The question owners ask second — the first being "what is my property worth" — is how much of that sum will actually reach them.

The answer is made of four lines: taxes, commission, documents, and, if there is a mortgage, clearing it. None of them is a surprise, because every one can be calculated before the property goes to market. They only become surprises when nobody asked in time.

What the seller pays

Item How much When
Plusvalía municipal from a couple of thousand to tens of thousands of euros, depending on the cadastral land value and the years owned 30 working days after the notary
Tax on the gain 19% of the gain for a non-resident; part is withheld in advance in a three-month window, opening one month after completion
Agency commission agreed in writing before any work begins on the day of completion
Energy certificate of the order of €100–200 before the advertisement is published
Cédula de habitabilidad, if expired comparable before publication
Nota simple a few euros at the start of the work
Clearing a mortgage: notary, registry, gestoría about €1,000 all in on the day and afterwards
Lawyer or tax gestor at the specialist's own rates during the transaction
IBI for your part of the year pro rata to the days owned settled at the notary

Plusvalía and the tax on the gain are the two largest lines, and I have covered each separately: they have different bases, different deadlines and different recipients.

What the buyer pays

Half the anxiety sellers feel comes from the costs of a transaction merging into one heap in the mind. In fact the largest of them are not yours:

Item Who pays
ITP, the transfer tax (10–13% on the Catalan scale) the buyer
Notary the buyer
Land Registry the buyer
Gestoría for the paperwork the buyer
Their own lawyer the buyer
Bank valuation, if taking a mortgage the buyer

That side is covered in full in the real cost of buying. A seller is worth reading it for a different reason: to understand what the transaction costs the buyer, and not to be surprised when they ask for a reduction on the grounds of "another 12% on top".

What comes off on the day itself

This is why the sum in your account differs from the price in the contract before any tax return is filed:

  • 3% of the price, if you are a non-resident: the buyer is obliged to withhold it and remit it to the tax authority in your name. Not a tax but an advance — the difference is later refunded to you, or paid by you.
  • The outstanding mortgage: cleared from the buyer's money, at the notary.
  • Any debt to the community, where there is one: usually settled at the same moment.

What actually reaches you: an example

The figures are illustrative and exist only to show the structure. A flat sold for €700,000, bought in 2014 for €450,000, no mortgage, seller a non-resident.

Line Amount
Sale price €700,000
Agency commission and lawyer — in this example −€30,000
Plusvalía municipal −€4,000
Documents (energy certificate, cédula, extracts) −€400
Tax on the gain, 19% −€27,740
In hand ≈ €638,000

Three lines of that table are worth reading more carefully than the rest.

The commission. Its size is a matter of agreement, and the €30,000 here is illustrative, put in simply to make the table add up. I name mine in the first conversation and fix it in writing before the property goes to market; 21% IVA is added on top. The lawyer invoices separately — the two share a line here only for brevity.

Plusvalía. The seller in this example is a non-resident, and in that case the buyer is the one who pays it to the town hall: the law makes them the "substitute taxpayer". But the same law entitles them to recover the sum from you, and in practice it is simply deducted from the price on the day. That is why the line is in the table. How plusvalía itself is calculated is a separate piece.

The tax on the gain. The 19% is not applied to the difference between the prices: €700,000 − €450,000 would have given €47,500. The base is the adjusted gain — the taxes and costs of the purchase are added to the purchase price, and the costs of this sale are deducted from the sale price. In this example that is a gain of €146,000 and tax of €27,740. The calculation step by step is in the tax guide.

Of that €27,740, twenty-one thousand — 3% of the price — goes to the tax authority on the day of completion, withheld by the buyer. The remaining €6,740 you pay with your return. On another sale at the same prices the 3% withheld could easily exceed the tax, and then the conversation is about a refund.

Where the money is actually lost

Not one line in the table above costs what the wrong price costs.

A property listed above the market does not sell for more. It sells more slowly and, in the end, for less. The first two or three weeks after publication bring the densest flow of viewings: the listing is new, and everyone watching that neighbourhood sees it. If the price puts them off during those weeks, from then on the property is being shown to people who saw it once and did not come. The price has to come down — and further down than it should have started, because a buyer looking at a listing in its fourth month starts hunting for the reason.

On a €700,000 property, the difference between "priced right" and "priced 10% high and reduced three times" comfortably exceeds the whole table of costs. Which is why I base a valuation on completed sales rather than on the asking prices of the neighbours, and why I give it free, before any agreement.

Second place for losses goes to documents that were not ready in time: the buyer walked, the property came back to the market as something that had "been sitting there", and the next buyer pushed harder on price.

Frequently asked questions

What does an agent's service cost?

The commission is paid by the seller. The amount depends on the property and the brief, is discussed before any work starts and fixed in writing — before anything begins. The valuation and the first conversation are free and commit you to nothing.

Is an exclusive agreement obligatory?

No. The agreement can be exclusive or not; it is discussed in advance and set down in writing.

Can I sell without an agent and save the commission?

You can. What stays with you is the price, the documents, the viewings, vetting the buyer and the negotiation — plus the risk that a buyer turns out to have no approved mortgage and the property sits on the market for two months for nothing. For an owner who lives in Spain, speaks the language and has the time, it is a workable option. For someone living abroad, the saving is usually smaller than the loss on price.

When do I pay the taxes — straight away or later?

Plusvalía, within 30 working days of the notary. The tax on the gain, in the three-month window that opens one month after completion. The 3% advance is withheld on the day itself.

What if I sell at a loss?

There will be no tax on a gain, and the 3% withheld is refunded — but only if you file the return. Plusvalía is not charged either where the property sold for no more than it was bought for, and that is proved with both deeds.

How long does a sale take?

From publication to the notary, usually one to three months, and what decides it is almost entirely the price. Add two to four weeks to prepare the documents before publication.

I work this whole table out for your property before it goes to market, so that the decision to sell is taken with a known sum in hand rather than a hope. How a sale runs, step by step, sets out what is needed from you at each stage.

The easiest place to start is the price: send me the address and the floor area and I will reply within one or two working hours.

Sources

Links checked on 29 September 2026.

For reference only, and current as of September 2026. The sums depend on the property, the municipality and your personal circumstances; the calculation for a specific transaction is made by a qualified tax adviser or gestor.