Real estate · Madrid
Buying, selling, letting or inheriting a flat in Madrid, handled in English, including when you live in the United States or Latin America.
Talk to a lawyer today
Plenty of people who buy, sell or inherit a flat in Madrid live in Miami, Mexico City or Bogotá, and none of it needs a flight. We act on your behalf through a power of attorney from our office on the Castellana and report back in English. Phone +34 711 29 14 66 or message us on WhatsApp.
Written and reviewed by the firm’s real estate team.
Updated on 4 October 2026.
Before any deposit leaves your account we obtain the land registry extract (nota simple), the community of owners’ certificate of debts and the latest IBI council tax receipt, and we compare the registered flat with its Catastro record. With that in hand we negotiate the deposit contract, known as arras.
You will need a foreigner’s tax number (NIE) and, realistically, a Spanish bank account. Instead of flying over, you can give us power of attorney: sign it with a local notary and have it apostilled, or sign it at the Spanish consulate, and we then sign the purchase deed in your name. The bank and the notary will want to know where the money comes from, so start gathering statements early.
Landlords now have to cover the letting agent’s fee and the cost of preparing the contract. So far the Madrid region has not declared any stressed rental market area, which means the rent caps attached to those areas do not apply here. We check again with every lease in case that changes.
In Madrid, a 99% reduction of the inheritance tax bill applies to children, spouses and parents. For brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, uncles and aunts it is 50% when the death was on or after 1 July 2025. The return is due within six months of the death.
What we handle
Land registry, Catastro, IBI and community fees checked before you hand over a deposit.
NIE, apostilled power of attorney, Spanish account and proof of funds.
What the buyer withholds for the tax agency, your form 210 and recovering any excess.
The developer’s contract, the guarantee on stage payments and first-occupation paperwork.
Residential and commercial leases, deposits, renewals and who pays what under the 2023 Act.
Accepting the estate before a notary, Madrid inheritance tax relief and splitting it between heirs.
Challenging resolutions, unpaid service charges and holiday lets in the building.
Getting an occupied flat back through the civil courts and evicting tenants who stop paying.
Taxes
On a resale flat the buyer pays transfer tax (ITP), set at 6% in the Madrid region. The taxable value is the higher of the price you pay and the reference value published by the Catastro, and the return is filed on form 600 inside 30 working days from the date of the deed.
If the flat will be your main home and is worth 250,000 euros or less, including as many as two garage spaces and one storeroom, the tax bill is cut by 10%, leaving an effective rate of 5.4%. Large families buying their main home may qualify for 4%, but the two reductions cannot be combined.
A new home carries 10% VAT instead of transfer tax, plus stamp duty (AJD), which in Madrid is generally 0.75%.
The plusvalía is the seller’s tax, payable inside 30 working days after the sale. Where whoever sells is a private person resident abroad, the buyer answers to the town hall as a substitute taxpayer and keeps that sum out of the purchase money. No increase in the land value means no tax, though the sale must still be reported.
Whoever buys from you withholds 3% and hands it to the tax agency, using form 211, no later than one month after completion. Your own return for the gain goes on form 210 at a 19% rate, and any overpayment comes back to you as a refund.
Even with the flat empty, non-residents declare a deemed income each year of 1.1% or 2% of the cadastral value, depending on when values were last reviewed in that town. Residents of an EU state, or of Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein, are taxed at 19%; everyone else, US and Latin American residents included, at 24%.
First steps
Send the details on WhatsApp or by phone and we will point out what needs doing first.
Squatters have moved into my flat
If you own the flat as an individual, you can ask the court for immediate possession under article 250.1.4 of the Civil Procedure Act. The occupiers get five days to show any right to be there; without one, the judge orders them out and that order cannot be appealed. No prior attempt at settlement is required.
My tenant has stopped paying
Before you sue you must have tried to reach a deal and be able to prove it, for example with a formal letter proposing a way out. The claim also has to state whether you are a large-scale landlord and, if not, include a land registry certificate listing what you own.
My siblings and I inherited a flat and cannot agree
No heir has to stay a co-owner. If you cannot agree on selling or on one of you buying the others out, any of you can ask the court to divide it, which for a flat usually means a sale.
The community voted for something that hurts me
You have three months from the meeting, or a year if the resolution breaks the law or the building’s rules. You need to be up to date with your fees, or pay what you owe into court, before you can challenge it.
I want to let my flat to tourists
Since April 2025 a holiday let needs the express approval of the community: a yes vote from at least three in five owners, together holding three fifths of the participation quotas. Regional and city rules come on top, and we check them for your street.
The seller owes service charges
The flat answers for unpaid fees for the year you buy in and the previous three calendar years, even if the previous owner ran them up. We ask the community secretary for the debt certificate, due within seven days, and anything outstanding is cleared from the price.
My landlord is keeping my deposit
For a home, the legal deposit equals a single month of rent. Once a month has passed since you returned the keys, the amount starts earning statutory interest, which you can claim along with it.
How we work
Registry extract, Catastro record, community certificate, IBI and, if the flat is let, the tenant’s lease.
We agree the deposit and what happens if either side pulls out. With penitential arras, pulling out costs the buyer the deposit, and costs the seller twice its amount.
NIE, bank account, power of attorney if you are not coming, and evidence of where the funds come from.
We go through the draft deed, the energy certificate and the payment method, which the notary records in the deed.
We file transfer tax on form 600, register the deed and send you the registry extract in your name.
FAQ
For a resale flat, 6% transfer tax, with 10% off the bill if it becomes your main home and costs no more than 250,000 euros. For a brand-new one, VAT at 10% and stamp duty, usually 0.75%. Add the notary, the land registry and, with a mortgage, the bank valuation.
No. Grant us a power of attorney in your own country, apostilled, or at the nearest Spanish consulate, and we attend the notary for you. The NIE comes first, and we can request it with that same document.
Not any more. The property investor visa disappeared in April 2025, when Organic Law 1/2025 came into force. There are other routes to living in Spain, and our immigration lawyers can look at which one suits you.
Yes. Each year you declare a deemed income of 1.1% or 2% of the cadastral value on form 210, taxed at 24% because you live outside the EU and EEA.
Not at present. The Madrid region has not declared any stressed rental market area, so the caps tied to those areas do not apply. The rest of the 2023 Housing Act does, including the rule that the landlord pays the agency.
If it has just happened, report it straight away: since April 2025 squatting and breaking into a home can go through the fast-track criminal procedure. In the civil courts, an individual owner can ask for immediate possession, and the occupiers then have five days to produce any right to stay.
You pay Spanish inheritance tax. Where the person who died lived in Madrid, or lived outside Spain and left mainly Madrid assets here, the Madrid relief applies: 99% for children, spouses and parents. File within six months of the death.
As a rule, the law of the country where the deceased was habitually resident, unless the will picked the law of the country of nationality instead. That comes from the EU Succession Regulation, which Spanish courts also apply to people from outside the EU.
It is a payment on account of your tax, made by the buyer on form 211 within the month. You then file form 210, where the gain is taxed at 19%, and the tax agency refunds whatever was paid in excess.
Yes. Our office is on the second floor of Castellana 93. Ring us to set a day for a meeting there; this page only books video calls.
It varies with the job: checking a purchase is not the same work as an eviction or an estate split between several heirs. You receive a written quote before anything starts.
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