SOBE Knowledge
What Is an Off-Plan Property?
Today’s price for tomorrow’s building — staged payments, statutory bank guarantees, and a file that must prove what the law promises.
What buying off-plan means
Off-plan is buying a home that exists on drawings: a fixed price today, staged payments during construction, delivery in one to three years.
The appeal is real — today’s price for tomorrow’s building, first choice of units, modern specification — and so is the structure of the risk: your money moves before the asset exists. Spanish law answers that asymmetry with the strongest consumer protection in the market, and the entire craft of buying off-plan well is making sure those protections are actually in your file, not merely in the legislation.
The protections the law requires
Every euro → into the developer’s special account, used only for this project
If the home is not delivered on time, the guarantees refund every payment with interest. The mechanics matter: demand the individual guarantee certificate with each instalment, keep every one, and verify that your transfers go to the special account the guarantee names. A developer reluctant to produce avales is telling you something worth hearing. Behind the whole structure stands the seguro decenal — the mandatory ten-year structural insurance that survives delivery.
The sequence, and its checkpoints
Reservation → private purchase contract with the payment schedule — commonly 20–30% through construction, the balance at completion, usually against a mortgage → construction → snagging → LPO → escritura.
The checkpoints before the first serious payment: the building licence actually granted — not “requested”; the developer’s solvency read, not assumed; the specification signed as a contractual annex, because the render is marketing and the annex is law; and the delay clauses symmetrical enough to mean something. Taxes, for clarity: new builds carry IVA at 10% plus AJD at 1.2% — not ITP.
Verified before presented
New Developments with SOBE Invest
Licences, stage-payment guarantees and delivery terms checked on every project — including branded residences by DarGlobal.
Four ways off-plan purchases go wrong
1. Paying before the licence exists. Money against a project still “in tramitación” is a loan to the developer’s optimism. The building licence comes first.
2. Payments without individual guarantees. The law grants them; only your file proves them. One certificate per instalment, archived.
3. Transfers outside the special account. The guarantee protects money that travelled the guaranteed route. A different account is a different story.
4. Buying the render. Finishes, brands, measurements — contractual annex or imagination. Insist on the former, then snag against it at delivery.
Frequently asked questions
Is buying off-plan in Spain safe?
The legal framework is the strongest in the market: every stage payment must be secured by a bank guarantee or insurance and paid into the developer's special account, refundable with interest on non-delivery. Safety in practice means verifying those protections exist in your file - certificate by certificate.
How are payments structured?
Commonly a reservation, then 20-30% of the price in instalments during construction under the private contract, with the balance at completion - usually against a mortgage arranged as delivery approaches.
What taxes does an off-plan purchase pay?
IVA at 10% plus AJD stamp duty at 1.2% - the new-build regime. ITP does not apply to a first transmission from the developer.
What should I check before the first payment?
That the building licence is granted rather than merely requested; the developer's solvency; the specification signed as a contractual annex; the delay and penalty clauses; and the individual guarantee arriving with each instalment.
What happens if the developer delivers late?
The guarantees entitle you to a refund of everything paid, with interest, if delivery misses the contractual window - or you may hold the purchase and claim under the delay clauses. Which door to choose is a position your lawyer takes with the file in hand.