So What Happens Now?

What are the next steps after you have signed for your house at the notary?

Each supplier has their own way of process when it comes to the change of ownership and depending on the region or location of your property, it can vary.

In most cases, a direct debit is set up in your Spanish or European bank account (unfortunately is not accepted non Euros Bank accounts) to pay your regular invoices automatically.

What are the changes that need to be done?

The Council Tax / Rubbish collection:

• In the case of a resale property a change of ownership will be carried out online via the suma website.  This involves updating the personal details of the new owners.  This procedure can vary depending on the region of Spain, some regions do not have a suma office and are carried out via the town hall website.

• If the property is a new build, the procedure is different as this is then a first-time registration process completed online by way of entering the new owners’ details.

The water supplier:

• Once again this can vary slightly by which company the water is supplied by.  Resale property is changed via telephone or in person, in which the supplier updates the contract with the new owner’s personal data.  Depending on the location of your property the water company may charge a fee for changing the contract over to the new owners.

• New build properties require a supply of connection, which involves creating a new contract.  The water metre connection can take 24/48 hours for the company to fit the new metre.  Your first water invoice will include the fee for the connection and supply of the water metre, invoices are produced every 3 months by the water supplier.

The Electricity and Gas Supplier:

• An email is sent to Iberdrola or the correspondent company requesting the change of ownership or first-time connection of ownership, in which they will then send the contract for us to sign and check that everything is correct. The connection of electricity can take up to 14 days to be connected.

• New build properties require a supply of connection, which involves creating a new contract.  The electricity metre connection can take up to 15 days for the company to fit the new metre.  Your first electricity invoice will include the fee for the connection and supply of the electricity metre, invoices are produced every month by the electricity supplier.

Community Administrators

• Not all properties are part of a community, as of the ones that are, an email is sent to the administrator in charge of the community informing them of the updated personal details of the new owners and the bank account for set up the direct debits.