Buying a prefab house in Spain as a foreigner

Start with an NIE and your own lawyer

The NIE (número de identidad de extranjero) is the number the Spanish authorities use to identify you for tax and for buying property. Get it first.

• •Where: at the Spanish consulate for the country you live in, or in Spain at a police station or foreigners' office. The Policía Nacional page for the procedure names form EX-15 and the fee, tax form 790 code 012.
• •Why you are asking: the form asks for your economic, professional or social reasons, and the London consulate asks for documents that prove them.
• •If you cannot go: a representative can apply, with a power of attorney that expressly covers the NIE and carries an apostille.
• •How long: the police say it must be resolved within five days of registration; the London consulate says about three weeks and lists a fee of £8.65.

The NIE is only an identification number: it gives you no right to live in Spain.

Then hire a lawyer who works only for you and knows Spanish land law (urbanismo), not the seller's or the manufacturer's. The UK government advises you not to sign or pay anything before independent legal advice, and says only a gestor administrativo with the "GA" mark is qualified to deal with the Spanish administration directly. You can choose your notary, and the notary councils' directory lists the languages some speak. The deed is in Spanish: if you do not understand it, the notary records that an interpreter took part.

Two rules that depend on your passport

Military authorisation. Under Law 8/1975, foreigners who buy property in "restricted access zones", or build there, need a military authorisation, and notaries and registrars must check it. Nationals of EU member states are exempt. The British have been treated as non-EU since 1 January 2021, and Norway and Iceland are in the EEA but not the EU, so ask your lawyer how the rule applies to you.

• •Where: the UK government lists areas around Cartagena, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Bay of Cádiz, plus the Balearic and Canary Islands. Málaga and Alicante are not named there, but the rule works plot by plot, so have your lawyer check yours.
• •What it covers: purchases, mortgages and building works, so a prefab house on a plot inside a zone needs it too.
• •If you skip it: the law allows demolition, expropriation and fines.

Ask your lawyer how long the authorisation currently takes.

Residency. Spain's golden visa, which gave residence for property investment, stopped taking new applications on 3 April 2025 (Organic Law 1/2025). Owning a house does not stretch your stay either: UK citizens can visit for up to 90 days in any 180.

No ban, but check again. A proposed 100% tax on non-EU non-resident buyers, lodged in Congress, and a January 2026 request by the Canary Islands government to the European Commission to limit purchases were not in force when The Local reported on them in May 2026.

Choose the plot first: urban or rural

In Spain the land, not the house, decides whether you can build. Rural land is almost never an option for a home: the Land Law assigns it to agricultural, livestock and forestry uses, and a house fits only through exceptions each region writes. Prefab houses are no exception: the same law requires an express permit to place them, "temporary or permanent", and the Supreme Court applied it to mobile homes in December 2024.

Regions differ. Check these against the version in force:

• •Andalusia (Málaga, Cádiz): a detached home on rural land is an extraordinary action that needs prior authorisation (up to six months, and silence means no) plus a compensatory levy of 15% of the material construction budget.
• •Valencian Community (Alicante): at least one hectare, with a maximum site coverage of 2%.
• •Murcia, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands have their own land laws: ask the town hall.

Before paying for any plot, collect three things:

• •A nota simple from the Land Registry: owner, registered area, charges and easements. It can come with an English translation, but the Spanish version is the one that counts.
• •The Cadastre's electronic office: cadastral reference and area. If they do not match the registry or the advert, ask why.
• •Written planning information on that property. It is a right under article 5.d of the Land Law, and may be called cédula urbanística, planning report or certificate of compatibility.

Make your reservation deposit conditional on that written answer. Registering your address at the property does not make the house legal. By province: Málaga, Alicante, Murcia, Mallorca, Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Cádiz.

The licence: the same as for a brick house

On urban land a prefab house follows the path of any other home, and each document opens the next:

1. 1A project by an architect, stamped by their professional association, which Spanish rules make compulsory for building projects.
2. 2The building licence (licencia de obra). Without it, work cannot start.
3. 3The certificate of completion.
4. 4First occupancy (a licence, a habitability certificate or a responsible declaration, depending on the region). Without it there are no permanent water and electricity supplies.
5. 5The new-build deed at a notary, then the Land Registry and the Cadastre.

Fees are calculated on the material construction budget, not on the sale price. The ICIO construction tax is capped by law at 4% of that budget, and the licence fee, which each town hall sets, usually stays below 1.5%. Turnkey does not mean licence included: ask in writing.

Taxes on the plot, the build and every year after

This is general information, not tax advice: confirm every rate with a gestor or a tax adviser.

The plot. What you pay depends on what it is and who sells it:

• •Rural or non-buildable land is exempt from VAT even when a company sells it, so it pays ITP (transfer tax) at your region's rate. Where a region sets none, the State rate is 6%.
• •A building plot sold by a company pays VAT, at the standard 21%. Sold by a private individual, it pays ITP.
• •On top comes stamp duty (AJD) on the deed: each region sets it, with 0.50% as the national default.

Ask for the contract to state which tax applies and why.

The build.

• •VAT: building a home carries 10% when you contract directly with the builder, according to the Tax Agency. For prefab houses, the Directorate-General for Taxation (ruling V5259-26, July 2026) applies 10% if the house is permanently fixed to the ground and 21% if it can be moved without breaking it.
• •Canary Islands: IGIC replaces VAT. The general rate is 7%, and the Canary tax code sets no reduced rate for building works outside protected housing; its 3% and 5% rates for homes cover sales to buyers who will live there as their main home.

Every year. You pay IBI, the local property tax. A non-resident owner also files an annual income tax return on the "imputed income" of the house, even if it is never rented: 2% of its cadastral value as a general rule, 1.1% where values were recently revised, taxed at 19% for taxpayers resident in the EU, Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein and 24% for the rest. Nothing is imputed while the house is under construction.

Paying for it: the budget and the mortgage

Finished and ready to move into, a prefab house costs a median of 1,639 €/m² (137 houses from 21 manufacturers), which puts 100 m² at around 164,000 €, not counting the plot or VAT. Add the taxes above, a ground survey, utility connections and whatever each quote leaves out. Prices by size, material and what is included.

A mortgage is possible only on real estate: the house must be anchored to land you own, hold a licence and be registered. A house on wheels is movable property, and needing a licence does not change that.

• •How much: the Banco de España says a mortgage usually reaches up to 80% of the valuation, and does not say whether residence changes that. We found no official figure for non-residents, so we give none. Ask each lender for its limit in writing, and for the information sheet (FEIN), which it must hand you at least ten days before signing. The valuation is paid by you.
• •The prefab clash: a self-build mortgage releases money as work is certified, but you pay the manufacturer while the house is still in the factory, and BBVA says its self-build mortgage does not take prefab houses. Ask the bank how it certifies factory work before you sign with the manufacturer.

Working with manufacturers from abroad

Expect quotes, contracts and technical documents in Spanish. Ask in your first message whether the manufacturer can quote in English, and have your lawyer or a sworn translator explain the Spanish contract before you sign. Then ask for the quote in writing and check that it says:

• •What kind of price it is: a kit (parts and plans), the structure only, the house with assembly charged separately, or turnkey (finished).
• •Whether it includes VAT or IGIC, and at which rate.
• •What it leaves out: foundations, earthworks, utility connections, transport, the project, the licence and its fees.
• •Whether the figure is fixed or a "from" price, and when the delivery time starts counting: from the order or from the licence.

You are the developer. The Building Act defines the developer as whoever decides, drives, plans and finances the work, including for themselves, so the compulsory guarantee on advance payments that protects off-plan buyers does not cover what you pay your manufacturer. Ask for a bank guarantee or surety insurance on each advance, payments tied to milestones you can check, and a 5% retention for the first year after handover. Do not pay the bulk before you hold the licence, and check the company's filed accounts, age and share capital in the Companies Register. See also European prefab manufacturers.

How long it takes

The licence sets the pace, not the factory. One Spanish prefab maker's published guide gives 5 to 10 months from contract to moving in: 1.5 to 4 months for the town hall licence, 4 to 10 weeks in the factory and 1 to 3 weeks of assembly on site.

• •There is no single deadline for the licence. Each region sets one and, if it does not, the town hall has 3 months. The clock stops each time you are asked to correct documents, and silence means refusal.
• •Count what comes before: the NIE, the plot checks and, where it applies, the military authorisation.
• •First occupancy comes after assembly and before you can connect permanent utilities.

Mistakes foreign buyers make

• •Paying a deposit on a cheap plot before the town hall confirms in writing that a home is allowed.
• •Skipping the military-zone check as a non-EU buyer on the islands, the Bay of Cádiz or near Cartagena.
• •Assuming "turnkey" includes the licence, the foundations and the utility connections.
• •Paying the manufacturer's first instalments before the licence, with no guarantee.
• •Comparing a price "plus VAT" with one "plus IGIC", or with one that already includes tax.
• •Signing a Spanish contract or deed you cannot read, or relying on the seller's lawyer.