For owners
Selling a home in Madrid
We renovate the property before listing it, pay for the work ourselves, and take our fee on the day you sign. If it does not sell, there is no invoice. Below, what that means in practice — and what selling costs a non-resident owner.
The model
We pay for the work
Almost every flat sells for less than it could, and usually not because the price was wrong — because of how it reached the market. Tired paint, half-broken blinds and bad photographs lose buyers before anyone looks at the floor plan.
The usual answer is to ask the owner to spend money on a home they are about to leave. It is a reasonable request that almost nobody accepts, and it is especially awkward if you live in another country.
So we do the work. Our own team executes it, we pay for it, and the cost is deducted from the sale on the day of signing. You advance nothing and you do not have to be in Madrid to supervise it.
That forces us to be right about what is worth doing, because we are risking the same money you are. If the home does not sell, there is no invoice — not for the work, not for us.
What it costs you
Selling as a non-resident
This is the part that catches foreign owners out. Figures for 2026.
The 3 % retention is not a tax: it is an advance. The buyer withholds it and pays it to the Spanish treasury on your behalf. If your actual capital gains liability is lower, you claim the difference back with Modelo 210 — you have four years, but it is not automatic and nobody will remind you. This is exactly the kind of thing to hand to a Spanish gestor rather than improvise.
The paperwork
What you need before listing
01
Nota simple
- From the Land Registry
- Proves you own it and shows any charges
- A few euros, obtained in minutes online
02
Energy certificate
- Legally required to advertise
- Issued by a qualified technician
- Valid for ten years
03
Community certificate
- Confirms you owe nothing to the building
- Signed by the administrator
- Needed on the day of signing
04
IBI receipt
- The council tax bill, paid
- Last full year
05
NIE and power of attorney
- If you cannot travel, a Spanish notary or a consulate can grant a power of attorney
- Arrange it early: consulate appointments are the bottleneck
Honestly
Three things we would tell you
You do not need to be here. A power of attorney lets a lawyer or a trusted person sign for you. But arrange it before you have a buyer, not after — the consulate appointment is the slow part, not the document.
The cadastral reference value matters to your buyer. Since 2022, transfer tax is calculated on the higher of the price or that reference value. If the reference value is above what you are asking, your buyer pays tax on the higher figure — and they will notice. Worth checking before you set a price.
Renovating is not always right. There are flats where the honest advice is to sell as it is and price it accordingly, because the work would cost more than it adds. We will tell you when that is the case, and we do not charge for saying so.
We are estate agents, not lawyers or tax advisers. Everything on this page is what we would tell you over a coffee, and none of it replaces a Spanish gestor. We can point you to ones we have worked with.