Can British citizens buy property in Spain? Yes. Buying was never the problem. Staying and paying are.

Can British citizens buy property in Spain after Brexit?

Yes. There is no general nationality or residency restriction on buying urban residential property in Spain. A British buyer takes full ownership, pleno dominio, recorded in the Registro de la Propiedad exactly as a Spanish buyer does. What a foreign buyer needs first is an NIE, the foreigner identity number.

The NIE is requested on form EX-15 with the tasa modelo 790 codigo 012, either in Spain at a police station or foreigners' office, or from abroad through a Spanish consulate. Maximum resolution time is five days. It is an identification and tax number, not a residence permit, and the two are frequently confused by people selling property.

The deed is signed before a notary as an escritura publica, because only a public deed can be registered, and registration is what protects you against third parties. A lawyer is not legally required. Most British buyers use one anyway, which is a different question from whether the law demands it.

What a foreign owner holds and every rule that touches it: foreign property ownership in Spain, explained.

What does non-EU status actually change for a British buyer?

Three concrete things. The non-resident income tax rate on Spanish property income is 24% for non-EU residents against 19% for residents of the EU, Iceland and Norway. Expenses are deductible from rent only for EU and EEA residents under the tax agency's guidance. And one old military-authorisation rule stops exempting you.

• The rate. Impuesto sobre la Renta de No Residentes runs at 19% for EU, Iceland and Norway residents and 24% for everyone else.
• The base. On let property the base is the gross rent with no expenses deductible, except for EU and EEA residents with effective tax-information exchange, who may deduct expenses directly related to the Spanish income.
• Military authorisation. Ley 8/1975 requires authorisation for foreigners acquiring property in zones restricted for national defence. An additional provision added by Ley 31/1990 says the limitation does not apply to natural persons holding the nationality of an EU member state. In practice the authorisation is reported to bite only on rustic land in restricted zones, which cover about 1,560 municipalities including the Balearic and Canary archipelagos. Urban flats, houses and building plots are not affected.

Note what the tax rate turns on. It is tax residence, not the passport. A British national who is tax resident in an EU state is on the 19% side.

How long can a British owner stay in their own Spanish house?

Short stays in the Schengen area are up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Owning the property does not extend that and does not create a residence right. Spain's investor residence route, the golden visa, was abolished with effect from 3 April 2025, so buying a house no longer buys time.

Ley Organica 1/2025 left articles 63 to 67 of Ley 14/2013, the investor visa and residence provisions, without content. Applications filed before 3 April 2025 are resolved under the old rules, and visas or authorisations valid on that date keep their validity for the period issued, with renewals processed under the rules in force when the initial authorisation was granted.

If you want more than 90 days in any 180, you are looking at a residence permit under a separate regime, and no amount of property changes that. Plan the visa and the purchase as two different projects.

What does a British owner pay in Spain every year, even when the house is empty?

Two things at least. Municipal property tax, IBI, charged on the cadastral value at a minimum of 0.4% and a maximum of 1.10% for urban property before council-specific increases. And non-resident income tax on imputed income: 1.1% or 2% of the cadastral value, taxed at 24%, declared on Modelo 210.

The imputed income catches people out because nothing has been earned. The rate is 1.1% of the cadastral value where the municipality's values were collectively revised and in force from 1 January 2012 onwards, and 2% otherwise. No expenses are deductible, it is pro-rated by days owned and days let, and it accrues on 31 December.

On top of that, non-resident individuals are liable to wealth tax by obligacion real on assets situated in Spain, with a minimum exempt amount of EUR 700,000 and a state scale from 0.2% to 3.5%, tested on 31 December. The temporary solidarity tax on large fortunes applies above EUR 3,000,000 of net wealth to the same taxpayers. Line by line: Spain property tax for foreigners.

Is the 100% tax on non-EU buyers real?

It is a bill, not law. The proposed complementary state tax on transfers of Spanish real estate to people not resident in the EU is Article 4 of a Socialist parliamentary group bill filed on 22 May 2025. On the Congreso record consulted for this page it was still waiting for its first plenary vote, where it had sat since 5 September 2025.

Read the bill's own terms rather than the headlines. As drafted it sets a rate of 100% on onerous acquisitions of Spanish real estate by individuals and entities not resident in the EU, on the greater of the cadastral reference value and the agreed price, with the transfer tax actually paid deductible, and transfers subject to VAT, which covers most new builds bought from developers, outside its scope.

Two things follow. Do not price it into a purchase, because it is not a cost that exists. And do not treat it as dead either, because a bill waiting for a vote can be revived, amended or dropped. Check the Congreso record before you rely on either statement.

What happens when a British owner sells a Spanish property?

The buyer withholds 3% of the agreed price and pays it to the Treasury on Modelo 211 within one month of the transfer, as a payment on account. The gain itself is taxed at 19% for all non-residents, EU and non-EU alike. The seller files Modelo 210 within three months after that one-month period.

If the 3% exceeds the tax actually due, the excess is refundable. The reinvestment exemption for a main home is for EU and EEA residents selling their habitual residence, so it does not reach a British investment or holiday property.

Separately the municipal plusvalia, the tax on the increase in value of urban land, is due on a sale. Each municipality sets the rate and it cannot exceed 30%. Then HMRC: its published position is that a UK resident will normally pay UK tax on foreign income, and a non-UK-resident will not. Take the treaty and credit position to an adviser who handles both sides. Step by step: selling property in Spain as a foreigner.

Header photo: Gerda Arendt, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. All credits: image credits.