Spanish property words, from arras to escritura: a plain-English glossary

This glossary covers the Spanish words a buyer meets on the Costa del Sol, in the order they come up: finding a home, reserving it, checking it, completing, owning and selling. Each has a plain definition, the rule behind it where there is one, and a link to the guide that covers it. Figures are those in force in October 2026.

Finding a home

Obra nueva. A new build, sold by the developer for the first time. It is taxed with VAT rather than transfer tax, and new build or resale sets the two side by side.

Segunda mano. A resale: a home that has had an owner before.

Sobre plano. Off plan: bought from the plans and paid for in stages while the building goes up. The developments selling before building starts are the earliest stage of it.

Llave en mano. Key ready: finished, with nothing left to wait for, like the key-ready developments on this site.

Promotor or promotora. The developer, the company that builds a development and sells its homes. Checking a developer covers what to look up before you reserve.

Memoria de calidades. The specification: the developer’s list of the materials, fittings and finishes in the home. What today’s specifications typically list is in what a new build includes in 2026.

Metros útiles and metros construidos. Usable area, the floor you can actually use inside the walls, and built area, which includes the walls and is sometimes quoted with a share of the common parts. A developer has to state the usable area. Listings for the same home often give different sizes, which same home, different prices explains.

Primera línea. Frontline: the first row of buildings facing the sea, covered with what it costs in frontline beach property.

Urbanización. A residential estate, usually with shared roads, gardens or pools run by a community of owners. An urbanización cerrada is a gated one, and gated communities looks at what the gate and the fees buy.

Inmobiliaria. An estate agency. The agency marketing a home works for the seller who instructed it.

Buyer’s agent. An agent who works for the buyer instead: finding homes, checking them and negotiating the price. What a buyer’s agent does sets out the difference.

Reserving a home

Reserva. A reservation: a holding deposit that takes the home off the market while your lawyer runs the checks, under a short agreement that says how long it lasts.

Contrato de arras. The private contract signed once the checks are done, with a deposit that counts towards the price. Article 1454 of the Civil Code sets the default where arras are given: the buyer can withdraw by losing them, and the seller by returning them doubled. Which kind of arras a contract creates decides whether either side can walk away at all, which the arras contract explains.

Contrato privado de compraventa. The private purchase contract. On an off-plan home it sets the price, the stage payments and the delivery date, and it comes before the public deed.

Aval bancario and seguro de caución. The bank guarantee or insurance policy that protects money paid to a developer before completion. The building law, Ley 38/1999, requires it from the date of the building licence, for everything paid plus legal interest. Buying off-plan in Spain explains how it works.

Cuenta especial. The separate account a developer has to pay those advance payments into, which it can only draw on for the construction.

NIE. The Número de Identidad de Extranjero, the number Spain gives a foreigner with economic, professional or social dealings in the country, as the Policía Nacional puts it. You need one before the deed, and getting a NIE from the UK covers both routes.

Poder notarial. A power of attorney signed before a notary, which lets someone, usually your lawyer, sign for you. Power of attorney covers buying without flying out.

Apostilla. The apostille, a stamped official certificate attached to a UK document when it is legalised for use abroad, issued by the UK’s Legalisation Office.

Cuenta de no residente. A bank account for someone who does not live in Spain. Opening a Spanish bank account covers how, and what it is for.

Abogado. A lawyer. The UK government’s guidance on buying in Spain advises an independent one, which it defines as a lawyer who works on your behalf only.

Gestor or gestoría. A private professional, or a firm of them, who handles administrative tasks and tax paperwork, as the UK government’s guidance on living in Spain describes it.

Checking it

Nota simple. An extract from the Land Registry. Under article 222 of the Mortgage Law, it shows at least how the property is described, who holds rights over it, and the extent and limits of those rights, such as a mortgage. It is purely informative. The legal checks before you buy start with it.

Registro de la Propiedad. The Land Registry, which records who owns each property and what is charged against it. The same law opens it to anyone with a known interest in the state of a property (article 221).

Cargas. Charges registered against a property, such as a mortgage or an embargo, which is an attachment for an unpaid debt. A home sold libre de cargas is free of them.

Catastro and referencia catastral. The Catastro is the Finance Ministry’s register describing each property, and it holds the cadastral value the IBI is charged on. The referencia catastral is the code that places a property on the Catastro’s official map.

Licencia de obra. A building licence from the town hall. Under Andalucía’s planning law, Ley 7/2021, new building and the division of a building into separate homes need one, and small works with no architect’s project need only a responsible declaration. Renovating a resale home covers what a renovation needs.

Licencia de primera ocupación. The town hall’s confirmation that a finished building can be lived in. In Andalucía, a building put up under a licence and finished in line with it now reaches the same point by a declaración responsable, a responsible declaration lodged with the final works certificate (article 138 of the same law).

AFO. Asimilado a fuera de ordenación: the status a town hall recognises for a finished building put up without the right licence, once the time for acting against it has run out. Until it is recognised, the building cannot be connected to basic services or have work done on it (article 173). The first occupation licence and the AFO explains both.

Suelo urbano and suelo rústico. Urban land and rustic land, the two classes Andalucía’s planning law puts all land into (article 12). Which one a plot is decides what can be built on it, as buying a plot and building a villa explains.

PGOU and PGOM. The town’s general plan. The older Planes Generales de Ordenación Urbanística stay in force until each town replaces them with a Plan General de Ordenación Municipal under the 2021 law. The plan decides, among other things, what can be built in front of a home, which matters for sea views.

Certificado de deudas. The community of owners’ certificate that the seller owes nothing. Under article 9 of the horizontal property law, the seller provides it at the deed unless the buyer expressly waives it, because the home answers for unpaid fees for the year of the sale and the three calendar years before.

Certificado energético. The energy performance certificate, with its rating from A to G. Under Real Decreto 390/2021, a copy is attached to the sale contract, and a certificate is valid for up to ten years, or five for a G. The energy certificate explains what the letter means.

Informe técnico. A surveyor’s report on the condition of the building. It is not part of the standard process, so it only happens if you arrange it, as the survey guide explains.

Completing the purchase

Notario. The notary, a public official who prepares and authorises the deed of sale.

Escritura de compraventa. The deed of sale, signed before the notary, where the balance is paid and ownership passes. Under article 1462 of the Civil Code, signing it counts as handing over the home unless the deed says otherwise. The buying process puts it in order with the NIE and the arras.

ITP and IVA. ITP, the Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales, is the transfer tax on a resale home, at 7% of the price in Andalucía under Ley 5/2021. A new build pays IVA, which is VAT, at 10% on a home instead, under article 91 of the VAT law. What a €350,000 apartment really costs works both through.

AJD. Actos Jurídicos Documentados, the stamp duty on the deed. On a new build it is paid on top of the VAT, at 1.2% in Andalucía under the same 2021 law.

Retención del 3%. When the seller is not resident in Spain, the buyer holds back 3% of the price and pays it to the tax agency on account of the seller’s tax, under article 25 of the non-residents’ tax law. The form is the Modelo 211.

Hipoteca, tasación and FEIN. A mortgage, the valuation the lender asks for before it lends, and the FEIN, the standard European information sheet the lender has to give you at least ten calendar days before you sign, which binds it as an offer. Before the mortgage deed you also see a notary of your choice, under Ley 5/2019. Mortgages for non-residents covers the steps.

Euribor. The euro interbank rate. A variable-rate mortgage tied to it moves with it at the review dates in the contract, and Euribor in October 2026 shows what that means for a repayment.

Seguro decenal. The ten-year insurance on the structure of a new building, taken out by the developer, with the developer and every later buyer covered (article 19 of the building law). The checks before you take the keys sets out the one-year and three-year cover alongside it.

Suministros. The utilities: electricity, water and the rest, contracted in your name. Andalucía’s planning law has the supply companies ask for the occupation licence or the responsible declaration before they sign a permanent supply contract (article 142). Electricity, water and internet in a new home covers connecting them.

Owning it

Padrón and empadronamiento. The town hall’s register of residents, and registering on it. The UK government’s guidance on residency says every British citizen living in Spain must be on it, and that the certificate is needed for public healthcare, school places and registering a vehicle. The padrón covers how each town hall does it.

TIE. The Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero, the identity card a non-EU resident holds as proof of legal residence. Moving to the Costa del Sol from the UK puts it in the order of a move.

IBI. The Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles, the yearly property tax the town hall charges on the cadastral value. Under the local finance law, it falls due on 1 January for the whole year, so the owner on that date is the one charged, and each town sets its rate within national limits. IBI town by town gives each municipality’s rate.

Basura. The refuse collection charge. What it costs to own a home in Spain has it with the other running costs.

Comunidad de propietarios. The community of owners, which runs and pays for the shared parts of a building or estate, with each owner paying by their share. Under the horizontal property law the owners meet at least once a year to approve the budget and accounts (article 16). Community fees in Spain covers what the fees pay for.

Fondo de reserva. The community’s reserve fund for repairs, which by law holds at least 10% of its last ordinary budget (article 9).

Derrama. A one-off levy the owners vote for a large job, paid on top of the regular fees.

Administrador de fincas. The property manager a community appoints to keep its accounts and run its day-to-day business.

Modelo 210. The non-resident’s tax return, filed on a Spanish home even when it is never let. The rate is 19% for residents of the EU and EEA and 24% for everyone else, UK residents included (article 25 of the non-residents’ tax law). Modelo 210 works an example.

Residencia fiscal. Tax residence. The tax agency treats you as resident in a calendar year when you spend more than 183 days in Spain, or when your main base of activities or economic interests is here, and you are then resident or non-resident for the whole year. Tax residency in Spain covers the test.

Seguro de hogar. Home insurance. The continente is the building and the contenido is what is in it. Home insurance in Spain covers what a policy pays for.

Vivienda de uso turístico. A home let to holidaymakers. In Andalucía the owner lodges a responsible declaration with the regional tourism department, for entry on the Registro de Turismo de Andalucía, before letting starts, under Decreto 28/2016 as amended in 2024. The tourist licence covers the rules.

Okupa. Someone living in a home without the owner’s consent. Squatters in Spain sets out what the law says and what owners actually do.

Testamento. A will. Wills and inheritance for a Spanish home covers whether you need a Spanish one.

Impuesto sobre el patrimonio. Wealth tax, charged on assets above an allowance. Wealth tax in Andalucía explains why the region is different.

Selling it

Plusvalía municipal. The town hall’s tax on the rise in value of urban land, charged when a home changes hands (article 104 of the local finance law). In a sale, it is the seller’s tax (article 106). Selling property in Spain as a non-resident covers it with the rest of a seller’s costs.

Ganancia patrimonial. The capital gain on a sale. A seller who is not resident in Spain pays tax on it at 19% (article 25 of the non-residents’ tax law), and the 3% the buyer held back counts towards it.

Valoración. An estimate of what a home will sell for. Selling on the Costa del Sol looks at what buyers here pay more for.

Cancelación de hipoteca. Paying off a mortgage and having it removed from the Land Registry, so the home can be sold free of charges.

If you are selling, how I work for sellers is set out on its own page.

How I handle it

I go through each document of a purchase with you in plain English as it arrives: the reservation form, the private contract, the nota simple and the deed. Every Spanish word on them has a meaning before you sign. Where a term carries a number, such as a tax rate, a deposit or a deadline, I give you the figure for your own purchase rather than the general rule.

Book a call and we can go through any document you have already been sent. Buying with me sets out how I work.

Common questions