What does buying property in Spain actually cost beyond the purchase price? We paid €55,488 in taxes and costs on our own purchase in Baix Empordà — here's what surprised us.
When we bought our apartment in Baix Empordà in September 2025, we paid €55,488 in taxes and costs on top of the purchase price. That number was processed by the bank’s gestoría — the administrative agency that handles tax payments when a mortgage is involved. We knew the bill was coming. We didn’t know exactly what was behind it.
That gap between knowing costs exist and understanding what they actually are — and why — is what this article is about.
In the Netherlands, the phrase kosten koper refers to a relatively predictable set of costs: transfer tax, notary fees, a land registry fee. In Spain, the equivalent is less standardised. Costs vary by region, by whether a mortgage is involved, by whether the seller is a company or a private individual, and — since June 2025 — by a revised transfer tax structure in Catalonia that changes what you pay depending on the purchase price.
The total is typically quoted as a percentage of the purchase price. Most buyers in Catalonia are told to budget between 10% and 13%. That range is real. What’s inside it is less often explained.
If you are buying a resale property — which most international buyers in Catalonia are — you pay ITP (Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales) rather than VAT. ITP is a regional tax, which means the rate is set by the autonomous community, not the national government.
In Catalonia, the ITP structure changed significantly on 27 June 2025 following Decreto Ley 5/2025. The new system is progressive: the rate increases as the purchase price increases. This is a meaningful departure from the flat rate that applied before.
Our purchase fell after that date, so the new tariff applied. The ITP formed the largest single component of our costs by a significant margin — noticeably larger than everything else combined. The progressive structure means the effective rate depends directly on where your purchase price sits in the tariff bands; there is no single percentage that applies to all buyers.
One thing that caught us off-guard: the question of whether ITP or VAT applies is not always obvious in advance. When the seller is a company, the default assumption is often VAT. Whether ITP is actually the right treatment depends on the transfer history of the property and whether it has been rented out. In our case, this was a fourth transfer and the property had been under a long-term lease, which pointed clearly to ITP. Our lawyer confirmed this, and the bank’s gestoría agreed. But that conclusion required several weeks of back-and-forth between the lawyer, the notary, and the bank. It was not automatic.
→ We cover the Catalan ITP structure in detail in our ITP article.
The notary in Spain plays a different role than in the Netherlands. The fees for the purchase deed (escritura de compraventa) are set by national fee schedules — the amounts are regulated, not negotiated. You choose the notary yourself, which is your right under Spanish law.
Note that when a mortgage is involved, there are two separate notary processes: one for the purchase deed and one for the mortgage deed. The bank pays the notary costs for the mortgage deed. You pay for the purchase deed. This is fixed by law since the 2019 mortgage legislation (Ley 5/2019).
→ What you actually sign at the notary is explained in our escritura article.
After the notary signs the purchase deed, the ownership change must be registered at the Registro de la Propiedad. The fee is calculated according to a national fee schedule. It is processed by the gestoría as part of the overall closing.
A gestoría is a Spanish administrative agency that handles paperwork — tax filings, registrations, coordination between the notary, the land registry, and the tax authority. When a mortgage is involved, the bank’s gestoría processes the costs and handles the ITP filing on your behalf. This is standard practice: the bank controls who files the tax return on the mortgage.
The gestoría fee itself is a small component of the total. What matters more is understanding that the gestoría acts for the bank, not for you. Their job is to ensure the bank’s mortgage is correctly registered, not to give you a detailed cost breakdown. In our case, the total amount processed by the gestoría — covering ITP, notary fees for the purchase deed, and land registry — came to €55,488. We received this as a single figure from our bank contact, not as an itemised statement.
That is not unusual. Many buyers only see the total. If you want the breakdown, you need to ask specifically, and you may need to wait until the process is complete.
Spanish law does not require a lawyer when buying property. We chose to use one during our own purchase. A lawyer reviews the title, checks for debts and encumbrances, coordinates with the seller’s representative, and advises on the preliminary contract through to the final deed. Our legal fees came to €3,200 — on the higher end for this type of transaction, because the seller was a company, which added complexity around tax treatment and corporate documentation.
There was also an unexpected requirement from the bank’s gestoría: a certificat de no gran tenedor — a certificate specific to Catalan housing law confirming the seller does not qualify as a large-scale property owner under Catalan regulations. Our lawyer navigated this, but it added several weeks to the timeline.
1. Two separate deeds for one purchase. The bank required the apartment and the parking space to be transferred under separate deeds, each with its own purchase price stated explicitly. This was a bank requirement related to the mortgage approval, not a legal requirement per se. It was not something we had anticipated from the preliminary contract, and it required coordination with the seller. The notary handled it on the day, but it added a layer of complexity.
2. The cédula de habitabilitat as a hard blocker. The cédula de habitabilidad is the certificate that confirms a property meets minimum habitability standards. In Catalonia, our bank required this document to be in place before the notary appointment could proceed — not just requested, but confirmed available. The property’s certificate was in the process of renewal. This delayed our signing by approximately six weeks compared to the original planned date.
3. The new progressive ITP structure arrived between our preliminary contract and our closing. We signed our preliminary contract (arras) in late May 2025. The new progressive ITP tariff came into force on 27 June 2025. We closed in early September 2025. This means we bought under one cost assumption and closed under a different tax structure. The difference was not negligible. If you are currently in a preliminary contract phase, check the current ITP rates — do not rely on figures quoted before June 2025.
The total we paid covered ITP, notary fees for the purchase deed, land registry costs, and gestoría fees. These were processed collectively by the bank’s administrative agency. We know the total with certainty. The exact split between components we do not, because that is not how the information was provided to us.
This is itself informative. The Spanish closing process involves multiple parties — the notary, the land registry, the tax authority, the bank, the gestoría — and costs flow between them in ways that are not always visible to the buyer in real time. Budgeting for the total is the practical approach. Expecting an itemised statement at closing is optimistic.
Additional costs outside that total: legal fees (€3,200) and the property valuation (€450). These we paid separately and directly.
These are structural differences in how costs are organised, not a like-for-like comparison of amounts.
| Netherlands | Spain | |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer tax | National, fixed rate (overdrachtsbelasting) | Regional, varies by autonomous community; progressive in Catalonia since June 2025 |
| Cost overview | Typically one consolidated statement | Costs flow through multiple parties; itemised breakdown requires specific request |
| Regional variation | Limited | Significant — ITP rate, habitability requirements, and local documentation vary by region |
| Process predictability | Relatively standardised | More dependent on local documentation, seller status, and transfer history of the property |
The timeline, not just the total. Several of the costs we paid were directly tied to documents that took weeks to obtain. The cédula, the certificat de no gran tenedor, and a required extension of the binding mortgage offer each created dependencies that pushed the closing date. Budget time as carefully as money.
Regional rules change. The ITP reform in Catalonia in June 2025 is a recent example. Housing law in Spain is an area of active legislative activity, particularly at the autonomous community level. Figures quoted more than a year ago may not reflect current reality.
The gestoría is the bank’s agent. When a mortgage is involved, the gestoría that processes your tax payments works for the bank. They ensure the mortgage is correctly executed and registered. They are not your cost adviser. If you want an independent check on the process, your lawyer is the right person to ask.
Closing costs when buying property in Spain typically add 10–13% to the purchase price, depending on region, transfer history of the property, and current tax rates. In Catalonia, the ITP structure changed in June 2025 and is now progressive. When a mortgage is involved, a gestoría handles the tax filings — but the total, not the breakdown, is what most buyers see.
The purchase itself was not complicated. Everything around it was.
→ Cost of buying property in Spain: what money you need, and when
→ Read our complete Buying Guide for the full purchase process from offer to keys.
→ The agent’s commission is already baked into the asking price. Who works for whom in that line-up is explained in Estate agent, lawyer or independent guidance.
Casa Connecta provides no mortgage advice and plays no role in the mortgage process. Mortgage advice is provided by ACI-certified advisers under Spanish law (Ley 5/2019).
Questions about your buying process? Email us at info@casaconnecta.com. We reply within one working day, in your language.
