Mortgage in Spain as a Non-Resident: Your Rights (2026)

Spain's mortgage law covers an individual who borrows against a residential home. It makes the bank give you a binding offer at least ten calendar days before signing, sets a free notary meeting before the deed and caps early-repayment fees. Ask for the offer sheet in writing.

Planning to buy in Valencia and borrow from a Spanish bank? Start with what the law makes the bank give you: a binding offer, an itemised contract and a free notary meeting, all before you sign. The taxes and the purchase deed are in the buy-property guide.

Non-resident mortgage in Spain: what the law covers

Spanish mortgage rules protect individuals who borrow against a residential home, consumers or not, and the parties cannot set them aside unless the law itself allows it.

Whether a bank lends to you comes down to its solvency check. That check weighs employment, present and expected income, assets, savings, fixed expenses and existing commitments, so gather proof of all of them, wherever you hold them, before you ask for an offer. The bank may not base the check mainly on the value of the collateral above the loan amount, or on the assumption that the value will rise, unless the loan is to build or renovate a home.

If the bank says no, it must tell you in writing and without delay, with reasons. The law generally does not cover loans signed before 16 June 2019.

The deed must carry the tax identification number of everyone who appears, so get your Spanish tax number before signing. The NIE appointment guide and the bank account guide cover that and the account you will pay from.

What the bank must give you ten days before signing

At least ten calendar days before you sign, the lender must hand you a set of documents that shows the price of the loan and your rights:

• The FEIN, the standard offer sheet, which counts as a binding offer for the agreed period, at least ten days.
• The FiAE, a warnings sheet that flags the relevant clauses.
• For a variable rate, a separate document showing your payments in different interest-rate scenarios.
• A copy of the draft contract with every cost listed item by item.
• A warning that you must receive free, personalised advice from the notary you choose.

Our pick: read the FEIN and the draft contract side by side, because the contract must match the documents that come before it. The bank cannot make you open an account or buy insurance as a condition for receiving the FEIN, even at no cost.

The bank then uploads the documents to the notarial portal, and at least ten calendar days must pass between that moment and the signing. Fit your travel dates around that gap.

Who pays the costs of a Spanish mortgage?

You pay the appraisal; the lender pays the gestoría, the notary fees of the mortgage deed and the registry.

The bank also bears the taxes on the loan. The itemised list in the draft contract shows each cost, so compare it with this table.

If the bank agrees an opening fee with you, it is charged once and covers all study, processing and granting costs. The bank may only bill costs and fees for services you firmly requested or expressly accepted, and that were actually provided.

Insurance is the other place where costs creep in. Tying a loan to other products is prohibited, with exceptions, and if the bank asks for insurance, it must accept equivalent policies from other providers.

What happens at the notary before you sign

Book an in-person meeting with the notary you choose, no later than the day before the deed is signed; the record of it carries no notary fee.

Choose the notary first: that is the first thing to do once the bank has uploaded your documents. You then meet the notary alone, who checks that the documents reached you in time and answers your questions, and you answer a test on them in front of the notary.

The law asks you to attend in person, though the appearance for the record can be made by whoever represents you for this purpose. Confirm with your notary which applies to you before you book flights.

A guarantor who is an individual must attend too. A missing record stops the signing:

Si no quedara acreditado documentalmente el cumplimiento en tiempo y forma de las obligaciones previstas en el artículo 14.1. o si no se compareciese para recibir el asesoramiento en el plazo señalado en el apartado 3, el notario expresará en el acta esta circunstancia. En este caso, no podrá autorizarse la escritura pública de préstamo.

If compliance in time and form with the obligations in article 14.1 is not documented, or if the borrower does not appear to receive the advice within the period in paragraph 3, the notary will state this in the record. In that case, the public deed of the loan cannot be authorised.

BOE · Ley de crédito inmobiliario, art. 15.5

After the record, the mortgage itself on a home is signed as a public deed.

Fixed or variable rate: limits and early repayment

You may repay all or part of the loan early at any time, with prior notice of up to one month if the contract asks for it. When you tell the lender you want to, it must send the information you need to assess the option within three working days.

Outside the cases below, the lender cannot charge anything for early repayment. On a variable-rate loan the contract picks one of two options, and the two exclude each other.

Each figure is a ceiling: the fee also may not exceed the lender’s financial loss from the early repayment. A temporary waiver of these fees on variable-rate loans ended on 31 December 2024; the caps above are the rule now.

The rate itself cannot change against you during the contract unless you both agree in writing. A variable rate must follow a reference index that is clear, accessible, objective and verifiable, and the contract cannot set a floor under it.

What happens if you fall behind on payments

The bank can call in the whole loan only after a formal demand and once arrears reach 3% of the capital in the first half of the term, or 7% in the second half.

The 3% threshold also counts as met once twelve monthly instalments are unpaid, and the 7% one at fifteen. Before calling in the loan, the lender must demand payment, giving you at least one month and warning that it will claim the full amount if the demand is not met. If a written demand arrives, you have at least that month to pay.

These rules cannot be set aside by agreement. Default interest on a home mortgage to an individual is the regular interest plus three percentage points, charged only on the overdue principal and never capitalised.

Foreign-currency loans and income abroad

If a loan is denominated in a foreign currency, you have the right to convert it to an alternative currency. A loan counts as foreign-currency when it is in a currency other than that of the member state where you live, or than the one of your assets or income for repaying it.

That alternative is the currency in which you earn most of your income or hold most of the assets you repay with, as shown in the latest solvency check. If you live in an EU member state, the alternative can also be that state’s currency, where you lived at signing or live at conversion. The second option does not help if you live outside the EU.

When the loan has no clause limiting exchange-rate risk below a 20% movement, the FEIN must include an illustrative example of its effects. If your income is not in euros, ask the lender to spell out the currency clause in the offer sheet before you sign.

↑ Contents

Not confirmed: How much a bank lends a non-resident, its rate and the foreign documents it asks for are each lender's own terms; ask for the offer sheet in writing. Ask your notary about sending a representative to the pre-signing meeting.

General information checked against the sources listed above. Prices, opening hours and other details change; confirm them with the provider before you act. See how guides are checked.

Spotted an error? Report it.