Luxury Villa Purchase in Moraira

A villa on the Moraira coast is not a larger version of an apartment purchase. The price is higher, but so is the number of things that can go wrong, and most of them are invisible in the brochure.

The townMoraira’s villa areas, one by one

Every part of Teulada-Moraira raises its own questions. We know which ones to ask because we deal with them every week.

• El Portet, Cap d’Or, Fanadix, Pla del Mar, l’AmpollaFirst-line plots, where the Spanish Coastal Law and the public boundary line fixed for that stretch of coast decide what may ever be altered, extended or rebuilt.
• Benimeit, Paichi, Sabatera, Cap BlancHillside plots with sea views, where the fenced garden, the retaining walls and the pool terraces do not always match the licence or the registered plot.
• Moravit, Pinar de l’Advocat, San JaimeEstablished urbanisations, where the usual question is whether the fenced plot, the registered plot and the licensed house are the same thing.

Legal due diligenceWhat we check before you sign

This is our work as lawyers: documents, registries and public administrations. It is done before the private contract, not after.

• TitleThe Land Registry and the Cadastre against the deed: who owns the property, what surface is registered and whether the two descriptions match.
• Licences and infringementsThe building licences on file at the Teulada town hall, the certificate that no planning infringement is pending, and whether a declaration of new build is needed for anything added later.
• Planning statusThe classification of the land and what it allows, and whether the plot is affected by protected areas or by plans still pending.
• Coastal positionOn first-line plots, the demarcation line and the protection easement, with a certificate from the Coastal Authority where the position of the house requires it.
• Charges and debtsMortgages, embargoes, community debts, IBI and utilities, so that nothing is inherited with the house.
• Who is sellingIdentity and capacity of the seller, marital regime, company representation and powers of attorney.

Technical inspectionWhat we advise you to have an architect check

Some things are not in any registry. On a villa purchase we always advise a prior inspection by an architect, in addition to the legal checks.

• What stands on the plotWhether the house, pool, annexes and terraces match the deed and the licences.
• BoundariesWhether the fenced boundaries match the registered plot.
• Structure and installationsThe condition of the structure, the pool and the installations.
• Year of constructionThe real age of each part of the building, which decides what can still be regularised.

You choose and instruct the architect directly: your own trusted architect or, if you do not have one, Sergio Tomás Arquitectos in Jávea, an independent practice with long experience of this kind of report. We then read the architect’s report alongside the deed and the Land Registry, so that what you pay for, what is registered and what is built are one and the same thing.

ExamplesWhat this looks like in practice

Situations of the kind we deal with regularly on this coast, described in general terms.

1. A first-line villa in El Portet, €3.6 million. The terrace and the pool deck sat inside the coastal protection strip. The house was perfectly saleable, and the buyer was warned before the private contract that the extension towards the sea he had in mind would never be licensed. He bought, at a price that reflected that, and with the Coastal Authority certificate in the deed.
2. A villa in Benimeit with a guest house, €2.2 million. The main house had its licence; the guest house and the garage had been built years later and never declared. The seller was sure it was “all legal after so many years”. We obtained the town hall certificate, the architect confirmed the age of each part, and the missing declaration of new build was signed in a separate deed before the sale. Without that, the buyer would have inherited the problem and paid for it on resale.
3. A plot in Pla del Mar, €1.8 million, bigger on the ground than on paper. The fenced garden was clearly larger than the registered plot: a strip of the neighbouring land had been absorbed decades ago. The Land Registry and the Cadastre did not match, and neither matched the fence. The architect measured it, the boundaries were corrected with the neighbour before completion, and the buyer paid for what he was actually getting.
4. A villa in Cap d’Or, €4.1 million, sold by a company. The seller was a foreign company with several shareholders and a director without powers to sell. Nobody had noticed. We asked for the corporate resolutions and a proper power of attorney before a euro changed hands; it delayed completion by three weeks and avoided a deed that could later have been challenged.
5. A house in Fanadix, €2.6 million, with an old planning file. A planning infringement file from years before was still open at the town hall, invisible in the Land Registry. It appeared in the no-infringement certificate we always request. The seller closed it before completion, at his cost, and the buyer signed with a clean file.

They guided me expertly through a property purchase, showing deep knowledge of Spanish law, attention to detail, and clear communication throughout. Reliable, efficient, and trustworthy.★★★★★Lisa Damen · Google review

Buying through a company

Some buyers hold a Spanish villa through a non-resident company, usually for succession or privacy reasons. It can make sense, and it can be an expensive mistake. It changes how the purchase is taxed, how the property is later sold, how it is inherited and what has to be declared each year. We tell you plainly which of the two applies to your situation before you decide, not after.

Succession

Under the European succession regulation (EU Regulation 650/2012), you may be able to choose the law of your nationality to govern your estate. For a buyer from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom or the United States, that choice — and how your Spanish will is drafted alongside your home-country will — decides what happens to the villa and what your heirs will pay.

How we work

We are independent lawyers. We do not act for estate agents, developers or sellers, and we are not paid by them. The great majority of our purchases are completed without the buyer travelling to Spain: with a power of attorney, we handle the process through to signature at the notary. We reply within 24 hours.

First-line and coastal properties

Villas in El Portet, Cap d’Or, Fanadix, Pla del Mar and l’Ampolla can be affected by the Spanish Coastal Law and by the public boundary line fixed for that stretch of coast. That affects what may be altered or rebuilt, and it must be checked property by property. We explain how on our Moraira property lawyers page, and in detail in our guide to buying first-line property under the Coastal Law.

The lawyers who will handle your purchase

José Manuel Tomas

Conveyancing, Inheritance and Donations · Admitted to the Valencia Bar in 1992 (no. 6407) · Alicante Bar no. 9382

José Rico

Marital and Family Law · Valencia Bar no. 12075

Mariano Ortuño

Civil Law · Valencia Bar no. 6041

Manuel Lopez de Andujar

Inheritance, Conveyancing and Contract Law · Valencia Bar no. 7773

Juan Poch

Conveyancing, Inheritance and Matrimonial Law · Alicante Bar no. 3607

Ruben Bolufer Martinez – Junior Lawyer

Civil and Insurance

María Salvá

Inheritance, Conveyancing and Civil Law – Dénia · Alicante Bar no. 3699

Antonio Rodríguez de Sola

Inheritance, Conveyancing and Civil Law – Dénia · Alicante Bar no. 3374

Selling a high-value villa? See Selling a high-value villa on the Costa Blanca — what we get ready before the villa goes on the market.

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.