Costs involved in Selling

Hi all,

Well, we all know the costs involved when purchasing a property, as a percentage of the purchase price.

However how much are the costs of selling, as a percentage of the asking price?

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The only costs involved are your estate agent fees - which can be anything from 79 euros (EOS) to 5-10% depending on where you are in Spain, and then solicitors fees which are approx 1%  of selling price( you may get a reduction if you have a good relationship with your solicitor already).
Before selling you have to clear any tax  outstanding associated with the property.
3% of purchase price will be withheld from your buyer, to go towards CGT. If there isn't any to pay you can claim this back 6 months after completion.

We have been lucky enough to sell through EOS and for a 199K euros property paid 79 euros to EOS and 1410 euros to our solicitor.

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Hi drsue,

I always thought it was the following:

1% legal fee + IVA @ 16%
5% Agency fee + IVA @ 16%
18% CGT on anything over what you paid for the property.
And about 2000€ misc. for Gestor fees.

If and when we sell, we will advertise via Eye on Spain as 79€ is a bargin price to advertise your property.

However in your example, you sold for 199,000€ and yet only paid your lawyer 1,410€ ??? At 1% fee + IVA it should have been 2,308.40€, so you had a bargin there!

"3% of purchase price will be withheld from your buyer, to go towards CGT. If there isn't any to pay you can claim this back 6 months after completion."

I'm pretty sure that you can only claim it back if you're a resident in Spain, and have been for more than one year.

Did you not pay any CGT then?

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And don't forget you will have to clear ANY and ALL unpaid bills that may have been lodged against the property.

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No we sold for slightly less than we bought, (3000 euros), but because of the changes in the exchange rate,had priced it just to break even at the exchange rate at the time of the advert. in fact we ended up making a profit, even after all expenses - buying and selling were taken out. We feel very lucky. we bought off plan in 2004 completed in 2006 , during which time the whole market changed.

You can definitely get the 3% back even if you are non resident as long as there is no CGT to pay.I think we have to pay our solicitor a small fee to claim it back,but we definitely can get it.
You are correct that the CGT is 18% over and above your purchase price but you can also take into account the 10% or so fees associated with buying ie IVA/notary etc.

The buyer picked up the fees for the notary.

We did have to settle our taxes earlier than usual before the sale went ahead. The best time from a tax point of view to sell is later in the year as the tax status is determined on 1st Jan - so even if you sell on the 15th Jan say you still get clobbererd for the whole year's worth of tax. We are still negogiating with our community for a refund of our community fees!

We did a POA in the UK and let the solicitor do it all, we do feel for once we got our moneysworth out of him!

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The 3% mentioned is a retention against possible CGT, but this is ONLY held for NON-residents. If you are a fiscal resident in Spain, there is no retention (but obviously, you may still be liable to CGT at 18%)

Until drsue mentioned POA, I was wondering what the solicitor fee was for. There is really no need for a lawyer when selling. Just make sure you get paid! If you want a lawyer or gestor to accompany you to the notary just for peace of mind, or to translate proceedings for you, I would expect to pay a fixed fee for his time (maybe something like €100?) but a percentage of the sale price??? Why? The seller's role involves signing on the dotted line and collecting the money. You will also need to produce a letter from your community (if applicable) stating that your fees are paid up to date, and a similar certificate from the town hall for the IBI, and also show the latest utility bills as paid. Unless you are unable to come to Spain to organise these things, none of it is difficult and there's no reason to pay someone else.

Usually, all the taxes and fees for the transaction will be for the buyer's account, with the exception of Plus Valia, which is a local council tax based on the increase in the value of the land during your ownership. Unless you have owned the property for a long time, this is unlikely to be a substantial amount. If you are in Spain, you do not need to pay a gestor silly money to organise this for you. Simply go to your town hall with the documents relating to the sale within 30 days of the transaction, and find the relevant office for Plus Valia; they will tell you how much you have to pay and where to pay it. Easy.

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