How do you check a Spanish property without travelling to Spain?

What does due diligence mean when you buy in Spain from abroad?

Due diligence means checking who owns the property, what charges it carries, what state the building is in and what risks the location has, before you pay the arras deposit. Under article 1454 of the Spanish Civil Code, a buyer who then walks away loses that deposit. From abroad, most of it can be done online.

What changes when you live outside Spain is not the list of checks but who does each one. Some you can do yourself from a laptop, some need a representative with a power of attorney, and some need a person standing in the building. This article sorts them into those three groups. The purchase itself, step by step (NIE, bank account, taxes, notary), is explained in our guide to buying property in Spain; the list to tick off before the arras is in the arras checklist.

Which checks can you do online, without travelling?

Three checks need nothing but an internet connection: the Catastro record, the nota simple from the Land Registry and the official risk maps. The nota simple costs €9.02 per property, tax not included, and the registrars add an English translation for €30, also plus tax. Both arrive by e-mail.

The Catastro (Spain's property register for tax purposes) lets anyone look up the location, cadastral reference, area, use and construction quality of a property without identifying themselves; only the owner's name and the cadastral value are protected. Compare the area with the listing and ask about any large gap. The nota simple tells you who the registered owner is and which mortgages, seizures or other charges are recorded: order it yourself instead of relying on the copy the agent sends, because charges can change between one week and the next.

Location risks are also public: flood zones in the national flood map viewer (SNCZI), noise maps, the radon map and seismic hazard. Reading them in Spanish is the hard part; our guide to Spain's flood map explains the terms you will meet.

What needs a representative in Spain?

Anything that needs a signature when you cannot travel: the arras contract, the deed at the notary, sometimes opening the bank account. You can grant a power of attorney (poder) before a Spanish notary, at a Spanish consulate in your country or before a local notary. In that last case it needs an apostille or legalisation.

The apostille comes from the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961: it replaces the chain of legalisations for public documents between countries that signed it, which the Spanish notaries describe as practically all. For countries outside the convention, the Spanish Foreign Ministry explains the diplomatic legalisation route. Ask the Spanish notary who will sign the deed, before you grant the power, whether they will also need a sworn translation.

Keep the power narrow: one property, one maximum price, the conditions you have agreed. Give it to a lawyer who works for you, not to the seller's agent. Your NIE, the foreigner's tax number, can also be requested from abroad through a Spanish consulate on form EX-15, with fee 790 code 012; the police must decide within five days of receiving the application.

What can you not check from a screen?

The real condition of the building and the flat: damp, cracks, rusty joists, the roof, the lift, the drainpipes. Records describe what has been declared, not what is inside a ceiling. For that you need three documents from the owners' association and, if anything looks wrong, a building surveyor on site.

The three documents are the latest building inspection (ITE or IEE in Spanish), the minutes of the owners' meetings of the last few years and the certificate of debts with the owners' association (comunidad de propietarios). The minutes show approved works and special levies (derramas); the inspection shows defects and deadlines. The seller or the property manager (administrador de fincas) provides them, and a local lawyer can collect them for you.

If you cannot view the flat in person, ask for a live video call rather than a recorded tour, and ask the person filming to show the ceilings of the bathroom and kitchen, the stairwell, the roof terrace, the façade from the street and the garage. Anything that worries you on the call is a reason to send an architect or building surveyor (arquitecto técnico) before the arras, not after.

Which Spanish words will you meet along the way?

The documents of a Spanish purchase use a handful of words again and again: «nota simple» (Land Registry extract), «escritura» (the deed signed before the notary), «poder» (power of attorney), «arras» (the deposit contract), «comunidad de propietarios» (owners' association), «administrador de fincas» (property manager) and «derrama» (special levy). Knowing them makes every e-mail with your lawyer shorter.

Others you will see in the building's papers: «acta» (minutes of an owners' meeting), «certificado de deudas» (certificate of community debts), «cargas» (charges on the property, such as a mortgage or seizure), «referencia catastral» (cadastral reference) and «gestor» or «gestoría» (the agent who handles tax paperwork). When a document arrives only in Spanish, ask your lawyer to summarise these points in your language before you sign anything.

What does HOUSINGFAX check for you, in your language?

HOUSINGFAX gathers the public-record part of this work in one report with 22 checks on official Spanish sources: Catastro record, year of construction, aluminosis, the registered building inspection where the regional register is integrated (Valencian Community, Basque Country, Madrid), flood zones, ground movement, radon, seismic hazard, noise and a reference price.

It works in English, Spanish, German, Dutch and French, and every figure names its Spanish source and date, so you can forward it to your lawyer or notary; it also gives indicative buying costs, which your gestor (an administrative agent who handles tax paperwork) will then confirm. Start with the free report, which shows each check with your building's real data; the Essential report costs €11 and the Complete report, with the recorded building condition, €19. It arrives as a PDF within minutes, with a one-off payment and no account. It does not order the nota simple or read the minutes: those stay on your list.

A due-diligence checklist for remote buyers

Online, by yourself: 1. Catastro record (area, use, year). 2. Nota simple, in English if you need it. 3. Flood, radon, noise and seismic maps, or a report that gathers them. 4. A reference price for the area. Through a representative: 5. NIE, from a consulate if needed. 6. Power of attorney, narrow and in the right form. 7. Independent lawyer reading the arras contract in your language and in Spanish.

On site or from the owners' association: 8. Building inspection and its defects. 9. Minutes, approved works and special levies. 10. Certificate of community debts. 11. A live video viewing and, if anything looks wrong, a building surveyor. At the end: 12. Arras signed only when points 1 to 11 have an answer, because the deposit is what you lose if you pull out.

What are the limits of buying without seeing the property?

Remote due diligence narrows the uncertainty; it does not remove it. Public records can be out of date, a nota simple has informative value only, and a video call shows what the camera points at. A report built on records does not replace an on-site technical inspection of the building or legal advice on the contract.

When a point has no answer, write it down as no data rather than assuming it is fine. An unanswered question before the arras is a good reason to wait, or to add a written condition to the contract that lets you withdraw without losing the deposit if the answer turns out badly.