Buying a resale home on the South Costa Blanca is mostly about what you cannot see from the terrace. The house may be lovely, the price may be fair, and the paperwork may still hide a charge, an unregistered extension or an unpaid community bill that becomes your problem the day you sign. For expat families relocating from the UK, Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands or Russia to Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa, Villamartin, La Zenia or Pilar de la Horadada in 2026, legal due diligence on a resale is the part of the process that protects the deposit. This guide sets out the checks that matter and the order to run them.

The Nota Simple Comes First

The nota simple is the extract from the Land Registry, the Registro de la Propiedad. It is the single most important document to pull before you pay anything, and your lawyer will order it early.

• Shows the registered owner, so you confirm the person selling actually owns the property
• Describes the property as registered, the surface area, boundaries and any annexes
• Lists the cargas, the charges, including mortgages, embargos and easements
• Reveals whether the home is mortgaged, and by how much, so it can be cancelled at completion
• Ordered through Registradores de España, or by your lawyer, in minutes

Charges Debts and What Follows the Property

In Spain, many debts attach to the property, not only to the seller. Buy without checking and you can inherit them.

• An outstanding mortgage must be cancelled and removed from the register at completion, paid from the sale proceeds
• Embargos, court ordered seizures, sit on the nota simple and must be cleared before you buy
• Unpaid IBI can be pursued against the property itself for the current year and several previous years
• Community fee arrears pass to the new owner for the current year and the previous three, so ask for written proof the seller is clear
• Request the certificado de estar al corriente de pago, the certificate that the seller owes the comunidad nothing, dated close to completion
• Ask the administrador for the last set of AGM minutes, the actas, to see any works or derramas already agreed

Is the Building Actually Legal

A resale can be lived in for years and still carry a planning irregularity. On older and rural stock this is common, and it is far cheaper to find before you buy than after.

• Check for the licencia de primera ocupacion or the cedula de habitabilidad, the habitation certificate
• Compare the registered description against what is physically there, a glazed in terrace, an extra bedroom or a pool added later may never have been declared
• Undeclared works can often be regularised, sometimes through an AFO or DAFO on rural plots, but that is a cost and a delay to price in
• A valid certificado de eficiencia energetica, the energy performance certificate, is a legal requirement for the seller
• On rural land, confirm the plot is classified for what is built on it, some homes sit on suelo rustico with limits on any extension

Catastro Versus the Land Registry

Spain keeps two separate records of your property, and expat buyers are often surprised they do not automatically agree. The Registro de la Propiedad records ownership and charges. The Catastro records the physical and fiscal description.

• Pull the cadastral record from the Sede Electrónica del Catastro and compare the surface area and boundaries with the registry and the deed
• The valor catastral shown there drives your future IBI and the non resident tax base
• Discrepancies between the deed, the registry and the cadastre are common and slow completion if left to the last minute
• A boundary mismatch on a villa plot is worth resolving before you sign, not after

Tax Checks That Protect the Buyer

Some of the sharpest due diligence on a resale is about tax, and one item is a legal duty that falls on you as the buyer.

• Confirm the IBI is paid up to date, collected by SUMA across most of Alicante including Torrevieja and Orihuela
• If the seller is not Spanish tax resident, you must retain 3 percent of the price and pay it to the Agencia Tributaria on the seller's account, using Modelo 211
• That 3 percent retention is your responsibility, skip it and the liability lands on you
• Check who settles the plusvalia municipal, the local land value tax, usually the seller by law but always confirmed in the contract
• Plan for your own annual Modelo 210 once you own, if you will not be tax resident here

The Reserva and the Arras Contract

The paperwork moves fast once you offer. Two documents commit you, and neither should be signed before the nota simple is clean.

• A reservation, the reserva, takes the property off the market for a small deposit while checks run
• The contrato de arras is the deposit contract, usually arras penitenciales at around 10 percent of the price
• Under arras penitenciales you lose the deposit if you pull out, and the seller repays double if they walk away
• Make the arras conditional on clean title, a valid occupation certificate and no undisclosed charges
• Never pay a reservation or arras deposit before your own lawyer has read the nota simple

Common Mistakes

• Paying a reservation deposit before anyone has pulled the nota simple
• Trusting a beautiful home and skipping the check for unregistered extensions or an added pool
• Assuming community fees and IBI are clear rather than asking for written proof
• Forgetting the 3 percent retention when the seller is non resident, then carrying the tax yourself
• Using the seller's or agent's lawyer instead of instructing your own independent lawyer
• Leaving cadastre and registry discrepancies to completion week, when they cause the most delay

A Practical Sequence

• Get your NIE and a Spanish bank account in place during the search
• Instruct your own independent lawyer before you make a formal offer
• Have the lawyer pull the nota simple and the cadastral record and compare them with the deed
• Confirm the occupation certificate, the energy certificate and that all works are declared
• Request the community fee clearance certificate and the latest AGM minutes
• Sign the arras only once title is clean, then complete at the notary and register the deed in your name

Resale homes make up the bulk of what expat families actually buy on the South Costa Blanca, and most transactions are clean. The ones that go wrong almost always failed a check that a careful buyer could have run first. If you are searching for a resale in Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa, Villamartin, La Zenia or Pilar de la Horadada, we can help you find Costa Blanca property with Movr and make sure you have your own independent lawyer running the legal checks from the first viewing. We do not give legal or tax advice ourselves, but we make sure the right questions are asked before you commit.