The contrato de reserva is usually the first thing you sign when buying a home in Spain: a short agreement, normally arranged by the estate agent, that takes the property off the market for a small deposit. It feels minor — yet it is the point at which most buyers commit money before anyone has run a single legal check, which is exactly why it deserves a careful read first.
The reservation contract — the contrato de reserva, sometimes called a holding agreement — is the first formal step in buying a resale property in Spain. It is a short document, often a single page handed to you by the estate agent, in which you reserve a specific property for a defined period in exchange for a small payment known as the reservation deposit. In return, the seller agrees to take the property off the market while the reservation runs.
It is best understood as a pause button. It buys a short window — often a week or two, sometimes a month — during which the property is held for you while due diligence is carried out and the next, more substantial contract is drawn up. The reservation deposit is usually a modest fixed sum rather than a percentage of the price: figures of around €3,000 to €6,000 are common, and on some properties it is set at around 1%. It is not the main deposit and not the same as the arras payment that comes later — its only job is to hold the property still for a short time.
Buying a resale home in Spain normally moves through three contracts. The reservation is only the first — and the smallest.
The first step. A short agreement and a small deposit to take the property off the market while due diligence is carried out and the main contract is prepared. This is the page you are reading about.
The substantial commitment. The deposit contract (arras) or the wider private purchase contract sets the full terms and a larger deposit, typically around 10% of the price.
Completion. The public deed of sale is signed before a notary, the balance is paid, the keys change hands and ownership transfers. The reservation deposit is credited toward the price along the way.
Keeping these stages distinct matters, because the money and protections are very different at each. The reservation is light and quick; the arras or private contract is where the real terms and exposure live; the escritura is the legal transfer itself. The danger is treating the reservation as casual and signing it on the spot — because what it says, and whether your deposit can come back, is decided in that first short document, not later.
It is a quiet irony of buying in Spain that the smallest contract is often the most dangerous. By the time a buyer reaches the arras or the private purchase contract, they usually have a lawyer involved and some checks under way. The reservation, by contrast, is frequently signed in an estate agent's office before any lawyer has seen the file and before a single search has been run at the Land Registry. It is the moment you part with money, but also the moment you know least about what you are buying.
That is the heart of the problem. The deposit may be small, but a poorly drafted reservation can lock you into the purchase, make your deposit non-refundable, or commit you to terms you would never have accepted. A property can carry an undisclosed mortgage, an unauthorised extension, a boundary dispute, unpaid community fees or a planning irregularity — none of which an agent's form will mention, and all of which proper due diligence exists to find. Sign a reservation that puts your deposit at risk before those checks happen, and you can be left choosing between losing the deposit and buying a problem.
This is the question every buyer wants answered, and the honest reply is: it depends entirely on what the reservation contract says. There is no single statutory rule in Spain that makes a reservation deposit automatically refundable or automatically forfeit — the outcome is governed by the wording of the document you signed. That is precisely why the terms matter so much, and why reviewing them before you pay beats arguing about them afterwards.
In broad terms there are two situations. If the reservation is properly conditional — drafted so the deposit is returned if the checks reveal a problem, the title cannot be cleared, or finance falls through — you can usually recover it when one of those conditions is not met. If instead it simply records that you have paid to hold the property and is silent on refunds, or states the deposit is non-refundable if you do not proceed, then walking away can cost you the money even where the reason is a genuine defect. The biggest single risk in the whole process is signing a reservation that makes the deposit non-refundable before any due diligence has been done.
Buyers — and sometimes agents — use these terms loosely, which causes real confusion. The reservation contract is not the arras deposit contract, and it is not the private purchase contract. They are three different documents with different weight, and treating them as interchangeable is how people end up surprised by what they have signed.
The reservation is the first and lightest step: a small deposit to hold the property briefly while the rest of the process is set up. The arras contract comes next and is far more serious — it sets the full terms and a larger deposit, usually around 10%, and the most common form (arras penitenciales) sets out what happens if either side pulls out: the buyer who withdraws loses the deposit, the seller who withdraws repays double. The private purchase contract (contrato privado de compraventa) is the comprehensive private agreement governing the sale in full before completion. The reservation should feed into one of these, not replace it.
A clean Spanish purchase runs in a deliberate order: reservation, then the arras or private purchase contract, then the escritura before the notary at completion. Each stage commits you more deeply than the last, and the protections you want most belong at the very start, when your exposure is still small and your freedom to walk away is still intact.
The ideal sequence is that your lawyer reviews the reservation — or, better still, drafts or amends it — before you sign and pay anything. It is made conditional on due diligence, so the short holding period is used to run the Land Registry and title checks, confirm there are no charges or debts, and verify the property is what it is presented to be. Only when those checks are satisfactory do you move on to the arras or private purchase contract with the larger deposit, and finally to the escritura. Done in that order, the reservation secures the property without trapping your money; done in reverse — pay first, check later — the same document becomes a liability. This is one of the clearest reasons to have your own independent lawyer acting only for you from the first day, rather than the agent who is paid by the seller.
The reservation contract is deceptively simple. A single page, a small payment, a handshake in an agent's office — it does not feel like the moment to involve a lawyer. Yet it is the point at which a buyer first commits money to a Spanish property, usually before anyone has checked the title, the debts or the planning position. Get it right and the rest of the purchase has a safe foundation; get it wrong and you can spend the process trying to recover ground, or your deposit.
Our role is to step in at that first moment, not after it. We review the reservation before you sign and before you pay, or draft and amend it so it works for you rather than the seller — making it conditional on satisfactory due diligence, clear title and, where relevant, mortgage approval. As your independent lawyer acting only for the buyer, we then carry the matter through due diligence and the arras or private purchase contract to the escritura at completion. We act for English-speaking clients, explain everything in plain English, and quote for the work at the outset; extras may apply depending on the complexity of your matter. You can see the full picture on our Spanish property legal services page.
It is the first formal step in buying a resale property — a short agreement, usually arranged through the estate agent, in which you pay a small reservation deposit to take the property off the market for a short period while due diligence is carried out and the main contract is prepared. It is not the larger arras deposit or private purchase contract that come later.
Usually a small fixed sum rather than a percentage. Figures of around €3,000 to €6,000 are common, and on some properties it is set at around 1% of the price. It is far smaller than the deposit at the arras stage (typically around 10%) and is normally credited toward the purchase price.
It depends entirely on what the contract says — there is no general rule in Spain that makes it automatically refundable. If the reservation is properly conditional, the deposit is usually returned if due diligence reveals a problem, the title cannot be cleared, or finance falls through. If it is silent or states the deposit is non-refundable, you may lose it, which is why the wording must be checked before you pay.
Yes. It is the point at which you first commit money, usually before any legal checks have been done, so it is exactly when advice matters most. A lawyer can make the reservation conditional on satisfactory due diligence and clear title, confirm the deposit terms, and protect your right to recover the deposit if a problem is found.
The parties, a precise identification of the property, the agreed price, the deposit and that it is credited toward the price, the reservation period and deadline, conditions making it subject to satisfactory due diligence and clear title, clear refund conditions, and how it rolls into the arras or private purchase contract. Most agent forms omit several of these, especially the conditions and refund terms.
Signing a reservation that makes the deposit non-refundable before any due diligence has been carried out. This commits your money to a property whose problems — an undisclosed mortgage, an illegal extension, debts or planning issues — you have not yet had the chance to discover. Making the reservation conditional on satisfactory checks removes this risk.
The reservation is the small, early step that holds the property for a short time. The arras contract is the more serious commitment that follows, with a larger deposit of around 10% and full terms — in the common arras penitenciales form, a buyer who withdraws loses the deposit and a seller who withdraws repays double. The reservation should feed into the arras, not replace it.
The private purchase contract (contrato privado de compraventa) is the comprehensive private agreement that governs the sale in full before completion at the notary. The reservation is only the first step that precedes it, and a good reservation makes clear that the binding terms and the larger deposit come at the arras or private contract stage, once the legal checks are done.
Yes. We review reservation contracts before you sign and before you pay, or draft and amend them so they work for you rather than the seller — making them conditional on due diligence and clear title and protecting your deposit. We then act as your independent lawyer through to completion. We act for English-speaking buyers across Spain and quote for the work at the outset; extras may apply depending on the complexity of your matter.
The reservation is the smallest contract in a Spanish purchase and the one most likely to cost you. We review it before you sign, make it conditional, and protect your deposit — in plain English, across Spain.
The information on this page is general guidance only and does not constitute legal advice. The terms, enforceability and tax treatment of reservation contracts, arras contracts and private purchase contracts in Spain depend on the specific wording of each document and on circumstances that vary between cases and regions. Always obtain advice on your specific property and contract before signing or paying any deposit. Platinum Legal Spain is an independent English-speaking legal practice serving clients across Spain.