid regional government stated in its official gazette (BOCM) that the work did not change the forest use of the land and that the ban on other uses and the duty to restore under Article 50 still applied. The exceptions the law has allowed since 2015 are for overriding public interest and never apply to catalogued public forests. A private buyer who wants a house on a burnt plot does not fit them.

An olive grove inside a stream's control zone is still an olive grove. A "building plot" with half its area in a preferential‑flow zone is worth half the asking price, or less.

2.5 Access, water and power

A plot with no frontage on a public road depends on a right of way. Ask how you get in, whether the route crosses other people's land, and whether the easement is registered or just tolerated by a neighbour. Our guide to rights of way explains how one is created. For water, power and drainage, the only reliable figure is a written quote from the utility; get it before agreeing a price, and read utility connections on rural land. A "private well" needs a legal title: see wells and water rights.

2.6 What is already built

Many rural plots have something on them: a tool shed, a ruin, an unlicensed house, a caravan. Each structure needs a permit or proof that it predates the need for one. If it has neither, the problem becomes yours, because enforcement is directed at the current owner.

• An unlicensed house on rustic land may be tolerated, or may still face enforcement: see illegal houses on rustic land.
• A ruin is not an automatic right to rebuild: ruins and rebuilding.
• A prefab or mobile home needs a permit like any house: prefab and mobile homes on rustic land.
• If a legal house comes with the land, ask for the occupancy licence and the energy certificate.
• If you plan to let it to tourists, see holiday rental rules.

2.7 How much can you really build?

Rural land in the Valencian Community. The regional planning code (TRLOTUP, Legislative Decree 1/2021), Article 211.1.b, allows a detached family home on suelo no urbanizable with a minimum plot of one hectare per house and maximum coverage of 2%. On 10,000 m², 10,000 × 0.02 = 200 m² of footprint at most. A 6,000 m² plot does not qualify however it is advertised, and the town plan can demand more. Our prefab guide compares this with Andalusia and other regions.

An urban plot. A 450 m² plot with a buildable ratio of 0.6 m² of floor area per m² of land allows 450 × 0.6 = 270 m² of floor space. If the zone also caps coverage at 40%, the ground floor cannot exceed 180 m², so the house needs two storeys to use the 270 m². The ratios here are examples; yours are in the rules for your zone.

Developable land. The sector has to be urbanised first, and the owners pay for that in instalments. A cheap plot in a stalled sector can cost double once the bills arrive. See buying developable land and, for old estates the town hall never took over, unadopted urbanisations.

2.8 Minimum farming unit and the neighbour's right of redemption

Minimum farming unit (unidad mínima de cultivo). Law 19/1995 on farm modernisation tells each region to set a minimum size for rural plots (Art. 23) and makes divisions below it void (Art. 24), with exceptions in Article 25 such as a sale to a neighbour. In Andalusia, for municipalities such as Conil de la Frontera, the unit is 30,000 m² of dry land and 2,500 m² of irrigated land. If you are buying part of a larger farm, the split has to respect it. See agricultural land and minimum plot size.

Right of redemption of adjoining owners (retracto de colindantes, Civil Code Art. 1523). When rustic land of no more than one hectare is sold, the owners of adjoining rustic land can take it over at the same price and on the same terms. It does not apply if the plots are separated by streams, irrigation channels, ravines, tracks or other visible easements serving other land. If two neighbours claim, the owner of the smaller adjoining plot has priority. The deadline is nine days from registration of your purchase or, if it is not registered, from when the neighbour learns of it (Art. 1524).

So for nine days after registration you can lose the plot in exchange for the price you paid. Register quickly. If the plot is under a hectare and a neighbour farms next door, talk to them before you buy.

2.9 Reading the listing

If something in the listing matters to you, write it into the arras as a statement by the seller. A false statement in a contract gives you a claim; a line on a property portal almost never does.

2.10 Questions to send the seller

In writing, before you offer:

1. Cadastral reference of each parcel, registry property number and registry office.
2. How they came to own it, with date and notary.
3. Is it let, sharecropped or farmed by someone else?
4. How is it reached, and on what legal basis?
5. What buildings are there, with what permits?
6. Wells, septic tanks, power lines or pipes crossing it?
7. Membership of an irrigation community, a conservation body or a development board, and the fees?
8. Fires, floods, or proceedings by the town hall or river authority?
9. Are you tax resident in Spain? If not, the 3% withholding in section 5.7 applies.
10. What IBI do you pay? Send the last bill.

If the property shares facilities with others, ask about community of owners costs too.

3. The arras: what you sign and what you risk

The usual sequence is offer, acceptance, arras contract with a deposit (often 10% of the price), and the deed one to three months later. Our guide to the arras contract has sample clauses. The core rules:

Penitential arras (arras penitenciales, Civil Code Art. 1454). Either party can walk away: the buyer by forfeiting the deposit, the seller by returning it doubled. The Supreme Court treats this type as exceptional and reads it narrowly, so it must be agreed in clear terms. Writing "deposit" or citing Article 1454 without more is not always enough.

Confirmatory arras (arras confirmatorias). A payment on account that proves the contract exists. Neither side can walk away: if one defaults, the other can enforce the sale or terminate and claim damages. When the contract is unclear, courts tend to treat arras as confirmatory.

The numbers. Land at €24,000, penitential arras of 10%: you pay €2,400. Walk away and you lose it. If the seller walks away, they owe you €4,800.

Conditions to write in. Turn open checks into conditions: the purchase depends on the cédula urbanística confirming the class you were told; on the property being free of charges other than those in a nota simple of a given date; on the neighbour not exercising the right of redemption, with who bears the loss if they do; and, if the seller is not tax resident, on your withholding 3% of the price.

Have the arras reviewed by a lawyer who works for you, not by the agent who earns a commission when you sign.

4. The notary: what is checked and what is not

The notary is a public official. Before and at signing, the notary:

• identifies the parties and judges whether anyone signing for another has sufficient powers;
• checks the Registry for ownership and charges;
• attaches the cadastral certificate and asks the parties whether its description matches reality (Art. 18.2 of the Cadastre Act);
• records each payment, cheque by cheque or transfer by transfer (Art. 177 of the Notarial Regulations);
• can handle, if asked, the non‑resident withholding and the plusvalía retained from the price;
• sends the deed to the Registry.

What the notary does not do unless specifically engaged:

• visit the land or compare the plan with the ground;
• check that access is lawful if the Registry says nothing;
• say whether you can build;
• read the flood, coast, forest or Natura 2000 maps;
• value the land.

More in the notary's role.

Fees. Notaries charge a regulated scale (Royal Decree 1426/1989). For a sale, item 2 of the scale charges €90.151816 up to €6,010.12 of value and a decreasing amount per thousand above that, plus pages and copies. Ask the notary's office for a written estimate for your price.

5. Purchase taxes: the rules and the arithmetic

5.1 Transfer tax or VAT: who sells, and what land

• A private individual sells. You pay ITP at your region's rate. No VAT.
• A business sells building land (a developer, a company, a farmer selling land from the business): 21% VAT under Law 37/1992, plus AJD on the deed at the regional rate.
• A business sells rustic or non‑building land: the sale is VAT‑exempt (Art. 20.One.20 of Law 37/1992) and you pay ITP. Section Two of the same article lets the seller waive the exemption when the buyer is a business entitled to deduct VAT; then there is VAT and AJD, often at a higher regional AJD rate.

For a private buyer, VAT is a cost like ITP; for a company that recovers it, it is not. If a company is selling, ask the notary which regime applies on day one.

5.2 The tax base: price or reference value

Since Law 11/2021, Article 10 of the transfer tax act (Royal Legislative Decree 1/1993) uses the Catastro's valor de referencia as the base unless the price or declared value is higher. The Constitutional Court upheld the system in judgment 13/2026 of 12 February.

For rustic land the reference value is built from average value modules with a reduction factor of 0.9, set by Order HFP/1104/2021, so that it stays below market value. One exception matters: rustic properties with buildings on them have no reference value (ninth transitional provision of the Cadastre Act), and the base returns to the higher of price and real value.

In practice: look up the reference value on the Catastro website before you negotiate. Agree €24,000 on land with a reference value of €28,000 and you are taxed on €28,000. Challenging that later is possible but slow, and the burden of proof is yours.

5.3 ITP by region in 2026

The table gives each region's general rate for property purchases that have no special rate, which covers almost all land. Many regions have reduced rates for a main home, young buyers, large families or priority farms; they rarely apply to land and are left out. Where the rate is a sliding scale we give the first band. All 17 regions are covered; Ceuta and Melilla are explained separately at the end of section 5.4. Rates were checked against official sources on 2 November 2026.

In Asturias the band depends on the total value of the property, and the regional finance directorate has had to answer queries on how the bands apply; above €300,000 ask the notary or a tax adviser for the figure. Catalonia also has a 20% rate for some home purchases by large landlords, which does not touch a private buyer of land. In Valencia the date of the deed decides: a deed signed on 31 May 2026 paid 10%, one signed on 1 June paid 9%.

5.4 AJD (stamp duty) when the sale carries VAT

When a VAT-liable purchase meets the conditions in article 31(2) of the ITPAJD Act, the first copy of the deed also attracts variable AJD. General notarial-document rates checked on 2 November 2026 are below; these are not the special mortgage rates or rates for waiving VAT exemption.

Source for ordinary-regime regions: Ministry of Finance, Regional Taxation 2026, chapter IV; Navarre and the three Basque territories: the official texts and pages listed in Sources. The Balearic ITP scale is marginal: 8% up to €400,000, 9% in the band up to €600,000, 10% up to €1 million, 12% up to €2 million and 13% on the excess (article 10). Some transactions carry different rates, especially sales with a waiver of VAT exemption; establish the category before applying a general rate.

Ceuta and Melilla. Transfers of property situated there receive a 50% reduction of the TPO tax bill (article 57 bis(3)(a) of the national ITPAJD Act). Applied to the national 6% rate, that gives 3% effectively, unless another special rule applies. Variable notarial AJD receives a 50% reduction where the competent registry is in Ceuta or Melilla (article 57 bis(1)): on the national 0.50% rate, that gives 0.25% effectively. These are reductions of the bill, not new nominal rates. Mainland VAT treatment does not extend to the Canary Islands, Ceuta or Melilla: all are outside Spanish VAT territory (article 3 of Law 37/1992). Source: articles 11(1)(a), 31(2) and 57 bis of the ITPAJD Act, read 2 November 2026.

5.5 Five worked examples

A. Dry farmland in Castilla‑La Mancha, 8,000 m², €24,000, private seller.

• Reference value (example): €28,000. Higher than the price, so the base is €28,000.
• ITP 9%: 28,000 × 0.09 = €2,520, or 10.5% of what you paid.

B. A 600 m² urban plot for €90,000, private seller, in four regions.

• Madrid, 6%: €5,400.
• Galicia, 8%: €7,200.
• Valencian Community, 9% (deed from 1 June 2026): €8,100.
• Catalonia, 10%: €9,000.

Same plot, €3,600 apart.

C. A €150,000 building plot in Andalusia.

• From a private seller: ITP 7% = €10,500.
• From a developer: VAT 21% = €31,500, AJD 1.2% = €1,800, total €33,300.

For a private buyer the developer's plot costs €22,800 more in tax. A company that recovers VAT bears only the AJD.

D. A €400,000 estate in Castilla y León, private seller.

• 250,000 × 0.08 = €20,000.
• 150,000 × 0.10 = €15,000.
• Total €35,000, an effective 8.75%.

E. A €60,000 rustic plot with a half‑built house in Murcia.

• With a building on it there may be no reference value; the base is the price, or a higher real value if the region checks.
• ITP 7.75%: €4,650.

You file and pay the tax on your region's form within the period its law sets, counted from the deed. Many notaries and tax agents (gestorías) do it for you; ask for the exact deadline at signing, because late filing carries a surcharge.

5.6 The plusvalía

The plusvalía municipal (IIVTNU) taxes the gain in value of urban land between the seller's purchase and sale. Four rules matter to a buyer:

1. The seller pays it. But if the seller is a non‑resident individual, the buyer becomes the substitute taxpayer (Art. 106.2 of the Local Finance Act, TRLRHL) and the town hall will come to you. That is why it is held back from the price in the deed.
2. No plusvalía on rustic land. Article 104.2 of the TRLRHL excludes land that is rustic for IBI purposes, which, as section 1 explained, includes developable land without an approved detailed plan.
3. It can be zero. Since Royal Decree‑Law 26/2021 there is no tax if the seller proves they sold for less than they paid (Art. 104.5), and they can choose the actual gain instead of the standard calculation when it is lower (Art. 107.5).
4. The town hall sets the rate, up to 30% (Art. 108). Málaga charges 29%. The coefficients for years of ownership have a legal ceiling that has changed several times since 2021; the one that counts is in your town's tax bylaw on the date of the deed.

A Málaga example with illustrative figures. Cadastral land value of the plot: €40,000. Bylaw coefficient for the seller's years of ownership (example): 0.20. Base: €8,000. Tax at 29%: €2,320. If the seller is a non‑resident, you withhold it from the price and pay it.

For sales between living persons the general filing period is 30 working days from the deed (Art. 110 TRLRHL). Navarre and the Basque provinces have their own rules.

5.7 Buying from a non‑resident seller

Many sellers of Spanish land live abroad. If you buy from a non‑resident without a permanent establishment in Spain, you must withhold 3% of the agreed price and pay it to the tax agency on form 211 within one month of the transfer (Art. 25.2 of the Non‑Residents' Income Tax Act). If you do not, the property itself answers for the lower of the withholding and the seller's tax. In example A: 24,000 × 0.03 = €720. The step‑by‑step is in buying from a non‑resident seller.

6. All the costs in one example

Example A again: 8,000 m² of dry farmland in Castilla‑La Mancha, €24,000, resident private seller, no agent, example reference value €28,000.

Taxes come to 10.5% of the price because the reference value is above it. For a house with land, see the cost of buying property.

7. The calendar

From the day the seller gives you the cadastral reference:

8. After the deed

Registration. The notary sends the deed to the Land Registry, which reviews and registers it. Register as soon as you can: it protects you against third parties and starts the nine‑day clock on the right of redemption.

IBI. You will pay IBI every year. Each town hall sets the rate within the limits of Article 72 of the TRLRHL: between 0.4% and 1.10% of cadastral value for urban property; for rustic property, the rate in the local bylaw. Agree in the deed how the bill for the year of purchase is split. More in property taxes after purchase.

Catastro. A few months later, check on the Catastro website that the parcel shows you as owner. If not, file the change with a copy of the deed.

Running contracts. If the land is let, get the lease and ask the notary what happens to it after the sale. Irrigation communities and conservation bodies will send you their fees. Get copies of everything before you sign.

Non‑resident owner. Owning property in Spain can bring Spanish tax filings for a non‑resident beyond the IBI. Ask a tax adviser what applies to your land before the first year ends.

9. Special cases

At auction. Court, tax agency or state auctions have different deposits, charges that may survive the sale and ITP on the reference value if it exceeds the winning bid. See buying land at auction.

A house with land. For the house, the permit, occupancy licence and energy certificate matter; for the land, everything in this guide. The short list of checks is in buying land in Spain: the checklist.

Part of a larger farm. The split needs a licence or a certificate that none is needed, and must respect the minimum farming unit on rustic land; without that the Registry will not register it.

Someone has farmed it for years. Ask on what basis. A rural lease has its own rules, and a long‑term occupier may claim ownership by prescription. An unannounced visit and a chat with the neighbours tell you a lot.

10. When a check goes wrong

The time to use a problem is before you sign. Afterwards, claims against the seller exist but are slow, and some problems (the redemption right, an enforcement order, a tax or planning lien) land on you, not them.

A TerrenoCheck report brings together, for the parcel you mark on the map, the cadastral reference and geometry, the land class where the plan is published, coast, river, flood, protected area, forest and drove road constraints, slope and nearby prices, with the source and date of every layer. It is a first screen before you buy: not a valuation, not legal advice, not a survey, and no substitute for the nota simple or the cédula urbanística.

Check the land class and constraints on your parcel in a TerrenoCheck report, from €29 → · See a sample report

11. A worked case: a buyer abroad and a plot in the Valencian Community

This case shows how the rules combine. It is not a real parcel; the figures follow the rules cited above.

The listing. "12,000 m² of almond terraces with views, inland Alicante, €70,000, building possible, ideal for your dream villa." The buyer lives in the UK. The seller is a German resident who bought in 2009.

Week 1, from home. The agent sends two cadastral references: 7,400 m² and 4,600 m², separated by a municipal track. The Catastro shows both as rustic almond land. The reference value for the two together comes to €64,000, below the price, so the tax base will be the price.

Week 1. Nota simple for both registry properties: owned by the seller outright, no mortgage, an old marginal tax‑lien note from his own purchase. No pending entries.

Week 1. The SIU viewer and the town plan: suelo no urbanizable without special protection on both. Under Article 211.1.b of the TRLOTUP a family home needs one hectare per house. Neither parcel reaches 10,000 m² on its own, and they are separated by a track. The town hall's planning office confirms by email that the two cannot be added together across the track for this purpose. "Building possible" is not true for these parcels as they stand.

Week 2. The buyer asks for, and gets, a third parcel the seller also owns on the same side of the track as the larger one: 3,100 m². 7,400 + 3,100 = 10,500 m², which clears the hectare. Maximum footprint: 10,500 × 0.02 = 210 m². The town plan adds nothing stricter. The buyer orders the cédula urbanística to confirm it in writing.

Week 2, the tax. Deed planned for after 1 June 2026, so ITP at the new Valencian rate of 9%. The revised price for three parcels: €78,000. ITP: 78,000 × 0.09 = €7,020. No plusvalía on rustic land.

Week 2, the seller. He is not tax resident in Spain. The buyer must withhold 3%: 78,000 × 0.03 = €2,340, paid on form 211 within a month of the deed.

Week 3, the arras. Confirmatory arras of €7,800, with conditions: a cédula urbanística confirming the home is permitted on the combined 10,500 m²; the 3% withholding; and the 4,600 m² parcel left out of the sale, because it is under a hectare, rustic and borders an active almond farm whose owner could exercise the right of redemption.

Week 4. The buyer signs a power of attorney before a UK notary, apostilled and translated, so that a lawyer in Alicante can sign the deed for him.

The deed. The notary records the equivalence of the power, identifies the bank transfers, attaches the cadastral certificates. The buyer's lawyer files the ITP and form 211. The Registry registers the purchase. The house still needs its own authorisation and building permit, which is the next project.

No check killed this purchase. Each one changed a clause, a parcel or the price, which is what checks before the arras are for.