Notary in Spain: when you need one and how to book a visit

When does Spanish law require a notary?

Art. 1280 of the Código Civil (Boletín Oficial del Estado, BOE, consolidated text read in 2026) requires a public document, in practice a notary’s deed (escritura pública), for acts that create, transfer, modify or extinguish rights over real estate, for marriage settlements, and for the assignment or waiver of inheritance rights.

The same article covers several powers of attorney (poderes): the power to marry, the general power for litigation, special powers that must be presented in court, the power to administer property, and any other power whose object is an act in a public deed or that may affect third parties.

For some acts the deed is a condition of validity. Marriage settlements (capitulaciones matrimoniales) are valid only in a public deed (art. 1327). A gift of real estate is valid only in a public deed (art. 633). A person who repudiates an inheritance must do so before a notary (art. 1008). An open will (testamento abierto) is granted before a notary who is authorised to act in the place where it is granted (art. 694).

Not everything needs a notary. Under art. 1278 of the Código Civil, contracts are binding whatever their form, provided that the essential conditions for validity are present. The art. 1280 list covers leases of real estate only when they run for six or more years and must affect third parties.

Choose your own notary, then book the appointment

Anyone who requests notarial services in Spain has the right to choose the notary, with no limits other than those in the legal system (art. 126 of the Reglamento Notarial, BOE consolidated text read in 2026). In sales by professional sellers and in banking contracts, that right belongs to the buyer or client.

The right has one limit: the buyer or client may not impose a notary who lacks a reasonable connection with any of the personal or property elements of the transaction.

Practice is harder than the text. A Madrid notary, who recounts clients who had to argue with the bank to sign at the notary that they chose, wrote this about mortgage loans:

“As for the right to choose a notary freely, the bank cannot choose the notary, directly or indirectly; nor can it organise a system that excludes any notary or requires some kind of ‘authorisation’; nor is a consumer’s waiver of the right to choose valid.”

Valerio Pérez de Madrid Carreras, notary of Madrid, in El Notario del Siglo XXI

To find an office, use the English-language finder “Choose your notary” of the Consejo General del Notariado (the General Council of Notaries). It lists the address, phone and email of each notary and, where applicable, the languages spoken. The page has no online booking, so you contact the office directly. The alternative is the Portal Notarial del Ciudadano, which offers an option to request an appointment and refers to almost 3,000 notary offices.

What to bring: passport, NIE and an interpreter

A foreigner who is resident in Spain proves identity before a notary with a passport or a residence permit issued by a Spanish authority, and a non-resident foreigner with a passport or another official identity document from the home country (art. 161 of the Reglamento Notarial, 2026 consolidated text). The document must carry your photograph and your signature.

For a deed that concerns ownership or other rights over real estate, or any other deed with tax relevance, you must also prove your tax identification number to the notary, who records it in the deed (art. 23 of the Ley del Notariado). For an individual without Spanish nationality, that number is the NIE (art. 20.1 of Real Decreto 1065/2007).

Language is where many commercial English-language pages mislead: they say that you must bring a sworn translator (traductor jurado). Art. 150 of the Reglamento Notarial says something different for ordinary deeds. If the notary knows your language, the notary authorises the deed and records that the content was translated orally and that it faithfully reflects your will. An interpreter is required only when you do not know the language of the deed sufficiently and the notary cannot communicate its content personally. That interpreter is a person whom you designate, who declares that the translation conforms to the original and who also signs the deed. The article does not require a sworn translator. An individual notary must still be satisfied that you understood, so an office may set a stricter practice: ask when you book.

Mortgage borrowers: one extra visit before signing day

A home mortgage borrower in Spain must appear before the chosen notary no later than the day before the mortgage deed is authorised (art. 15.3 of Ley 5/2019, BOE consolidated text read in 2026). At that visit the notary prepares a transparency record (acta), and this record generates no notary fee (art. 15.8).

The calendar starts earlier. The lender must deliver the pre-contract documents at least 10 calendar days before signing (art. 14.1) and must warn you that you are obliged to receive personalised, free advice from the notary that you choose (art. 14.1.g). At the visit you answer a test in the presence of the notary (art. 15.2.c). Any individual who acts as guarantor has the same duty to appear (art. 15.4).

The consequence is strict. If the documents were not delivered in time, or if the borrower does not appear in time, the notary records this and the mortgage deed cannot be authorised (art. 15.5). The signing is then blocked, and that can run past a purchase deadline agreed with the seller. On cost, the lender bears the notary fees of the mortgage loan deed, and copies are paid by whoever requests them (art. 14.1.e.ii).

Signing in person, by video call or from abroad

At a signing in Spain, the notary must attest to having read the whole deed to the parties or having let them read it, at their choice, and to having told them that they have the right to read it themselves (art. 25 of the Ley del Notariado and art. 193 of the Reglamento Notarial, 2026 consolidated texts).

The signed original (escritura matriz) stays with the notary (art. 17.1 of the Ley del Notariado), and you receive a copy. Copies must be issued within five working days after authorisation (art. 249.1 of the Reglamento Notarial).

A video call replaces the visit only for the acts listed in art. 17 ter.1 of the Ley del Notariado. The list includes powers of attorney for court representation, for dealing with public administrations and for specific acts, the legitimation of signatures (legitimación de firmas), and company formation with cash contributions. General or preventive powers cannot be authorised by video call, and property purchases and mortgage loans are not on the list.

From abroad, Spanish career consuls exercise notarial functions, and the deeds that they authorise are valid throughout Spain (Reglamento Notarial, Anexo III, arts. 1 and 17). The Spanish Consulate General in London states that a power of attorney for use only in Spain can instead be granted before a British notary, but it must then carry the Hague Apostille and be translated by an official translator.

Fixed notary fees in 2026 under Real Decreto 1426/1989

Notary fees in Spain are set by a state fee schedule (Arancel), under which a power of attorney in general costs a fixed €30.050605 and a notarial record costs €36.060726 in 2026 (source: Real Decreto 1426/1989, Anexo I, número 1, BOE consolidated text). Per-page charges, copies and 21% VAT are added.

The notarial record is the highest fixed fee in the table, and the mortgage transparency record is the lowest, because it is free.

Several charges are added to the fixed fee. Pages of the original deed cost €3.005061 per written side from the fifth page inclusive (número 7). In a power of attorney, each grantor beyond two adds €6.010121. The standard VAT rate of 21% (art. 90.Uno of Ley 37/1992) is added to notary fees.

How the 2026 sliding scale prices a property deed

A deed with an amount, such as a property purchase, pays a notary fee on a sliding scale that starts at €90.151816 for values up to €6,010.12 and falls to 0.3 per thousand on the part between €601,012.10 and €6,010,121.04 (source: Real Decreto 1426/1989, Anexo I, número 2.1, BOE consolidated text in force in 2026). A 5% reduction applies to the result.

Here is a worked example, calculated from the scale and not a quoted price. Hannah, a hypothetical buyer, signs a purchase deed for a flat at €250,000. The five bands that her price crosses contribute these amounts:

• First band: €90.152
• Second band, at 4.5 per thousand: €108.182
• Third band, at 1.5 per thousand: €45.076
• Fourth band, at 1 per thousand: €90.152
• Fifth band, at 0.5 per thousand on the part above €150,253.03: €49.873

The scale gives €383.44 (rounded). After the 5% reduction, the base deed fee is €364.26, before the per-page charges, the copies and the 21% VAT. Loans and credits, personal or mortgage, get a 25% reduction on the scale (número 2.2), and the 5% reduction applies on top of it (número 2.1).

The bill (minuta) must state the items, the bases and the fee-schedule numbers applied, and the notary must sign it (Anexo II, norma novena). You may challenge it within 15 working days of its notification or delivery, before the notary or directly before the governing board of the Colegio Notarial, and the decision of the board can be appealed within 10 working days to the Directorate-General (norma décima).

Foreign home buyers in the second half of 2025: the Notariado figures

Foreigners bought 66,629 free-market homes in Spain in the second half of 2025, which was 18.4% of all purchases and 4.4% fewer than a year earlier (source: Consejo General del Notariado, published 9 April 2026). British buyers led with 5,178 purchases, and Moroccan buyers followed with 5,154.

Price separates the groups more than nationality does: non-resident foreigners paid an average of €3,242 per m², resident foreigners €1,963 per m² and Spanish buyers €1,839 per m². TrendBite’s reading is that, with a foreign buyer in almost one in five purchases, the interpreter rule of art. 150 is routine work for a notary office and not a special favour.

Last verified on 14 October 2026 against the BOE consolidated texts of the Código Civil, the Ley del Notariado, the Reglamento Notarial, Real Decreto 1426/1989 and Ley 5/2019.