Property law · Malaga city
Buying a resale flat or a new build, selling from abroad, letting or inheriting in the city of Malaga. We go through the paperwork before you pay a cent, and we talk to you in English by phone, WhatsApp or video call.
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Homes in Malaga sell quickly, and many buyers have rental income in mind. Since August 2025 the city council has stopped new holiday lets being registered anywhere in the municipality, so a flat priced on what tourists would pay may never be allowed to earn it. Find out what the property can legally be used for before you sign a deposit contract. Call us on +34 711 29 14 66 and we will check it for you.
Written and reviewed by the firm’s property team.
Updated on 4 October 2026.
We run the purchase from reservation to registration in your name: the Land Registry extract (nota simple), charges, planning status, the deposit contract, the deed before the notary and the taxes. If you cannot be in Spain on completion day, you give us a power of attorney and we sign for you.
The council first required tourist flats to have an entrance and services separate from the rest of the block, then closed new registrations in 43 neighbourhoods from January 2025. Since 23 August 2025 new ones have been suspended across the whole city, for up to three years or until the revised General Plan is approved. Separately, since April 2025 a new holiday let in a block needs the express approval of the owners’ association, by three fifths of the owners holding three fifths of the shares.
Any money you pay the developer before handover must sit in a special account and be covered by an insurance policy or a bank guarantee for the amount paid, taxes included, plus statutory interest. This comes from the first additional provision of the Spanish Building Act (Law 38/1999). We want to see your guarantee before the first transfer leaves your account.
Plenty of buyers move to Malaga with a job they do from a laptop. Owning a home here gives you no right to live in Spain: the investor residence route was abolished on 3 April 2025, and residence has its own application. For the purchase itself you need an NIE. It also pays to know early whether your time here will make you tax resident, because that changes what you pay every year.
What we handle
Charges, unpaid community fees and IBI, deposit and deed.
Payment guarantees, the developer’s contract and handover.
Whether a registered flat can carry on and what the building allows.
Tenancy agreements, deposits and who pays which costs.
The 3% withholding, plusvalía and form 210.
Accepting the estate, the tax and selling or sharing the flat.
Worth knowing
Andalusia charges transfer tax (ITP) on resale homes at a general rate of 7%. It is worked out on the price in the deed, or on the cadastral reference value if that is higher. Some buyers of a main home qualify for lower rates.
Buying from the developer, you pay VAT at 10%, which also covers up to two parking spaces and a storage room sold with the home. On top comes stamp duty (AJD), charged at a general rate of 1.2% in Andalusia.
In Andalusia a newly finished building can usually be occupied once the developer files a sworn statement under the regional planning law (Law 7/2021, known as LISTA). Before completion we check it has been filed, that what was built matches what you bought, and that the energy certificate exists.
Your buyer keeps back 3% of the price and pays it to the Spanish tax office on form 211, as an advance on your non-resident tax. If your real gain works out lower, you claim the difference back on form 210. The buyer also pays the municipal capital gains tax (plusvalía) on your behalf, so it is normally deducted on the day.
Inheritance tax must be filed within six months of the death, and you can ask for more time if you do so early enough. In Andalusia, children, spouses and parents get 99% relief on the tax bill. A foreign national may have chosen in their will to have their own national law govern the estate, as EU Regulation 650/2012 allows.
A tenant who makes the flat their home can stay up to five years, or seven if the landlord is a company, whatever shorter term the contract states. The deposit is one month’s rent and extra security cannot exceed two months. Since the 2023 Housing Act, agency fees and the cost of drawing up the contract fall on the landlord.
From 25 July 2026, while the General Plan is being revised and for three years at most, Malaga will not let ground-floor premises on its main streets or facing a square become homes, and sets stricter light and depth rules everywhere else. If someone offers you a unit that is “ready to convert”, have it checked first.
The notary identifies both parties and records in the deed how the price is paid. Spain’s anti-money laundering law (Law 10/2010) also requires notaries to look at the source of funds, and they may ask you to prove it. If the money is coming from outside Spain, have the bank statements and supporting papers ready before a signing date is set.
How we work
Send us the listing or the cadastral reference. We tell you what needs checking and send a written quote.
Registry, charges, planning and community debts; for off-plan, the building licence and your guarantees as well.
We draft or review the arras so you know when you can pull out and what it would cost you.
We agree the deed with the notary and, if you are abroad, sign under your power of attorney.
We pay the taxes, register the purchase and move utilities and IBI into your name.
FAQ
Not as a new holiday let at the moment. New registrations have been suspended across the city since 23 August 2025, for up to three years or until the revised General Plan is approved. If the flat is already registered, we check that registration and anything the owners’ association has decided.
Since 3 April 2025 a new holiday let in a block needs the express approval of the owners’ meeting, by three fifths of the owners holding three fifths of the shares. The same majority can restrict the activity, though not with retroactive effect.
If building never starts or the home is not handed over on time, you formally ask the developer for your money back. After thirty days without a refund, you claim from the insurer or bank behind your guarantee: what you paid plus statutory interest.
On a resale home, 7% transfer tax as a general rate. On a new build, 10% VAT plus 1.2% stamp duty. Add notary and Land Registry fees and, with a mortgage, the valuation. You get the full figure from us before the deposit contract.
Yes. You sign a power of attorney before a notary at home, have it apostilled or legalised and translated if it is not in Spanish, and we complete the purchase with it.
No. The investor visa was abolished on 3 April 2025. If you plan to live here, residence goes through its own application, separate from the purchase.
Spanish law makes the buyer pay 3% of the price to the tax office as an advance on your tax. If you owe less on the actual gain, you reclaim the difference on form 210.
That turns on the price, whether it is a new build and how much there is to check. We send you a quote in writing before any work begins.
Client reviews
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