Buying property from abroad: how power of attorney works in Spain

Your journey to a home on the Costa Blanca without leaving your country

The prospect of buying a property in a region that enjoys over 300 days of sunshine a year is an exciting dream for many international buyers. Torrevieja is particularly appealing for its cosmopolitan atmosphere, with more than half of its residents coming from over 100 different nationalities. However, balancing a property search with professional commitments in your home country can often feel overwhelming.

To make this process as smooth as possible, there is a highly practical and legally secure solution: a power of attorney. This legal instrument allows you to purchase a home in Spain without travelling, delegating the necessary steps to a trusted professional on the ground. At Embassy My Home, with over 25 years of experience on the Costa Blanca, we guide our clients through every step of the journey to ensure a seamless and transparent experience.

What is a power of attorney and how does it work

A power of attorney is a formal legal document through which you authorise another person to act on your behalf in legal and administrative matters. In the real estate sector, this instrument enables your representative to sign contracts, handle tax payments, and attend the notary office to finalise the title deeds without you needing to travel to Spain.

To guarantee the highest level of legal security, our agency does not act as your direct legal representative. Instead, we guide our clients and connect them with our trusted collaborating law firms. This ensures that independent, specialised lawyers draft the document with precise clauses, strictly limited to the purchase of your chosen property.

A step-by-step guide to buying from abroad

The first step is drafting the power of attorney document. For it to be legally valid, it must be signed in the presence of a notary. If you are outside Spain, you can visit a Spanish consulate in your home country or sign it before a local notary. In the latter case, the document must be legalised with the Hague Apostille and accompanied by a sworn translation into Spanish.

The second step is obtaining your foreigner identification number, known as the NIE, which is a mandatory requirement for acquiring any property in the country. Once the power of attorney is granted, your legal representative can apply for this document on your behalf using the EX-15 form and paying the corresponding fee for model 790, which costs around 10 euros.

The third step involves reserving and formalising the purchase. Once you have chosen your property with the help of our multilingual team, your representative can sign the reservation contract. The standard deposit for this step usually ranges between 3,000 and 6,000 euros. Following this, the deposit contract is signed, which typically requires a payment of 10% of the property price.

Associated costs and signing the title deeds

On the day the public title deeds are signed, your representative will attend the notary in Spain to sign the document on your behalf and collect the keys to your new home.

In addition to transferring the agreed purchase price, your representative will manage the payment of the relevant taxes and fees. It is important to plan ahead for these buying costs, which generally add around 10-13% to the purchase price of the property. This percentage covers Transfer Tax for resale properties or VAT for new builds, alongside notary fees and Land Registry costs.

Enjoying Torrevieja with complete peace of mind

Thanks to this legal procedure, your purchase can move forward smoothly without interrupting your daily schedule. Torrevieja offers not only an exceptional Mediterranean climate, with winters where the temperature rarely drops below 15 °C and summers where it rarely exceeds 35 °C, but also excellent infrastructure to ensure you can enjoy your new home from day one.

If you would like to explore the property market on the Costa Blanca, clarify any questions about buying from abroad, or need assistance comparing financing options through our collaborating partners, we are here to help.

Please feel free to write to us directly on WhatsApp, and our multilingual team will get in touch to plan the next steps of your property journey.