Selling Costs Mallorca

What does it cost to sell a property in Mallorca?

Between the agreed price and what lands in your account stand several items: estate agent's commission, energy performance certificate, habitability certificate, lawyer or gestoría, a share of the notary costs, if applicable the cancellation of your mortgage, and the municipal capital gains tax (plusvalía). Only two of these are officially set by tariff — everything else you negotiate yourself.

The calculator above lists every item individually, adds VAT only to the services, and deducts the total from the sale price — that gives the proceeds before capital gains tax. Two amounts are then deducted at the notary appointment that are not costs at all: the settlement of an outstanding mortgage and, for non-residents, the tax withholding. What remains is shown by the calculator as the payout on completion.

How the calculation works

Estate agent's commission — the biggest item, and the most freely negotiable

The commission is the seller's most expensive single item — and freely negotiable. This isn't a market observation but the legal position: Art. 3 of Real Decreto-ley 4/2000 liberalised estate agency, allowing it to be practised without any specific qualification and without membership of a professional body. Without a mandatory professional body, there is no fixed fee schedule — whatever someone tells you is "customary" is a negotiating offer, not a rule.

Added to this is Spanish VAT (IVA — Impuesto sobre el Valor Añadido) at the standard rate of 21%. The calculator lists it separately, because it applies to all the service items together, not to the taxes.

The notary's share — the clause that decides everything

Who pays for the notarisation is set out in Art. 1455 of the Código Civil, the Spanish Civil Code: "Los gastos de otorgamiento de escrituras serán de cuenta del vendedor, y los de la primera copia y los demás posteriores a la venta serán de cuenta del comprador, salvo pacto en contrario." So the notarisation is borne by the seller, and the first copy and everything thereafter by the buyer — unless otherwise agreed.

This clause is the norm in Mallorca: in most purchase contracts, the buyer takes on all the costs, and the agreement takes precedence over the law. That's why the calculator offers both scenarios; under the agreement, your notary share is set to zero, but the line remains visible. The amounts come from the official fee schedule (arancel — the state-set fee schedule for notaries and land registries), from the same scale as used in the calculator for notary and land registry costs. What's negotiable is not the amount, but only who pays it.

On the notary's invoice (minuta) alongside the fee are the suplidos — outlays that the notary advances on your behalf and then charges back, such as registry enquiries. These are not part of the fee and are therefore not included in the calculator's scale; anyone comparing the two figures might otherwise mistake the difference for an error.

Energy Performance Certificate

The Energy Performance Certificate (certificado de eficiencia energética) is mandatory when selling: Art. 3.1.b) of the Real Decreto 390/2021 explicitly covers buildings that are sold, and Art. 17.2 requires that a copy of the registered certificate, including the energy label, be attached to the purchase contract. Under Art. 6.1, it is the owner who must commission and pay for it — so when selling, that's you.

The regulation does not set an official price; the assessor's fee is unregulated, which is why the energy certificate appears as an input field in the calculator. What is regulated, however, is its validity: a certificate is valid for a maximum of ten years, or only five for energy class G (Art. 13.1). If you already have a valid one, this cost item is eliminated. Registration with the Balearic register does involve a fee, though it is negligible compared with the other items.

Cédula de habitabilidad

The habitability certificate (cédula de habitabilidad) confirms that a dwelling is fit for habitation. Art. 16.4 of Ley 5/2018, the Balearic housing law, requires a copy of the valid certificate for every transfer; if it is missing, this must be expressly noted in the deed. So a sale without it is not impossible — but under Art. 16.3 the buyer will not receive final utility contracts, which is why almost everyone insists on it.

It is issued by the Consell Insular de Mallorca, the competent island council. Under Art. 13 of Decret 145/1997, it loses its validity ten years after issue, regardless of any change of owner, resident or user. If yours is valid, no cost arises; if it has expired, you will need a technician, whose fee is again unregulated.

What is notable is what the regulation does not say: it assigns the cost to no one. That the seller bears it follows solely from the fact that the obligation to provide it falls on them; a different arrangement is possible.

Lawyer and administrative office

Whether you engage a lawyer or a gestoría — a Spanish administrative office that handles tax and official procedures — is your decision, and the fee is unregulated. Art. 14 of Ley 2/1974 on professional associations, as amended by Ley 25/2009, prohibits these bodies from setting any fee schedule or recommendation; anyone who shows you a "fee schedule" for lawyers' fees is showing you a document that is no longer legally permitted to exist.

Mortgage cancellation

A registered mortgage must be cancelled at the time of notarisation (escritura — the notarial deed), even if you paid off the loan long ago: repayment cancels the debt, not the entry in the Land Registry.

Here lies an expensive misconception: the assumption that the notarisation tax (AJD — Actos Jurídicos Documentados, the Spanish stamp duty on notarial deeds) applies to the cancellation deed. It does not; Art. 45.I.B).18 of the Real Decreto Legislativo 1/1993 explicitly exempts the first copy. What remains are the notary's and Land Registry's fees, both officially tariffed: the notary charges for the cancellation as a deed with no transaction value, at a fixed amount regardless of the outstanding debt; the Land Registry charges according to its own scale, but not on the outstanding debt itself — rather on a significantly reduced proportion of it, with a floor and a ceiling.

This means the cancellation is almost always significantly cheaper than sellers expect, and for both large and small outstanding debts the cost is fairly similar. The calculator asks for the outstanding debt and works out both fees from it.

Plusvalía municipal

The municipal capital gains tax (plusvalía municipal) taxes the notional increase in value of the plot during your period of ownership. Under Art. 106.1.b) of the Real Decreto Legislativo 2/2004, the person liable for tax on a sale is the transferor — that is, you.

Its amount isn't set by national law but by the tax bylaw (ordenanza fiscal) of the respective municipality — Palma calculates differently to Andratx. That's why it's an input in the calculator: you transfer the amount from the assessment notice issued by your town hall (Ayuntamiento — the Spanish municipal administration). No VAT applies to it, since it is itself a tax; the calculator lists it separately.

Worked examples

Below the calculator you'll find three worked examples, calculated live using the applicable rates and fee schedules. They show how strongly the freely agreed items shift the result, while the officially fixed-rate items barely register.

Special cases

Sale by a non-resident

If you are not tax-resident in Spain, the incidental costs don't change — but what gets paid out on the day of signing does. Two mechanisms interact here. The first is the tax withholding: the buyer withholds 3% of the purchase price (retención — the withheld tax advance payment) and remits it to the tax authority. This isn't a cost item but an advance payment against your capital gains tax; if the final tax bill is lower, you get the difference refunded. Nevertheless, it counts for liquidity at the notary appointment.

The second concerns the municipal capital gains tax. If the seller is a natural person without residence in Spain, the buyer becomes, under Art. 106.2 of the Real Decreto Legislativo 2/2004, the sujeto pasivo sustituto, the substitute taxpayer: the municipality can collect directly from him, even though the tax economically falls on you — and he must report the transfer to the municipality under Art. 110.6.b). No buyer takes on this risk; in practice, the amount is withheld at the notary appointment and paid directly to the town hall.

Property with an outstanding mortgage

If a loan is still outstanding, it is settled from the purchase price at the notary appointment, and the bank declares the cancellation in the same step. Two quite different things occur on the same day, and they are regularly confused. The cancellation fees charged by the notary and the land registry are selling costs; the seller bears them, because they owe a property free of encumbrances, and they are in the double digits. The repayment of the outstanding loan balance is not a cost item but repayment of your own loan: it doesn't reduce the proceeds before capital gains tax, only the payout on the day. The calculator lists both separately.

Missing cédula

If the certificate has expired or one was never issued, you have two options. Either you apply for it before the sale — which brings a technician's fee and an administrative charge, and for older properties the inspection occasionally reveals a need for retrofitting. Or you record the absence in the deed, as required by Art. 16.4 of Ley 5/2018; this is permitted, but it shifts the problem to the buyer — and anyone who spots this will deduct it from the price.

Inherited property

The selling costs are the same; the difference lies on the tax side, because the acquisition value is based on the value used for inheritance tax at the time. This side remains applicable, while the capital gains tax belongs in the capital gains tax calculator. The precondition is that the inheritance has been recorded in the Land Registry.

No building inspection report at time of sale

A building inspection report (informe de evaluación del edificio) is occasionally cited as a condition of sale — wrongly so: the obligation to hand it over to the buyer has been declared void. Whether a municipality requires its own inspection for older buildings is a matter for the local authority.

What the calculator does not include

• Your bank's early repayment penalty. If you repay your loan early, the bank may demand compensation; its amount is set out in the loan agreement, not by law. Do not confuse this with the cancellation fees.
• The capital gains tax. This belongs in the companion calculator; the costs on this page reduce your disposal value there, and thus the tax.
• The current year's property tax. The IBI (Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles, the Spanish property tax) is not a selling cost item but a matter to be settled between the two of you: whoever owned the property on 1 January is liable for the tax. The division should be set out in the sale contract.
• NIE, powers of attorney and sworn translations. Not a separate item — they are included in the fee field for the lawyer and gestoría, where you enter them together.

Deadlines and forms

After signing the deed, three deadlines run in parallel, and none of them will be sent to you.

• Municipal capital gains tax (plusvalía), 30 working days. Art. 110.2.a) of the Real Decreto Legislativo 2/2004 gives you 30 working days from the signing of the deed to declare at the town hall in the case of transfers between living persons. Whether your municipality accepts a declaration or requires self-assessment depends on its tax bylaws — the deadline is the same.
• Modelo 211, one month. This is how the buyer reports the tax withholding. They must pay it to the AEAT (Agencia Estatal de Administración Tributaria, the Spanish tax authority) within one month of the signing of the deed and hand you a copy — your proof, without which you cannot have the withholding credited.
• Modelo 210, subsection H. With the Modelo 210, the Spanish tax return for non-residents, you declare the sale profit yourself and apply for a refund of any amount over-withheld — via subsection H, where you provide your bank details.

Legal basis and status

This overview is based on the following provisions in their currently applicable versions:

• Art. 1455 Código Civil: Allocation of notarisation costs, subject to contractual variation. BOE-A-1889-4763.
• Art. 106.1.b), 106.2, 110.2.a) and 110.6.b) of Real Decreto Legislativo 2/2004 (TRLRHL): Taxpayer liable for the municipal capital gains tax, substitute tax liability of the buyer, deadline and notification obligation. BOE-A-2004-4214.
• Art. 45.I.B).18 of Real Decreto Legislativo 1/1993 (TRLITPAJD — the same law also governs the property transfer tax ITP, Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales, which is borne by the buyer): Exemption for cancellation of the mortgage. BOE-A-1993-25359.
• Real Decreto 1426/1989 (notaries) and Real Decreto 1427/1989 (Land Registrars), as amended by Real Decreto 1612/2011: Fees for cancellation of the mortgage. BOE-A-1989-28111, BOE-A-1989-28112.
• Art. 3.1.b), 6.1, 13.1 and 17.2 of Real Decreto 390/2021: Energy performance certificate — obligation, responsible party, validity, requirement to attach it. BOE-A-2021-9176.
• Art. 16 of Ley 5/2018 (Balearic Housing Act) and Art. 13 of Decret 145/1997: Obligation to present and note the habitability certificate, and its validity. BOE-A-2018-9774.
• Art. 3 of Real Decreto-ley 4/2000 and Art. 14 of Ley 2/1974 as amended by Ley 25/2009: free real estate brokerage, prohibition of fee schedules — the reason why estate agent, lawyer and administration fees are not official amounts. As well as Art. 29 of Real Decreto Legislativo 7/2015 together with STC 143/2017: abolition of the obligation for a building inspection report.

Which rates and amounts apply on the respective reference date is shown by the calculator itself; it also calculates past reference dates.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related calculators

The total of this page is the figure you enter as deductible selling costs in the capital gains tax calculation. How much tax is due and which transitional rules apply for old acquisitions, you can have calculated what the taxman takes from the profit of your sale.

What notarisation and land registry entry cost in total — and thus what you negotiate over in the cost clause — you can have determined from the official fee schedule for notary and land registry; both calculators use the same tariff.