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The essentials
Anyone buying property in Barcelona usually signs a deposit contract (contrato de arras) copied from a template written for the national Civil Code. The problem is that in Catalonia a sale is governed by Book Six of the Catalan Civil Code, approved by Law 3/2017, and its rules on arras, breach of contract or floor area differ from those that apply in Madrid.
As a real estate lawyer handling home purchases and sales, our advice serves both sides of the transaction. For the buyer, we draft or review the arras contract, check the documents and accompany you through to the public deed (escritura pública) and its registration. For the seller, we prepare the documents that Catalan housing law requires so that signing before the notary is not delayed. If a breach occurs, we apply the remedies of the Catalan code itself: performance, price reduction, termination and damages.
We are part of the team of real estate lawyers in Barcelona at R. Sánchez Abogados, with offices on the Rambla de Catalunya. If the flat you are buying has a mortgage and the seller is in difficulty with the bank, we cross-check this with our page on mortgage foreclosure in Barcelona. Defects that appear after handover are dealt with on the hidden defects page of our civil law area.
Our service also covers clients who are buying a home or an investment property in Spain from another country. Catalonia is an autonomous region with its own civil law, so we explain the Spanish process step by step, in English, before you sign anything. People who search for a flat, house or villa and find one they like often sign a reservation first; it is better to send us the documents before you pay anything. At the end of the process, the deed and its registration close the purchase. Buyers with previous experience of buying abroad still find that the Catalan rules differ from what they expect.
Article 621-8 CCCat changes the starting point: if the contract says nothing, the arras are confirmatory. This is how each type works in an arras contract in Barcelona.
Buying or selling a flat or house in Barcelona and want to know what Catalan law says about your arras?
If both parties want to keep the option of backing out, the penitential arras contract has to say so without ambiguity, because in Catalonia penitential arras are not presumed. These are the points we check in every template.
The sum paid as a deposit, the way it is paid, and the fact that it is deducted from the price if the sale goes ahead. With penitential arras, this amount is what a withdrawing buyer loses, and twice that amount is what a withdrawing seller returns.
Until what date withdrawal can be exercised, how it must be communicated (ideally in a way that can be proved) and what options remain if the deadline passes without a signature.
If you previously signed a reservation document with the estate agent, we check that it does not contradict the arras contract or require you to pay the same amount twice.
Figures from Catalan law to keep at hand.
6 months
maximum period for penitential arras deposited with a notary to be noted in the Land Registry
source: art. 621-8.3 CCCat
Current year and previous 4
community charges and reserve fund contributions for which the flat remains liable even if the owner changes
source: art. 553-5 CCCat
10 %
difference in floor area from which, unless otherwise agreed, the stated size stops being merely indicative and there may be a lack of conformity
source: art. 621-50 CCCat
3 years
period after which actions for breach lapse; if there is a lack of conformity, it runs from when the buyer knows or could have known of it
source: art. 621-44 CCCat
This is the document proving that the home meets the conditions for use as a residence, and it is required for both sales and rentals. In a second-hand sale, the buyer can release the seller from this obligation only in limited cases, for example if the home is going to be refurbished or demolished (art. 132.a Law 18/2007).
The seller must state whether they are up to date and provide the secretary’s certificate, which includes approved special levies and reserve fund contributions that have not yet fallen due. Without that certificate the deed cannot be signed, unless this is expressly waived (art. 553-5.2 CCCat). We do not recommend waiving it.
In a second-hand purchase, the seller also hands over the building’s technical inspection report if the building is required to undergo one (art. 65 Law 18/2007). The registered energy performance certificate is attached to the contract (art. 17 Royal Decree 390/2021).
We request an up-to-date simple extract (nota simple) to see ownership, mortgages and attachments. In areas with a stressed residential market, such as Barcelona, Catalan law allows the Generalitat to exercise pre-emption and buy-back rights (tanteo y retracto) in certain transfers (art. 15 Law 18/2007), so we check whether your transaction is affected and which guarantees it is worth agreeing.
The sooner you tell us, the more room we have
This is the usual process for buying a second-hand home in the city, whether the seller is a private individual or a company.
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We ask the seller for the relevant information about the flat, which the Catalan code requires them to provide before the contract is concluded (art. 621-7 CCCat).
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Simple extract, habitability certificate, community certificate, technical inspection report, energy performance certificate and latest bills.
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We make clear to both parties the type of arras, the deadline for the deed, the financing arrangements and the condition in which the home is delivered.
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Before the signing takes place, we review the draft deed, the cancellation of charges and the calculation of taxes.
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The tax is settled with the Catalan Tax Agency (Agència Tributària de Catalunya) and the deed is filed with the relevant Land Registry in Barcelona.
To study your case, send us whatever you have:
Book Six replaces the old system of latent-defect remedies with a system of remedies for breach. Faced with a breach, buyer and seller can demand performance, suspend their own obligations, terminate the contract, reduce the price (in the buyer’s case) and claim damages, combining those that are compatible (art. 621-37 CCCat).
Termination does not require going to court first: if the breach is essential, it is exercised by notice to the other party, and if it is a non-essential delay, after giving an additional reasonable period (art. 621-42 CCCat). Where there is a termination clause for a deferred price, the seller must first demand payment by notarial record with a period of twenty days (art. 621-54 CCCat). The Catalan code also keeps a figure of its own: rescission for gross undervaluation of more than half the market value, with four years to exercise it from signing (arts. 621-46 and 621-48).
If there is no agreement after the prior negotiation required by Organic Law 1/2025, the case is heard in the civil section of the Barcelona Court of First Instance (Tribunal de Instancia), at the Ciutat de la Justícia, and on appeal before the Barcelona Provincial Court (Audiencia Provincial).
Many contracts cite art. 1454 of the Civil Code as if it applied in Catalonia. For a home in Barcelona, the rule is art. 621-8 CCCat, and anything not expressly agreed as penitential will be treated as confirmatory.
In Catalonia, unless otherwise agreed, the costs of executing the deed and the first copy are borne by the buyer (art. 531-6 CCCat). It is worth negotiating this in the arras contract, not on the day of signing.
The protection in art. 621-49 requires the sale or arras contract to provide for financing and the buyer to prove the bank’s refusal within the agreed period. We help you draft that clause according to the type of mortgage you will apply for.
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As a general rule, no. The sale of real estate in Catalonia is governed by Book Six of the Catalan Civil Code, which regulates arras in its article 621-8. The national Civil Code applies only as a supplementary source.
Confirmatory, which are an advance on the price; penitential, which allow a party to withdraw by losing them or returning them doubled; and penal, which work as a penalty for breach. In Catalonia, if nothing is said, they are confirmatory.
Neither the Catalan nor the national code sets a minimum or maximum amount of arras. The parties agree it, and it is deducted from the final price if the sale is completed.
There is no legal period: it is whatever the parties agree, and they can extend it by mutual agreement in writing. If you want penitential arras deposited with a notary to be noted in the Land Registry, the period cannot exceed six months.
The arras contract is usually already a private sale contract with a sum handed over on account; the final sale is formalised afterwards in a public deed before a notary. With confirmatory arras, both parties are bound to complete the sale; with penitential arras, either can choose to withdraw with the agreed penalty.
It depends on the type of arras. If they were penitential and the seller withdraws, they return double as compensation. If they were confirmatory, the buyer can demand performance and signature of the deed, or terminate the contract and claim damages (arts. 621-37 and 621-42 CCCat).
If the contract provided for financing, you can withdraw by proving in writing the bank’s refusal within the agreed period and recover what you paid, unless the refusal is due to your own negligence (art. 621-49 CCCat).
On a second-hand home, Transfer Tax (Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales, ITP); on a new build, VAT (IVA) and Stamp Duty (Actos Jurídicos Documentados, AJD). The ITP and AJD rates are set by the Generalitat and change over time, so we calculate them when we study your transaction.
