Spain: selling a home, checklist from nota simple to IRPF

Preparing

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Ask for a nota simple at the Property Registry to check the home’s owners and charges.
If there is a mortgage, attachment or other charge, it must be cancelled or you agree with the buyer how it is paid on signing day.
Order the energy efficiency certificate: it is needed to sell and its label goes in the ad.
The owner orders it and it is valid for 10 years at most, 5 if the letter is G (Royal Decree 390/2021, arts. 3, 6, 13 and 15).
Ask the owners’ community for the debt certificate.
The community issues it in seven calendar days; without it the deed is not authorized, unless the buyer exempts you (Horizontal Property Law, art. 9.1.e).
Check that the IBI and the charges are paid and keep the receipts.
The property remains liable for the IBI even if it changes owner, and the notary warns of debts (Local Finance Law, art. 64).
If you have a mortgage, ask the bank for the outstanding capital and how it is cancelled with the sale money.
The outstanding capital decides how much has to be reinvested for the IRPF exemption (IRPF Regulation, art. 41).
Gather the proofs of purchase and works: deed, ITP or VAT, notary, registry and invoices.
They go into the acquisition value and lower the IRPF gain; conservation repairs do not (IRPF Law, art. 35.1).
Calculate the IRPF on the sale before setting the price.
The site’s calculator shows the gain, the exemptions and the tax.

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Set the price with a valuation or with ads for similar homes, and see how much you need to collect net.
From the price deduct the mortgage, the sale costs, the plusvalía and the IRPF: what is left is what you really collect.
If you use an agency, sign in writing the commission, whether it is exclusive and for how long.
Put the energy label in the ad and check that the home’s details are accurate.
The label is mandatory in every offer, promotion and sales advertising (Royal Decree 390/2021, art. 15).

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Accept the offer in writing, with price, form of payment, deadlines and who pays each expense.
The costs of executing the deed are the seller’s, and those of the first copy and later ones the buyer’s, unless agreed (Civil Code, art. 1455).
If you take a deposit (arras), write down what happens if either party backs out.
With arras, the buyer may back out losing them and the seller returning them doubled (Civil Code, art. 1454).
Sign the arras contract or the sales contract and keep a copy with all the clauses.
Arras are not yet the sale: the IRPF gain arises on transfer. The deed is equivalent to delivery (Civil Code, art. 1462).

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Choose a notary with the buyer and bring the documents asked for: ID, previous deed, nota simple and certificates.
A public deed is needed to transfer rights in rem over real estate (Civil Code, art. 1280).
Declare before the notary that you are up to date with the community and hand over the debt certificate.
If there were debts, the buyer answers with the home for the year of purchase and the three before (Horizontal Property Law, art. 9.1.e).
If there is a mortgage, cancel it with the sale money: ask the bank for the debt certificate for signing day.
Collect the price by transfer or bank check, and have the means of payment stated in the deed.
Hand over the keys once you have been paid and put in writing the state of the home and the meter readings.

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File the municipal plusvalía at the town hall within 30 working days of the sale.
The taxpayer is the seller; if the real gain was lower, you can ask to be taxed on it (Local Finance Law, arts. 106, 107.5 and 110.2).
Calculate the IRPF on the gain and set that money aside until the tax return.
It is taxed in the savings base, from 19% to 30%; in a sale between private individuals the buyer withholds nothing (IRPF Law, arts. 66, 76 and 99).
See whether an exemption applies: over 65, reinvestment in a main residence or purchase in 2012.
Reinvestment counts in the two years before or after the sale; if after, you must say so in the return (IRPF Regulation, art. 41).
Declare the gain in the following year’s tax return, in the section on property transfers.
It goes in section F2, capital gains and losses on property transfers (Tax Agency, Renta 2025 manual).