Straight talk · 2 July 2026 · 6 min read
The seven mistakes Irish buyers make in Spain.
The Spanish property process is not dangerous. But it has a handful of well-worn traps, and the same ones catch Irish buyers over and over. None of them are exotic. All of them are avoidable if you know they exist.
Here they are, worst first.
1. Buying on day three of the viewing trip
You flew in Friday. It is 26 degrees, you have seen nine apartments, the agent says two other couples are interested, and the terrace on the last one had a sea view. This is the exact moment people commit €30,000 they should not.
The fix: decide before you fly that you will not sign anything on the trip. A reservation can wait 48 hours after you land home. A property that cannot survive two days of reflection was never the right property.
2. Using the lawyer the agent hands you
The agent gets paid when the sale closes. A lawyer recommended by the agent, or worse, shared with the seller, has a quiet incentive to keep things moving rather than raise problems. Most are decent. You are not paying to hope for decent.
The fix: appoint your own independent, English-speaking lawyer before you make an offer. Around 1% of the price. It is the best money in the whole transaction.
3. Budgeting the price instead of the price plus 10%
A €350,000 resale costs about €380,000 by the time transfer tax, the lawyer, notary and registry are paid. Buyers who did not plan for that either drop their budget mid-search or squeeze the contingency out of their finances. We published the full worked example so nobody has to guess.
4. Counting rental income before checking the rules
“It will pay for itself in summer lets” is only true if the property can legally be let. Holiday rentals in Andalusia need a licence, and communities of owners can restrict tourist lets in their buildings. Plenty of buyers discover this after completion.
The fix: if rental income is part of your maths, make the licence question part of your lawyer's checks, not an afterthought.
5. Buying the holiday instead of the life
A town that is perfect in August can be shuttered in January. If you plan to spend real time there, or retire there eventually, visit out of season. The towns with year-round life, Fuengirola and Málaga city among them, look very different in winter from the resort strips.
6. Ignoring the community of owners
The apartment is yours. The building is shared. Community fees, arrears, upcoming special levies for that roof repair nobody mentioned: it is all in the community's minutes and accounts, and your lawyer can get them. An apartment with a €12,000 levy coming is not the bargain it looked.
7. Letting your bank set the exchange rate
Moving a six-figure sum through a standard bank transfer at the counter rate can quietly cost thousands compared with a currency specialist. It never shows up as a fee, so nobody notices. On the biggest transfer of your life, get a second quote. Ten minutes, real money.
The pattern
Look back through the list. Not one of these mistakes is about picking the wrong town or the wrong apartment. They are all about process, timing and independent advice. That is fixable, and fixing it is most of what we do.