Short answer: Documentation, taxes, permits, professionals and the three mistakes that ruin international owners' projects. What we wish someone had told you before you started.
· Guides · 10 min
Every year we receive dozens of enquiries from international owners who have bought —or are about to buy— a property in Spain and want to renovate it. They arrive with the same mix of enthusiasm and caution: they love the country, trust the property's potential, but fear getting lost in a legal and professional system they do not know.
This article is the guide we wish we had in front of us the first time we advised a foreign client. It covers the essentials without going into specific legal or tax advice —for that you need local professionals— but it gives you the map to avoid getting lost.
Any foreign owner needs an NIE (Foreigner Identification Number) to buy property, open a bank account, contract utilities and sign construction contracts. Without NIE nothing gets signed.
You can get it at the Spanish consulate in your country of residence (typically 3-6 weeks) or in Spain by appointment (faster if you can get one). If you buy through a specialised lawyer or agent, they handle it for you.
Almost mandatory. Payments to the builder, trades and suppliers are made in euros from a Spanish account for two reasons: tax control (the tax office wants to see the trail) and convenience (international wires at every milestone are expensive and slow).
Opening an account as a non-resident is straightforward with NIE and passport. Some banks charge higher fees to non-residents; compare before choosing.
Here lies the first frequent mistake. Any significant renovation in Spain requires a municipal permit. Two main categories:
Marbella, Mallorca, Ibiza, Barcelona and San Sebastián have particularly long timelines. Starting works without permit or with insufficient permit exposes you to fines, work stoppage and, in serious cases, demolition orders. It is not theory: we see it every year.
A good interior design and architecture studio includes permit management in its services or coordinates with the technical architect who handles them.
Renovation works on the owner's habitual residence usually pay 10% VAT (instead of the general 21%), provided certain requirements are met: the property is more than two years old, materials supplied by the company do not exceed 40% of the total, and the invoice is to an individual. If the property is a second home or a tourist rental, VAT may differ.
If you buy second-hand property, you pay ITP (Property Transfer Tax), not VAT. Percentages vary by autonomous community: 6-10% of purchase value. It is a cost to budget from the start.
As a non-tax-resident, your situation is more complex. Work from day one with a Spanish tax advisor specialised in non-residents. It is the best investment you will make in the entire project.
The greatest risk for an international owner is hiring someone who does not understand their context. Some useful signals:
**Interior design and architecture studio with international experience**: has worked before with clients who do not live in Spain, has a process for remote coordination, and communicates fluently in your language. A brilliant studio that coordinates with you in Spanish by WhatsApp is not enough.
**Builder with verifiable references and proven solvency**: ask to see similar completed works, talk to previous clients, check they are current with tax and social security. A good studio helps you in this selection.
**Local lawyer or agent**: for the legal and tax side of the purchase and contractual relationships. Do not mix roles: the interior design studio is not your lawyer.
**Avoid the builder who turns up by chance**: the neighbour who knows a cheap builder, the estate agent who recommends a brother-in-law. In the high-end market, casual recommendations rarely protect the foreign client.
**Mistake 1: buying before knowing what to renovate and how much it costs**. Many people buy property attracted by the area and price, and discover later that the renovation is twice as much as expected. The right move: a preliminary technical visit with your studio before closing the purchase. It costs little and can save you hundreds of thousands.
**Mistake 2: managing construction from your country without a team on the ground in Spain**. Construction requires daily decisions, physical validations, presence at visits. A studio without a real team in the area where your villa sits will leave you stranded. Ask specifically how many weekly visits someone from the team will make to your site, and who specifically.
**Mistake 3: hiring the cheapest builder**. The lowest bid almost always includes omissions, lower-quality materials and margins for later extras. The cheapest bid ends up, on average, 30% more expensive in the end. Award on best value-for-money, with a well-drafted contract and quality and timing clauses.
Over 70% of our villa clients live outside Spain during construction. Our process is designed for that: fortnightly video calls with visual progress, weekly photographic reports with annotations, a shared folder with all live documentation, and a local team in Barcelona, Madrid and Málaga that visits the site every week.
We work in Spanish, English and French, with project managers who live in the area of your villa. We coordinate lawyer, tax advisor and builder so you have a single point of contact.
If you are considering renovating a property in Spain and want a first honest conversation to understand if we fit —and what investment and timing are realistic for your case—, write to us. Without commitment.