Independent pre-purchase review · Mallorca
Check first. Then decide.
Before you commit to a property on Mallorca, I go through its paperwork and tell you in plain English what it actually says, what is missing, and where one document contradicts another. A fixed fee, agreed before I start. No commission. I am paid the same whether you buy or walk away.
Start by sending me the listing. Within 24 hours I will tell you honestly whether this property is worth checking at all. That costs nothing, and there is no deposit: I invoice once the report is in your hands.
In Spain, nobody checks on your behalf
Spanish practice puts the burden of verification on the buyer, and once the deed is signed your options to unwind the sale, claw back part of the price or recover damages are very limited. The trouble is rarely one bad document. The land registry, the cadastre, the habitation certificate, the energy certificate and the agent’s listing all come from different bodies and are written at different times, and almost nobody ever puts them side by side. The expensive surprises are in the gaps between them.
A fixed fee, not a percentage
€2,000, €3,000 or €5,000 according to the value of the property, VAT included, agreed before I start. Anyone paid a percentage of the purchase price has a stake in the deal going ahead. On a fixed fee I have none.
While you can still walk away
Lawyers are usually brought in after the reservation or arras contract, by which point your money is already committed. I work in the window before that, when what I find can still change the price or end the conversation.
Judgement, not translation
You are not buying Spanish deeds turned into English word for word. You are buying an assessment: what is normal here, what is not, and the question you need answered before you sign anything.
What gets checked
- Nota Simple — who owns it, and what charges, mortgages and rights of way sit on it
- Cadastre — whether floor area, year of construction and reference match the registry
- Building legality — permits, protection from demolition, whether the eight-year limitation period has run, any open enforcement file
- Cédula de habitabilidad — whether it exists, whether it is still valid, and how many people it covers
- ETV holiday-let licence — whether there is one, whether it passes to you, and on what conditions
- Land classification — urbano or rústico, protected status, and what you may build
- Services — water, drainage, electricity, solar
- Tax and arrears — IBI, refuse charges, unpaid bills, and the 3% you must withhold from a non-resident seller
From a live listing
1,600 m² or 2,005 m²?
A brochure for a property listed at around €1.8 million gave the plot size twice, and the two figures did not agree: 1,600 m² in the specification table, 2,005 m² in the description. The property was being sold on the strength of approved plans for a 680 m² house, and how much you may build depends directly on how big the plot is. That makes the 405 m² difference rather more than a typing error. It raises the question of whether those approved plans work on this plot at all.
No single document says any of this. The finding exists only in the space between them.
Read the full report on this property (PDF, in English) — eight points examined, each with a red, amber or green rating, followed by the list of things to put to the lawyer, the notary and the tax adviser.
Common questions
What does a property check on Mallorca cost?
A fixed fee based on the value of the property: €2,000 up to €1M, €3,000 between €1M and €3M, and €5,000 above that. Those are the totals you pay, with Spanish VAT already included, because the work relates to a specific property in Spain and is taxed there wherever you happen to live. The bracket is agreed before I start and does not change if you later negotiate the price. For comparison, lawyers on Mallorca usually charge between 0.5% and 1.5% of the purchase price plus IVA, so €10,000 to €30,000 on a €2M property. The fixed fee is the whole point: anyone paid a percentage earns more when you buy.
Does this replace a lawyer?
No, and it is not meant to. I do not give legal advice and I do not handle the conveyancing. My work comes first: you get an organised file and a clear list of unanswered questions before you sign a reservation or arras contract. Your lawyer then works faster, because they are not starting from scratch.
How long does it take?
Usually five working days once I have the documents. If you are up against a deadline, a reservation period for example, tell me at the outset and I can normally work faster.
When do I pay?
After I hand over the report, not before, and never as a deposit. If I look at the listing and tell you a full check is not worth doing on this property, that costs you nothing at all.
Do you work with estate agents?
I neither take nor pay referral fees. I also work on the sales side of the Mallorca property market, and that is precisely why I never check a property I have anything to do with. I earn nothing from your decision either way: the fee is fixed and is owed whether you buy or not. That is not politeness, it is the only reason my answer is worth anything to you.