This is a website for buyers, owners, and sellers of property in Spain, offering reliable information and resources to help you get things done with confidence. It is run by Mark Stücklin, author of the Spanish Property Doctor Column in The Sunday Times (2005-2008), and the book ‘Need to Know: Buying Property in Spain’ published by Collins.
The government has announced a 5% reduction in notary and registry fees on property deeds as part of a package of measures to reduce the deficit and stimulate the economy.
Notaries and Registrars are screaming blue murder at this attack on their earnings, whilst house buyers will hardly notice the difference the savings are so small.
How big a saving will that 5% reduction in notary and registry fees give the average home buyer in Spain? Between €35 for a property costing €150,000, and €45 for a home costing €300,000, according to calculations done by Idealista.es, a Spanish property portal. Almost insignificant, then.
Notaries and registrars are furious. The latter’s’ fees are already down by 50% thanks to the slump in property transactions.
chris mccarthy says:
I can’t see a single person involved or interested in any aspect of Spanish Property having the slightest iota of sympathy for a Notary it is a tiny saving yes, but the Notaries, well they are they fall even way below agents and lawyers in terms of empathy for their cause or even existence!
adiep says:
Just wanted to test the comments… But wonder what the motivation was to reduce these notary costs, sort of flies in the face of normal spanish attitudes.
Carole says:
They need to reduce the cost of transfer tax and then they might start selling some houses.
At the moment transfer tax is 6% to 7% of the declared purchase value and until recently it was common practice in Spain to declare a low value for the property in order to minimise the transfer tax.
The total cost of buying a property in Spain is about 10-15% of the purchase price which is amazingly high compared to the UK, Cyprus and many other countries.
adiep says:
transfer tax going up to 8%
Mark says:
Taxes going up whilst values and incomes fall. That means the government is taking an increasing share of a decreasing pie.