Contrato de reserva and contrato de arras
How do reservation and deposit contracts (contrato de reserva and contrato de arras) work in Spain?
After agreeing the price with the seller, you sign the contrato de reserva — taking the property off the market and locking in the terms. You then sign the contrato de arras with a deposit, typically 10% of the value, and a set completion deadline. If the buyer withdraws — the deposit is lost; if the seller withdraws — they must return double.
Between the contrato de reserva and the contrato de arras, typically 2–3 weeks pass — time for the buyer to complete full due diligence and, if financing, secure mortgage pre-approval.
The standard contrato de arras in Spain is arras penitenciales, governed by Article 1454 of the Civil Code (or Article 621-8 of the Catalan Civil Code) — a breach-of-contract model in which the buyer loses 10% / the seller returns double the deposit. Two other types exist: arras confirmatorias (confirmation only, no right of withdrawal) and arras penales (with penalties beyond deposit return). Penitenciales is the default and most common choice.
A well-drafted contrato de arras must include: detailed property description with registry number, agreed price, deposit amount, the date of the final signing at the notary, contingencies (e.g., positive mortgage decision), seller's declaration of no encumbrances, a list of documentation the seller must hand over to the buyer, and a list of included furnishings.
Defects discovered during the arras period — if due diligence uncovers encumbrances, unregistered renovations, missing ITE, or other seller-side legal defects, the buyer recovers 100% of the deposit without penalty. This is precisely why due diligence happens between reserva and arras, not after arras.
Notary deadline: typically 30–60 days after signing arras. With mortgage financing — minimum 60, safer 75. Shorter timelines possible with cash purchase and a clean document trail.
Anteris prepares the full version and coordinates revisions from both sides — in practice this is more cost-effective than hiring an external lawyer for every stage, and the quality is often higher because lawyers may know the law but not the local market. Specialist legal counsel may be necessary for more complex transactions — for example, purchases through a corporate vehicle, or properties with legal defects that we decide to acquire anyway because of an attractive price.
Last reviewed: 20260514