Glossary of Terms

Our glossary includes some Spanish words which will be useful if you want to buy a house in Spain. Buying property is a serious business, and even if you don't speak Spanish, if you learn the basic concepts you will feel more confident as you go through the procedure of buying your house in Spain.

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Abogado	Solicitor, Lawyer
Administrador de Fincas	Licensed property administrator
Adosado	Terraced House
API :Agente de la Propiedad Inmobiliaria	Property agent
Amortización	Depreciation, Redemption
Arras	Down payment, deposit
Aval	Guarantee requested by the bank to approve a mortgage application
Caja de ahorros	Savings bank
Cargas	Charges or Debts
Casa	House or Village house
Catastro	Land registry or mapping office
Cedula de habitilidad	Certificate that the property is habitable
Certificado registral	Certificate informing about debts of a specific property
Chalet	Villa
CIF: Certificado de Identificación Fiscal	Fiscal Identification Certificate
Comunidad de propietarios	Community of property owners
Contrato de Compraventa	Private property sales contract. The agreement is signed by buyer and vendor.
Cortijo	Country property with much land

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Declaración de obra nueva	Declaration of a new building in a Escritura in front of a notary
Documento privado	Private document
Documento público	Public document
Escritura	Title Deed
Euribor	Euro Inter-bank Offered Rate
Finca	Large Estate or Working Farm
Gestoría	Accountancy Firm specialised in obtaining official authorisations, permits, licences etc
Hipoteca	Mortgage
IBI: Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles	Annual real estate tax
Impuesto	Tax
Impuesto sobre el patrimonio	Capital gains tax
Incremento de patrimonio	Capital gain
ITP: Impuesto de transmisiones patrimoniales	Property transfer tax
IVA: Impuesto sobre el valor añadido	Value Added Tax
Inmobiliaria	Estate agent

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Licencia de obra	Planning and Building permission
Libre de cargas	Free of debts
NIE: Numero de Identidad de Extranjeros	Spanish identification and personal tax number for foreigners
Notario	Notary
Nota simple	Ownership Certificate from Property Registry
Obra nueva	Document certifying a brand new building
Oferta vinculante	Bank document certifying the exact mortgage conditions
Pago en efectivo	Cash payment
Parcela	Plot of land
Piso	Flat
Poder	Power of attorney
Préstamo hipotecario	Mortgage loan
Plusvalía	Capital gains tax on the sale of property

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Registro de la Propiedad	Property ownership Register
Renta	Income
Representante fiscal	Official tax representative of foreigner
Residencia	Residency
Residente	Resident
Retención	Non resident sellers pay on the notary day a retención of 3% of the purchase price. This is a deposit which the buyer has to pay to the fiscal authorities in the name of the sellers to cover the taxes from any gain in the sale price
Se alquila	For Rent
Se vende	For sale
Seguro de amortización de préstamos	Loan repayment insurance
Seguro multi-riesgo Hogar	House insurance
Señal	Deposit, down payment
Tasación	Independent valuation of property
Terreno	Plot of land
Tipo de interés	Rate of interest
Título de propiedad	Deeds stating the ownership of property, date of sale etc.
Valor Catastral	Assessed value of property for tax purposes

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Still have questions? See Frequently Asked Questions and The Buying Process for more information.

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