If you’re looking to buy a home in Spain then you’ll want to be aware of exactly how much extra you’ll have to pay in fees. There are many fees that are mandatory when you purchase a property, but is paying the realtor one of these?
Real estate agents in Spain, like in many countries, cover all the procedures related to the sale of a property from start to finish.
They are in charge of valuing the property and putting it on the market, as well as showing potential buyers around and being there during the signing of the sales contract.
But who pays realtors for all these services in Spain, is it the buyer or the seller?
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Typically, it is the seller who pays the real estate fees for these services as it is them who are selling their property. This means that you won’t normally have to worry about factoring this extra cost in.
It’s important to keep in mind though that there isn’t a specific rule that states this anywhere, so technically a real estate agency could ask you to pay some of the fees.
In fact, there are agencies where this expense is shared between buyer and seller. Or sometimes, the agents will charge both the buyer and seller for different aspects of their service.
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Although it is relatively uncommon, there are also cases in which the buyer is the one who hires the services of a real estate agency. They may ask them to find them home that meets their specific requirements, as well as obtain a mortgage for them for example. In these cases, the buyer may have to pay more of the fees as they are getting a more specialised service.
Many people ask if it’s actually legal for the buyer to pay these fees, but since there are no rules forbidding it, then yes it is technically legal, even though it seems unfair in most cases.
As mentioned above though, it’s unlikely if you’ve simply gone into an agency to enquire about a specific property and end up buying it.
If you do need to pay any agency fees, they will usually be collected at the time of signing the deeds of sale, but sometimes they may ask you for advance payment instead, for example when you sign the paperwork to make a deposit.
Typically if the sale is not completed, the agency will still charge a lower amount for the services provided, as they have still done the work.
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It’s important to look at all the small print whenever you sign anything with real estate agents. As there is no fixed rule, it could always be possible that the agency could be sneaky and try to pass some of the fees on to you.
They may try and do this hidden not in the main reservation contract, but in what’s known as the hoja de visitas or visit sheet that you may be required to sign when you go to view a property.
This has in fact been noted during several court cases, in which buyers tried to sue agencies for making them pay fees, even if they didn’t end up buying the property using their services.
In most cases, the real estate commission is between 3 and 7 percent of the sale price of the property, but usually if you as the buyer have to pay it, you will be notified ahead of time.
If in doubt, it’s important to be upfront and ask your estate agent. If you’re Spanish isn’t great, you may also want to get a gestor or a lawyer to look over any paperwork you need to sign first, just to make sure.
