Costs to consider

There are a number of additional Spanish Mortgage costs involved, including taxes and stamp duty. These vary according to the type of property and region.

Once you know what you're buying and where, we could help you budget more accurately for these. In our experience, as a rule of thumb you should allow for an extra 10% on top of the purchase price. Here are a few of the costs you'll need to allow for:

• New properties: VAT* (Impuesto sobre el Valor Anadido/IVA) of 7% plus the stamp duty of 0.5% of the declared price
• Second hand properties: Transfer tax (Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales or ITP) - usually 6% or 7% plus tax on 'documented legal acts' (Impuesto sobre Actos Juridicos) of 0.5% - a fee charged for transferring the property to your name
• Notary fees - these are fixed by law and based on a sliding scale but vary according to the size of the plot and dwelling, and the purchase price
• Property register fee - fixed by law and based on a sliding scale
• Administrative agency fees
• Valuer's fee, if you decide to use a property surveyor. If you finance your purchase with a mortgage, your lender will insist on an independent valuation
• Local tax on property sales - 'plusvalía municipal' - according to law, this is paid by the seller although you must ensure that this is checked by your lawyer. It is possible for the tax to be charged directly to the property itself, so if this goes unpaid by the seller you may be left to foot the bill.

* IGIC in Canary Islands is generally chargeable at 4.5%. VAT of 16% on building land bought without immediate plans to construct anything on it.