Step 3: Exchange of Private Purchase Contracts (Contrato Privado de Compraventa)

A private purchase contract is essentially the same as contracts you will have signed as part of the transaction to buy property at home. It creates a binding agreement between you and the seller, establishes a completion date and sets out the terms and conditions of the sale.

Some terms may not be explicitly mentioned in the contract because they are implied by the law governing transactions of this kind. The Private Purchase Contract is usually signed between two and four weeks after the Reservation Contract.

In the period before you sign the contract your lawyer will have completed the legal searches that you need before proceeding to completion. He will have obtained a certificate (nota simple) from the Property Registry (Registro de la Propiedad), where information such as the owner of the property, encumbrances on the land and mortgages are registered.

Your lawyer will also have been involved in negotiating the terms and conditions contained in the contract. In particular, he will have established a schedule for the payment of any outstanding debts connected with the property. It is essential that a formal agreement is established on the cancellation of these debts before proceeding to completion. This safeguards you as a buyer because if the seller reneges on the agreement you are entitled to withdraw from the sale and claim for damages incurred or deduct the debts from the sale price together with any related expenses.

At this stage it is customary to pay a percentage of the purchase price. If you are buying a resale property 10% of the purchase price is usually paid, if you are buying off-plan you will probably pay between 20% and 50%.