How much do the notary and the Land Registry cost when buying a flat?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

Both charge according to an official scale of fees (“arancel”), the same throughout Spain, which depends mainly on the price of the flat. For a flat costing 300.000 euros, the scale fee for the deed of sale is about 470 euros and the fee for registering it at the “Registro de la Propiedad” (the Land Registry) about 250 euros, VAT included. The final bill is higher, because the pages of the deed from the fifth sheet onwards, the copies and other items are added. In Catalonia, unless otherwise agreed, both costs are paid by the buyer. How it is calculated The notaries' and the land registrars' fee scales are tables approved by the Spanish Government. They set an amount for the first 6.010 euros of the price and a percentage for each subsequent band, which falls as the price rises. A 5 % reduction is applied to the result and 21 % VAT is added. Using those tables, the deed and the registration cost the following, including VAT and excluding additional pages and copies: For a flat costing 200.000 euros, 412,02 euros for the notary and 214,05 for the Land Registry. For a flat costing 300.000 euros, 469,50 euros for the notary and 248,54 for the Land Registry. For a flat costing 400.000 euros, 526,97 euros for the notary and 283,02 for the Land Registry. What is added to the bill The bill you receive will be higher than those figures, because other items are added: The pages of the deed. From the fifth sheet onwards, the notary charges about 3 euros for each written side. The copies. The certified copy (“copia autorizada”), the one with official value, costs about 3 euros per sheet. Plain copies cost about 60 cents per sheet. The Land Registry search carried out by the notary's office before the signing and the electronic submission of the deed to the Land Registry. VAT on all of the above. If you instruct an agency (“gestoría”) to file the taxes and handle the registration, that service has no official fee scale and is paid for separately. As there is no official figure for the total, the sensible course is to ask the notary's office for an estimate of the amount before the signing. What you should know The fee scale is the same at every notary's office and every land registry in Spain. What varies from one bill to another is mainly the length of the deed and the number of copies. If you buy with a mortgage, the notary and Land Registry costs of the loan deed are paid by the bank. You pay for the valuation and any copies of that deed you request. The biggest cost of the purchase is not the notary or the Land Registry but the tax, which is a separate matter.