No. The developer's, seller's or estate agent's recommended lawyer is not working for you — there is a clear conflict of interest. Always instruct your own independent lawyer who acts only for the buyer. Here is exactly why it matters, and how to make sure your lawyer is genuinely independent.
You should not use the lawyer recommended by the developer, the seller or the estate agent. Whatever they call it — "our legal team", "the in-house lawyer", "a solicitor we work with" — that lawyer's relationship is with the party selling to you, and a lawyer cannot serve two sides of the same deal whose interests pull in opposite directions. The seller wants to complete on their terms; you want the purchase scrutinised on yours. Those are not the same job, and one lawyer cannot do both well.
The right answer is always to instruct your own independent lawyer — one chosen by you, paid by you, and acting only for you, with no relationship to the other side of the transaction. This is not a technicality or an upsell. It is the single decision that most affects whether the things that protect a buyer — the due diligence, the contract scrutiny, the honest advice when something is wrong — actually get done in your interest. A lawyer aligned with the sale has every incentive to smooth the deal through; a lawyer aligned with you has every incentive to catch the problem before you pay.
Independence is not about competence or honesty — it is about whose interests the lawyer is bound to advance. Only one arrangement puts your interests first.
You select the lawyer yourself, not from a list handed to you by the seller or agent. The relationship begins with you instructing them, not with them being introduced to close a sale.
Your lawyer is paid by you and accountable to you for their fee. Where the legal cost is folded into the deal or paid by the seller, the loyalty follows the money — and it is not following you.
A genuinely independent lawyer acts for the buyer alone in your transaction, with no relationship to the seller, developer or agent. Their duty runs to you and no one else.
People sometimes assume that any qualified lawyer will do a proper job regardless of who introduced them, and that worrying about independence is overcautious. The problem is structural, not personal. Even a thoroughly competent and well-meaning lawyer cannot fully act against the interests of the party they are connected to. When the question is whether to flag an awkward problem, push back on a one-sided contract clause, or advise a client to walk away, the lawyer aligned with the sale faces a pull you do not want anywhere near your purchase. Independence removes that pull entirely.
The reason this matters comes down to a simple incentive. The estate agent earns commission only if the sale completes. The developer wants their units sold and their contracts signed as drafted. The seller wants to complete at the agreed price without complications surfacing. A lawyer connected to any of them is, however indirectly, working within those incentives — and every one of them is served by the deal going through smoothly and quickly, not by a buyer being warned off it.
Now consider what a buyer actually needs a lawyer for: to find the debts on the title, to spot the unregistered extension, to flag the missing licence, to challenge the one-sided clause in the developer's contract, to verify the off-plan bank guarantee, and — when necessary — to advise the buyer not to proceed. Each of those acts works against a quick, frictionless completion. That is precisely the work that a lawyer aligned with the sale has the least incentive to do thoroughly, and that a lawyer acting only for you has every incentive to do properly. The conflict is not hypothetical; it sits at the exact point where your protection is most needed.
Nowhere is the temptation to use the seller's lawyer stronger, or the risk of doing so greater, than in off-plan and new-build purchases from a developer. The developer often presents a complete package: their show home, their reservation form, their contract, their recommended lawyer, sometimes their recommended mortgage. It is smooth, it is convenient, and it is built entirely around getting you to sign the developer's documents with as little friction as possible. The convenience is the point — and it is not designed around protecting you.
The developer's contract is the heart of the problem. These contracts are drafted by and for the developer, and they routinely contain terms that favour the developer on completion dates, delays, specification changes, penalties and what happens if the project stalls. A buyer needs an independent lawyer to review and, where possible, negotiate that contract — see our guide to developer contract review — and to verify the bank guarantee that should protect your staged payments, covered in off-plan deposit protection. A lawyer supplied by the developer is structurally the wrong person to scrutinise the developer's own contract and guarantee on your behalf. Our wider guide to buying new-build in Spain sets out the full picture.
One of the most effective ways a buyer is steered into the wrong lawyer is the offer of free or discounted legal services tied to the purchase. "We'll cover the legal costs", "our lawyer does it as part of the package", "there's a special rate if you use the firm we work with" — these sound like generosity, and they are presented as a saving. In reality they are a way of placing a sale-aligned lawyer between you and the transaction at the very moment you most need independent scrutiny.
The logic is worth being blunt about: nobody connected to the sale is paying for your legal protection out of kindness. If the legal cost is being absorbed into the deal or offered at a discount because you use a particular firm, the firm's relationship is with whoever arranged that, not with you. The few hundred or few thousand euros a genuinely independent lawyer costs is trivial against the price of the property and the cost of a purchase gone wrong — and it buys you the one thing the "free" option cannot: a lawyer whose only loyalty is to you. A clear, upfront quote from an independent lawyer you chose is worth far more than free advice from one you did not.
An independent buyer's lawyer is not a formality bolted onto the purchase — they run the legal side of the whole transaction in your interest, from before you commit to after you hold the keys. This is the work that the seller's, developer's or agent's lawyer has no incentive to do thoroughly on your behalf, and it is what you are paying an independent firm to do properly.
We act only for the buyer — never the seller, the developer or the estate agent. There is no arrangement under which the other side pays us, recommends us as part of a package, or has any claim on our loyalty in your transaction. That independence is the whole point of instructing us: you get a lawyer whose only job is to protect your purchase, including the willingness to tell you honestly when something is wrong or when our advice is not to proceed.
On every purchase we run the full due diligence, review and where possible negotiate the contracts, scrutinise developer contracts and verify off-plan bank guarantees, confirm where your money should go, and handle completion and registration. We explain everything in plain English and keep you in control of the decisions. Our fees are quoted clearly and upfront before any work begins — a clear quote you can weigh against the protection it buys — and where additional matters arise we tell you what is involved and quote for them. Extras may apply depending on the complexity of the property and the transaction.
No. The developer's, seller's or estate agent's recommended lawyer is not working for you — there is a clear conflict of interest, because that lawyer's relationship is with the party selling to you. You should always instruct your own independent lawyer, chosen and paid by you, who acts only for the buyer.
It means a lawyer chosen by you, paid by you, and acting only for you in your transaction, with no relationship to the seller, developer or estate agent. Their duty runs to you and no one else. Independence is not about competence — it is about whose interests the lawyer is bound to advance.
The agent earns commission only if the sale completes, the developer wants their contracts signed, and the seller wants to complete without complications. A lawyer connected to any of them works within those incentives. The protective work a buyer needs — finding debts, challenging clauses, advising against a bad deal — slows or stops a sale, so a sale-aligned lawyer has the least incentive to do it.
They will competently process the paperwork to complete the sale, because that serves the side they are connected to. What they have no incentive to do is dig hard for problems in the seller's title, challenge a one-sided developer contract, or advise you not to buy. The protective work that only matters to the buyer is exactly what gets short-changed.
Yes. Off-plan is where the pressure to use the developer's lawyer is greatest and the risk highest. The developer's contract is drafted to favour the developer, and you need an independent lawyer to review and negotiate it and to verify the bank guarantee protecting your staged payments. A lawyer supplied by the developer is the wrong person to scrutinise the developer's own contract on your behalf.
Be cautious. Free or discounted legal services tied to the sale almost always mean the lawyer is aligned with the seller, not you. Nobody connected to the sale pays for your legal protection out of kindness. A clear, upfront quote from an independent lawyer you chose is worth far more — it buys you a lawyer whose only loyalty is to you.
Choose the lawyer yourself rather than accept the one put in front of you, ideally before choosing a property. Ask directly whether they or their firm have any relationship with the seller, developer or agent. Check that you are the one instructing them and receiving the bill, be wary of packaged "free" legal services, and confirm in writing that they act for you alone in the transaction.
No. The notary is a neutral public official who confirms the deed is properly executed and identities are correct. They do not act for you, do not run due diligence, and do not check the property for debts or legality. The notary's presence is no substitute for your own independent lawyer.
An independent buyer's lawyer runs the full due diligence, reviews and negotiates the contracts, scrutinises developer contracts and verifies off-plan bank guarantees, confirms where your deposits go, models the tax and cost, attends completion at the notary in person or by power of attorney, and pays the taxes and registers your ownership — all in your interest, from before you commit to after you hold the keys.
An independent lawyer's fee is modest against the price of the property and trivial against the cost of a purchase gone wrong. We quote our fees clearly and upfront before any work begins, so you know the cost in advance, and where additional matters arise we explain what is involved and quote for them. Extras may apply depending on the complexity of the property and transaction.
No. In a purchase we act only for the buyer — never the seller, developer or estate agent. There is no arrangement under which the other side pays us or has a claim on our loyalty. That independence, including the willingness to advise you honestly against a bad deal, is the whole point of instructing us.
We act for the buyer alone — never the seller, developer or agent — so the due diligence, the contract scrutiny and the honest advice are all done in your interest. We quote clearly upfront, in plain English.
The information on this page is general guidance only and does not constitute legal advice. The importance of independent legal representation, and the conflicts of interest described, are general principles; your specific position depends on the property, the parties and the circumstances of your transaction. Always obtain advice on your specific situation before acting. Platinum Legal Spain is an independent English-speaking legal practice — a team of bar-registered solicitors and legal specialists — acting only for the buyer in property purchases and serving clients across Spain, and we quote our fees clearly before any work begins.