Property problems in the Costa del Sol?

An uncontested ejecución hipotecaria usually runs 10 to 18 months from the bank’s first court filing to auction, longer if there’s an opposition or a parallel claim. That timeline is exactly what gives a private sale or a negotiated exit room to happen first.

Often, yes. A controlled private sale can still go ahead right up to the auction date in many cases, and dáción en pago itself can be requested even with a date already set, if the owner qualifies under the umbral de exclusión. Earlier is always better, but a scheduled date isn’t automatically the end of the road.

It’s handing the property back to the bank in exchange for the mortgage debt being cancelled. Under Spanish law, it’s available if household income doesn’t exceed roughly three times the IPREM, or the mortgage payment eats over half of household income, and there’s no negative equity. We check eligibility as part of the first consultation.

Yes. Spanish lenders can and do pursue a shortfall across EU borders. Leaving doesn’t close the case, and ignoring the letters usually makes the eventual number worse, not smaller.

If it’s reported within roughly 48 hours of a break-in, police can remove them directly, no court order needed. Reported later, it becomes a criminal complaint, with a court appearance within 72 hours and a ruling typically within about three weeks of that.

A break-in squatter falls under usurpación, a criminal offense with its own fast police and court route. A tenant who stopped paying, or someone who moved in without ever having a contract, takes the civil desahucio express route instead. They’re different laws with different timelines, which is why identifying the type first matters.

Usually far less than people expect, if the heirs are direct family. It still has to be filed within six months of death regardless of the amount owed.

For a spouse, children, or parents, Andalucía applies a €1,000,000 reduction to the taxable estate plus a 99% bonification on anything left over. In practice, most direct-family inheritances on the Costa del Sol owe close to nothing. The blockage is almost always the paperwork, not the tax bill.

Yes. An heir can renounce, generally within around six months of learning of the inheritance, or accept it a beneficio de inventario, which caps their liability at what the estate is worth rather than exposing their own assets.

Common, and fixable. We work through the notary and registry process to get title correctly recorded before anything else, since nothing else, tax planning included, can move forward until that’s sorted.

Through civil registries, notarial records, and historical documentation. Spanish intestate law reaches out to fourth-degree relatives, so most “no will” cases do have a legal heir somewhere. Finding them is research, not luck.

If nobody comes forward, or every heir renounces, the property ultimately reverts to the Spanish State. Around €100 million in Spanish estates goes unclaimed every year for exactly this reason.

Yes. No cost, no obligation. If we can’t help, we’ll tell you that too, rather than take on a case we can’t move forward.

Yes. That’s the basis of the service. The cases shown on this page are anonymized for that same reason. Your enquiry is handled the same way.

Yes. A power of attorney signed at home, apostilled and translated, is the same route used every day for foreign buyers. It works the same way here, for any of the four situations on this page.

We review it and get back to you, usually within one business day, with an honest read on the situation and what the route forward looks like.

Depends on the case. Any cost is discussed and agreed upfront, before anything is committed to.