Congratulations! If you have started reading this article, you are probably in the middle of the process of buying a property and registering it in your name. It can be difficult to discover what costs are involved when buying and registering a house or apartment. And we are mainly talking about the costs of the deed with the Registro de la Propiedad here in Spain when transferring the property to the new owner.
When you buy an apartment in Barcelona, you always need a notary to legally complete the process of registering it in your name. Keep reading this article by ShBarcelona if you want to know how much it costs to buy and register a property.
Table of Contents
Why do you need the title deed?
The title deed is a legal document that completes the process of a property sale and purchase. In the text of this document you will find all the relevant information on the property, like its location, the total surface area, if there still is a mortgage on the property, and what its value is.
As you will understand, this document is of the utmost importance when you buy a property. Both the buyer and seller must agree on the contents of the deed, and the notary plays a role in officially rounding off the process of the property transfer.
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The title of the deed, in short, makes the change of ownership of the property legal. So this document is the property buyer’s guarantee that it is his (or hers), and that the transfer is definite and cannot be undone.
On the other hand, if you already have the title deed of the property and people are showing interest in it, the selling process can be quicker, because the necessary information is readily available. By requesting a Nota Simple, interesting parties can obtain details on who owns the property and, for example, what costs still have to be paid.
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Costs of registering your new home
If you ar buying a house in Barcelona right now, then you already know how much money you should have saved to pay for mortgage fees and other costs that come with buying a property.
| 📌 When buying and registering a property, you should have at least an extra 10 to 12% of the total price of the property in your savings account. |
Knowing this percentage, it is important to be aware of the fact that there are three different types of value of a property:
- The real value – this is what the property is worth in today’s market
- The cadastral value – as established by the Spanish Dirección General del Catastro (Hacienda)
- The registered value – which is usually lower than the real value, and which means you pay less taxes
There are three property valuation possibilities: the real value, the cadastral valua and the registered value
Once we have come up with the right type of valuation, it is possible to calculate the costs of buying and registering the property.
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You need to make sure that you have enough savings to pay for the property transfer costs. These costs consist of:
✅ Notary fees
✅ Land registry fees
✅ Property transfer taxes (VAT, ITP, AIJD)
Just to be clear, we will have a look at every of the three costs involved when changing ownership with a property. If you still have questions, the three expenses in the next paragraphs are paid for by the buyer of the property.
1) How much are notary fees when registering a property?
As we already said before, in order to obey the law the title deed must be signed by a notary. He is in charge of validating the legal document, and as a result you can never go around a notary when buying and registering a house. If you want to transfer a property, you need the notary.
So now the question is: How much does the notary and the title deed cost? What you should know first, is that notary fees are fixed by the Government. This way everyone has equal access to the public services of a notary.
Notary fees for the deeds are normally between 600 and 1200 euros, and the final prices depends on the price of the property. The invoice you receive from the notary is called a “minuta”, but it is, more formally, also known as an “arancel”.
It is good to know, however, that notaries are allowed to give up to a 10% discount on their services. They must apply a VAT of 21% though.
| 📌 There is one cost that has not yet been mentioned, and that is the price you pay for the number of pages. For every page (except for the first four) that needs to be signed by the notary you will 3,02 euro extra. |
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2) How much does Land Registry cost?
Unfortunately for property buyers, this is not where the expenses for buying and registering a property end. Next on this list is Land Registry.
You will pay between 400 and 650 euros for their services, and if there is a third party involved (notary or agent), then you will pay extra for that.
3) What taxes should be taken into account when registering a property?
Let’s start with VAT. On newly built properties there is a VAT percentage of 10% on the registered price of the property. If it concerns public housing, then this tax is only 4%.
If you are buying an existing property and not a newly built one, however, you will need to pay ITP (Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales), and in Catalonia this comes down to 10% of the total value of the property.
Last but not least, every new owner must pay stamp duty (Impuesto de actos jurídicos documentados or IAJD), and in Barcelona this is 1%.
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Case study on the costs of property registration
Let’s look at a case study to get a clear picture of the costs of registration.
We will use the following details: it concerns the purchase of an existing apartment in Barcelona’s Eixample district, and the registered price is 250,000 euros.
| Item | Percentage | Price |
| Notary | – | 850 euros |
| Land registry | – | 650 euros |
| ITP | 10% | 25.000 euros |
| IAJD | 1% | 2500 euros |
| Total | 29.000 euros |
As this example shows, you will need to have saved an amount of 29,000 euros to pay for the costs of buying and registering a property. This comes down to 11,6% of the total value of the property.
This percentage is in accordance with current legislation, although prices may slightly differ depending on the notary’s fees. Prices also depend on the number of pages, the number of copies needed, and the size of the property.
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As you have been able to see in this article, when you are in the process of buying an apartment, it is safe to say that you need at least 12% on top of the agreed property price to pay for the costs of buying and registering the property.
Related article: What You Should Know About The Cédula de Habitabilidad in Barcelona
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