All those who are not tax residents in Spain are required by law to request and obtain a Tax Identification Number in Spain, NIE (Foreigner Identification Number) for natural persons, and CIF (Tax Identification Number) for legal persons .

Desde 2007 la normativa para luchar contra el fraude fiscal ha establecido la obligación para todos los no residentes de acreditar su número de identificación fiscal (NIE o CIF) en el momento del otorgamiento de Escrituras relativas a inmuebles sitos en España, y sin el cual no es posible llevar a cabo el pago de los impuestos que gravan la operación o solicitar la inscripción registral de la correspondiente Escritura.

The responsibilities and guarantees in the process of construction of buildings located in Spain are regulated in Law 38/1999, of November 5, 1999, in force since May 5, 2000, and modified by Law 53/2002 of December 30, 2002, including three different and time-limited types of responsibilities:

1.- Construction defects that affect the completion of construction works: The Law makes the constructor specifically responsible for a period of 1 year.

2.- Defects in elements or facilities that affect the living conditions of the building: The stable Law that any of the parties involved in the construction process may be held responsible for them for a period of three years. 

3.- Defects that affect the structure of the building, putting the strength and stability of the building at risk: The Law establishes that any of the parties involved in the construction process may be held responsible for them for a period of ten years.

The Law establishes the possibility of contracting insurance to cover these responsibilities, the most important being the so-called “Decennial Insurance”, to be contracted by the developer, with the minimum amount covered being the amount of construction costs.

La Ley de Ordenación de la Edificación establece la obligación de llevar a cabo controles técnicos por entidades de supervisión técnica con carácter previo a la emisión de la Póliza de Seguro, que deberá ser solicitada por o de parte del promotor al mismo tiempo que la Licencia de Obras.

Although the Decennial Insurance policy was first established as mandatory for all developers, an important exception was introduced in 2002 for self-promoters, that is, people who instruct the builder to carry out a construction for themselves, not with the intention of transmitting it to a third party, and for which the self-promoters are no longer obliged to contract this Decennial Insurance policy, as long as they expressly waive it in their Deed.

The fact that this insurance policy is now voluntary for self-promoters reduces construction costs, although in the event that the self-promoter decides to transfer the property during a period of ten years, the buyer could demand this insurance policy for the remainder of the ten-year term.

Spanish legislation does not oblige British nationals who own property in Spain to dispose of them by means of a Will granted in Spain, since according to article 9.8 of the Civil Code, “Succession due to death shall be governed by the national law of the deceased ”, And therefore any provision made under the national law of that person will be applicable in Spain. 

However, it is advisable for British citizens to grant a Will in Spain, relating only to assets located in Spain and keeping full validity any other act of last will granted abroad and referring to assets located there, since its compliance will be more fast and cheap than in the case of Wills granted in the UK.

UK law grants its citizens complete freedom to dispose of their property in Spain at the time of their death, e.g. who will be the heir to their assets and in what proportion, being advisable to designate a substitute for the heirs, e.g. in case they could not accept the inheritance, had died or did not survive the testator during the period of 30 days.

From the perspective of the Spanish Inheritance Tax, the grantor of the Will in Spain must take into account that their family relationship with the person / s called to be their heirs will be taken into account by the Spanish Tax Authorities both in the available deductions to the heirs, which are reduced as the family relationship becomes more remote, as to determine the share of Inheritance Tax.