Conveyancing Lawyer Moraira | Property Lawyer Costa Blanca

Searching for a conveyancing solicitor in Moraira? Our property lawyers handle the complete legal process of buying and selling real estate in Moraira and Teulada. From contract review to Land Registry registration, we ensure your transaction is legally secure and hassle-free.

Buying Property in Moraira

• Due diligence — Land Registry searches (Registro de la Propiedad de Dénia), planning verification at the Ayuntamiento de Teulada-Moraira, debt and charge checks
• Contract review — reservation agreements, arras contracts, new build purchase agreements
• NIE and bank account — tax number and Spanish banking
• Notary completion — signing the escritura at the nearest notary (Dénia or Jávea)
• Post-completion — Land Registry registration, utility transfers, IBI, community fees

Selling Property in Moraira

• Sale preparation — EPC, Cédula de Habitabilidad, community debt certificates
• Contract drafting and coordination with the buyer’s lawyer
• Plusvalía at the Ayuntamiento de Teulada-Moraira

Moraira Property Areas

Moraira offers a diverse range of properties across several distinct areas:

• El Portet — charming bay area with villas and apartments
• Cap Blanc — exclusive clifftop properties with sea views
• Benimeit — popular hillside residential area
• Solpark / Pla del Mar — established neighbourhoods with mature gardens
• Moraira centre — townhouses and apartments near amenities
• Cumbre del Sol — clifftop urbanisation on the Benitachell border

Contact Us

We speak English, French, and Spanish. Over 30 years of experience.

Call: +34 607 320 768
WhatsApp: +34 607 320 768
Email: [email protected]

Our Legal Services Across Costa Blanca

Expert legal services throughout the Costa Blanca:

• Conveyancing Lawyer in Jávea
• Conveyancing Lawyer in Dénia
• Conveyancing Lawyer in Altea
• Conveyancing Lawyer in Benissa
• Conveyancing Lawyer in Teulada
• Property Lawyer in Moraira
• Inheritance Lawyer in Moraira
• Power of Attorney in Moraira
• Achat Immobilier à Moraira (Français)
• Woning Kopen in Moraira (Nederlands)

Frequently Asked Questions

Are there special planning rules in Moraira?

Yes. The Teulada-Moraira municipality has specific urban planning rules (PGOU) that affect building permits, extensions, pools, and renovations. Many older properties were built under different regulations. Our due diligence includes a thorough check of planning compliance and any required certificates.

What is the deposit when buying in Moraira?

The standard deposit in an arras contract is a percentage of the price. This is paid when the private contract is signed. If the buyer withdraws, they forfeit the deposit. If the seller withdraws, they must return double the deposit amount.

Can I get a mortgage to buy in Moraira?

Yes. Spanish banks offer mortgages to non-residents, typically lending up to a portion of the property value (whichever is lower). We can recommend trusted mortgage brokers who specialise in expat lending on the Costa Blanca.

What is the 3% retention when selling as a non-resident?

For comprehensive legal assistance, explore our full range of conveyancing lawyers in Costa Blanca services. Our English and French-speaking team supports international clients across Jávea, Moraira, Dénia and the wider Costa Blanca region.

Buying in Moraira: what actually needs checking

Moraira is the coastal part of the municipality of Teulada-Moraira. That matters more than it sounds: the town hall, the planning department and the licensing records are in Teulada, and the property itself is registered at the Registro de la Propiedad de Dénia. A buyer who is told that everything is handled “in Moraira” is being told something that is not quite right, and it is usually the first sign that the person advising them does not work here.

Coastal law. Properties in El Portet, Cap d’Or, Fanadix, Pla del Mar and Playa de l’Ampolla can fall within the protection and transit easements of the Ley de Costas. This is not a formality: it restricts what can be built, extended or enclosed, and it rarely appears in the sales brochure. We check the official boundary line — the deslinde — against the plot before you commit to anything.

Municipal planning. We confirm how the plot is classified under the planning rules of Teulada-Moraira, which licences were actually granted, and whether what stands on the plot matches what was authorised. Extensions, pool houses, terraces and boundary walls added over the years are the usual source of surprises in this municipality.

And we do not do this from a desk. Where the property or the price justifies it, the survey is carried out by our own trusted architect, with many years of experience preparing exactly this kind of report on the Costa Blanca. A lawyer can read a registry entry; only a surveyor who knows the terrain here can tell you whether what you are buying was lawfully built.

We have acted for buyers on purchases of €1.8 million and above, including transactions where coastal easement issues had to be resolved before completion.

All of this happens before the deposit contract is signed, not after. Once the arras are signed, your negotiating position is gone.

Disclaimer. The information on this page is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice. Every property and every transaction is different, and the applicable rules may change. No decision should be taken on the basis of this page alone without obtaining advice on your specific case. Tomas Ballestero Lawyers accepts no liability for actions taken in reliance on this general information.

Buying at the top of the Moraira market? See our page on luxury villa purchase in Moraira.

What is actually built, and what the deed says

Most villas in Moraira and Teulada are not what their deeds describe. A house registered decades ago may today have a garage that became a guest flat, a terrace that was covered in, a basement that was dug out, a summer kitchen, a pool, a pergola that turned into a room. Each was a decision by a previous owner, and in many cases it was never declared, never licensed and never registered.

Three separate records describe the same house, and none of them has to agree with the others: the Land Registry in Denia, which holds what you legally own; the Cadastre, which holds what the tax authorities have on file; and the physical reality standing on the plot. A buyer who has read only the nota simple has seen one of the three.

The gap matters in practical ways. Banks lend against what is registered, so if the valuer measures more than the registry describes, the mortgage can stall. When you come to sell, the buyer’s lawyer will find what your lawyer did not. Insurance may not cover what was never declared. And if you want to carry out work yourself, the town hall in Teulada starts from the registered and licensed position, not from what is there.

Undeclared work can often be regularised. Spanish law allows an existing building to be declared on the basis of its age, where enough time has passed that planning legality can no longer be restored. It requires a technical certificate from an architect stating what exists and since when — and it is not available everywhere. On non-developable land inland of Teulada, buildings may instead fall under the regime of fuera de ordenación, or require a procedure to minimise territorial impact under the Valencian planning law. Which of these applies is a technical question, not a guess.

This is why we send our architect before a client signs. He measures the house, compares it against the registry description, the cadastral record and the licences held at the town hall, and tells us what is legal, what can be regularised, what cannot, and what the gap will cost to close. That report changes the negotiation. It has stopped clients buying a house whose guest annexe could never be legalised, and it has also been the reason a client bought with confidence when the selling agent had no answer.

Who is actually selling you the house

Before the price, before the survey, before the mortgage, one question decides whether there is a purchase at all: does the person offering to sell have the power to sell? The name on the deed is not always the answer.

The seller is a company. The signature must come from someone with authority to give it. A director’s ordinary powers do not automatically extend to selling the company’s principal asset. If the company is foreign, its powers must be proved in a form a Spanish notary will accept — normally apostilled and translated by a sworn translator. We also confirm the company exists and is in good standing.

The property belongs to several people. In a proindiviso all the co-owners must sell. One brother agreeing is not a sale. If one is abroad, or unwell, or not speaking to the others, he must grant a valid power of attorney, and that takes time. Where two of the co-owners are a divorced couple, we read what the divorce settlement actually says about the property, because what was agreed between them and what the Land Registry shows are frequently different things.

The owner has died. This is the most common one on this coast. The property is still registered in the name of a parent who died years ago and the family is selling. Nothing can be sold until the inheritance has been formally accepted and registered — the will or declaration of heirs, every heir signing, the inheritance tax settled, the property put into the heirs’ names. If the deceased was foreign, the law governing the succession has to be determined first. This is not paperwork that can be done in the week before completion.

The seller is married. Where the property is the family home, the spouse’s consent is needed even if only one of them is the registered owner. Where the couple married abroad, their matrimonial property regime — and therefore who owns what — may be governed by foreign law.

Someone is signing under a power of attorney. We read it. Is it in force? Was it granted for this? Does it allow the attorney to receive the price? Has it been revoked?

Every one of these situations comes through our office regularly and every one of them can be resolved. What cannot be resolved easily is discovering it after a deposit has been paid, when the money is in someone else’s hands and the contract you signed did not contemplate the problem.

Whose name does the property go into

Buyers tend to treat this as an administrative detail to be settled at the notary. It is not. It is one of the few decisions in a purchase that is expensive to change afterwards, and it is usually taken in a hurry at the worst possible moment.

You can buy in your own name; jointly, in which case you must also decide the shares and those shares have consequences later; as a married couple, where what each of you owns may be determined by the matrimonial property regime you married under, which for most foreign buyers is not the Spanish one; jointly with children, often done with succession in mind, which works but creates co-owners who from that moment have rights of their own; or through a company, Spanish or foreign, which can make sense in larger transactions or where the property will be let, but which brings continuing obligations and its own tax treatment.

It has to be decided before the deposit contract, because the contrato de arras names the buyer. If the buyer named there is you personally and the deed is then granted in favour of your company, your spouse or your children, the transaction no longer matches the contract. Depending on how it is handled that can mean renegotiating with the seller, redrafting, or the operation being treated as two transactions rather than one — with the consequences of two.

There is a practical point as well. Everyone who appears on the deed needs a NIE. If you decide at the last minute to add your son to the purchase and he does not have one, the signing date moves.

The right moment for this conversation is at the beginning, when you instruct a lawyer, alongside the questions about the property itself. It takes one meeting. Left until later, it takes money.

This information is general and does not constitute legal advice. Every property and every purchase is different; please contact us so we can review your specific case.

We act for buyers in the neighbouring towns as well. If your purchase is in Benitachell, see our page for conveyancing solicitors in Benitachell.