Resale, New Build or Off-Plan?

Your choice changes the risk you take

Buying a resale home, completed new development or off-plan property is more than choosing a building's age. With resale property you can inspect an existing asset and how it works, but must investigate alterations, condition, occupants and accumulated obligations. A completed development also requires verification that the construction documentation has been properly closed. Off-plan purchasing involves a future result and exposes committed funds to delivery, timing and developer-solvency risk during the construction period.

Compare each option on the same financial basis: price, taxes, immediate expenditure, uncertainty and a realistic occupation date. An apparently cheaper home may require work beyond your budget or months of administrative procedures. An attractive development specification may come with a timetable incompatible with a necessary relocation. Decide which risks you can accept and what evidence is needed to accept them knowingly. Appearance matters, but the choice should rest on a legal and technical comparison that makes the differences between the three purchasing models visible.

Resale: investigate the property’s history

A resale home's main advantage is the ability to compare documents with an observable property. Use that opportunity: examine services, damp, roof, accessibility and communal elements as appropriate. Ask about previous works and request permissions, plans or certificates where relevant. Recent refurbishment may improve finishes without correcting structural or waterproofing problems. The inspection should distinguish expected wear, significant defects and works whose legal status still needs documentary confirmation before the purchaser can evaluate them properly.

Civil-law remedies for hidden defects are not a universal guarantee against every later breakdown. Their legal conditions and time limit require examination; the Civil Code gives six months from delivery for those specific actions. Other contractual remedies may exist with different requirements. Record condition before purchase and act promptly when damage appears, preserving evidence and obtaining advice. Treating a future claim as a substitute for an initial inspection can leave the buyer debating causation, prior knowledge and limitation periods after repair costs have already arisen.

Legal framework and sources: Código Civil · compraventa y vicios ocultos ↗

Completed new homes: request the handover file

A completed home requires more than a visit to the show apartment. Check that the actual property corresponds to the contracted plans and annexes, has appropriate services and can be occupied under the procedure required in that autonomous community. The document's name may vary: a licence, responsible declaration or another instrument under the applicable rules. A commercial assurance that everything has been applied for is not a substitute for examining the legal effect of the submission actually made.

Request final construction documentation, the building information book, maintenance instructions and applicable guarantees. Examine the horizontal-division deed, communal elements, participation shares and the developer's financing charges. Discharge or allocation of a development mortgage must be coordinated with the particular unit acquired. If taking over financing, examine the terms as a separate decision. Do not assume that accepting the developer's loan is an unavoidable condition of buying, or that an advertised repayment illustration captures every cost and risk associated with the credit.

Legal framework and sources: Ley de Ordenación de la Edificación · garantías y anticipos ↗ · RD 515/1989 · información y documentación de viviendas ↗

Off-plan: verify the developer, land and permission

Before paying advances, identify the developer company and establish its legal relationship with the land. Obtain title information for the plot, charges, building permission and identification of the development or phase containing your home. A familiar trading name does not prove that the contracting company has sufficient financial strength. Nor does a rendering establish that every advertised facility is included in the authorised project. The investigation should address the specific product for which you are committing money.

The agreement needs identified plans, area and measurement convention, specification, annexes, total price and timetable. Examine what changes the developer may make and their consequences for you. A general power to alter layouts, materials or shared facilities deserves particular scrutiny under consumer rules. Retain advertising and correspondence about views, access or facilities that influence your decision. If a feature is essential to the purchase, describe it expressly in the contract and agree what happens if the delivered result differs from the promised property.

Legal framework and sources: Ley de Ordenación de la Edificación · garantías y anticipos ↗ · RD 515/1989 · información y documentación de viviendas ↗ · Ley General para la Defensa de los Consumidores ↗

Advance payments: special account and individual protection

The first additional provision of the Building Act regulates protection of advance payments for residential construction. Within its scope, the developer must, from obtaining building permission, guarantee repayment of advances with the relevant statutory interest if construction does not start or is not successfully completed within the agreed delivery period. Payments must also enter a special account under the statutory conditions. Check the applicable transitional regime where contracts or advances date from an earlier period.

Request the guarantee or insurance identifying your acquisition, covered amounts and guarantor. A reference to a general policy, or a promise to supply evidence later, is not equivalent to verifying individual protection before payment. Check coverage as advances increase, including taxes covered by the legislation. A guarantee does not replace investigating the developer, but addresses a particular exposure. If permission or coverage documents are missing, do not assume that every reservation payment enjoys identical protection: examine that payment and its contractual basis before authorising it.

Legal framework and sources: Ley de Ordenación de la Edificación · garantías y anticipos ↗

Deadlines, delay and effective delivery

An off-plan agreement should make clear when the home qualifies for delivery and what happens if that point is not reached. Distinguish physical completion, administrative documentation, availability of services and transfer of possession. An indicative date coupled with broad extension rights can shift substantial timing risk to the purchaser. Examine permitted grounds for extension, notice requirements and remedies, without accepting that every developer business difficulty automatically justifies an unlimited delay to the agreed timetable.

If delay occurs, preserve the schedule and request verifiable information. Whether to extend, seek performance or terminate depends on the contract, seriousness and applicable law. Do not sign an extension without understanding its effect on claims and guarantees. Inspect at handover and record defects through photographs and a dated schedule. Distinguish minor finishing issues from matters affecting habitability or safety. An excessively broad statement of satisfaction can complicate later disagreement over what was known and what remained outstanding when possession was accepted.

Legal framework and sources: Código Civil · compraventa y vicios ocultos ↗ · Ley de Ordenación de la Edificación · garantías y anticipos ↗ · Ley General para la Defensa de los Consumidores ↗

Building liability: different periods perform different functions

Subject to its conditions, the Building Act distinguishes structural damage appearing within ten years, habitability damage within three and workmanship defects affecting finishes within one. The statutory starting point is linked to acceptance of the works without reservations or their correction, not necessarily the day you buy. There is also a separate two-year limitation period for the relevant damage-liability actions, running from the occurrence of damage, without prejudice to other contractual remedies that may remain available.

Do not confuse liability with an insurance policy covering every defect. Mandatory guarantees have conditions and exceptions, including particular self-build situations. Request policies and details of the developer, contractor and technical professionals so that an issue can be directed appropriately. Record damage promptly and obtain technical assessment; automatically blaming maintenance or construction without evidence can prejudice the analysis. Keep the handover file and repair correspondence because they help establish the origin and development of the problem and what action was taken after it became apparent.

Legal framework and sources: Ley de Ordenación de la Edificación · garantías y anticipos ↗

Tax: “new” in the listing does not determine treatment

A first supply of a completed dwelling by its developer normally attracts VAT, together with purchase-deed AJD where applicable; a second or subsequent supply generally falls within transfer tax. Tax classification follows its own rules. Earlier occupation or letting for specified periods can change the result, and cosmetic refurbishment is not automatically qualifying rehabilitation for VAT purposes. Ask the seller to provide documentary support for the treatment proposed rather than relying on the description used in marketing.

Ordinary housing normally attracts 10% VAT; 4% requires the particular protected-housing classification specified by law. Garages, annexes, commercial premises and mixed transactions may require separate analysis. AJD also depends on the autonomous community and possible reliefs. Use the purchase-cost calculator with the supply correctly classified, leaving unproven conditions outstanding. Do not add both VAT and transfer tax to the same ordinary acquisition merely as a precaution: establishing the correct classification is more useful than presenting a total containing taxes that do not apply together.

Legal framework and sources: Ley del IVA · entregas de edificaciones y tipos ↗ · Ley del ITP y AJD · adquisición y escritura ↗