A court auction is the cheapest way to buy a home in Spain, and also the one where most people lose money without understanding why. There's no negotiating with anyone, no viewing the home on a Saturday and no arras (the deposit contract that reserves a purchase): there's a court file, a deposit, twenty days of blind bidding and another twenty to pay. This guide explains the whole process under the current rules, which changed in April 2025 and which most of what you'll find out there still doesn't reflect.
Three figures that have changed: the deposit to bid on a property went from 5% to 20% of the auction value, the deadline to pay the winning bid fell from 40 to 20 days, and bids are no longer public. Anyone bidding by the old manual arrives without enough money and without knowing who they're up against.
What a court auction is (and isn't)
When someone stops paying a mortgage or a debt to the tax authority (Hacienda) or Social Security, or a court orders them to pay and they don't, the creditor asks the court to seize and sell their assets. The sale is the auction: the court publishes the property, anyone who wants to bids and the highest bidder is awarded it. The seller isn't the bank or the debtor, it's the court proceedings.
It isn't the same as a bank repossession. With a bank repossession, the bank has already kept the property: it has a price, you negotiate and you sign before a notary. At an auction the home still belongs to the debtor, your bid sets the price and your title is a court order of award (decreto de adjudicación). That's why there's more discount and more risk.
Where they're published: the BOE's auction portal
Since 2015 all court and notarial auctions, and a good share of administrative ones, have been held online on the Portal de Subastas of the Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado, the agency that publishes the BOE (Spain's Official State Gazette). Each auction has a notice with the type of asset, the auction value, the court, the dates and, in the attached documents, the official notice (edicto) and the Land Registry certificate of charges. To take part you need to register with a digital certificate or Cl@ve (the Spanish government's online ID system) and pay the deposit through the portal itself.
How to search, how to read a notice and which documents to download are explained step by step in our guide to the BOE's auction portal.
Types of auction you'll come across
- Court mortgage enforcement auctions: the bank enforces the unpaid mortgage. Most homes are sold this way.
- Court ordinary enforcement auctions: any debt recognised in a judgment (an owners' association, a supplier, a private individual). The property usually has other charges ahead of it.
- Insolvency auctions: assets of companies or people in insolvency proceedings, sold by the insolvency administrator.
- Administrative auctions: Hacienda, Social Security and town councils sell assets seized for tax debts. Their own rules, but also on the BOE.
- Notarial auctions: out-of-court mortgage enforcement before a notary. Less common.
How much money you need: the 20% deposit
To bid on a property you have to lodge 20% of the auction value, with a minimum of €1,000. The auction value (valor de subasta) isn't the price: it's the figure set in the court file (in mortgage auctions, the appraisal value agreed in the deed) on which all the percentages are calculated. A home with an auction value of €150,000 requires a €30,000 deposit just to take part. The court can raise or lower that percentage in the notice; always check it.
If you're not awarded the property, the deposit comes back within a few days. If you are and you don't pay the rest on time, you lose it. The enforcing creditor bids without a deposit; you don't.
How bidding works since April 2025: twenty days, blind
The auction opens at least 24 hours after the notice and accepts bids for twenty calendar days, with no extensions and even if it ends at a weekend. What matters is what you don't see: bids are sealed. During those twenty days the portal doesn't say whether there are bids or how much they are. Each bidder enters the maximum amount they're willing to pay and, if two match, the one submitted first wins.
That changes the strategy completely. You used to wait until the last minute to beat the best visible bid by a hundred euros. Now you have to decide in advance how much the home is worth to you and offer it, knowing there won't be a second chance. When you bid you can tick the reserva de postura (keeping your bid on hold): you agree that your deposit stays held so you're next in line if the winner doesn't pay.
The 70% rule: when the winning bid is yours
When the auction closes, if the best bid is equal to or above 70% of the auction value, the sale is approved in that bidder's favour and all that's left is to pay. If it's lower, the sale is up in the air: the debtor has ten days to present a third party who improves the offer, and the creditor keeps options over the property. Only if nobody uses them is the sale approved below 70%.
In practice, a bid below 70% can take weeks to resolve and end up in someone else's hands. If you're going to bid low, count on it and don't commit the money to another deal in the meantime.
Auctions with no bidders and assigning the winning bid
If nobody bids, the creditor can ask to be awarded the property for at least 50% of the auction value (or for what it's owed, never below 40%), the debtor can propose someone to take it on those terms and either of them can ask for a new auction. If nobody does anything, the seizure is lifted. Auctions with no bidders are the door to the best buys, but not for whoever bid: for whoever then buys the winning bid from the bank.
That's where the cesión de remate (assignment of the winning bid) comes in: the enforcing creditor (and later creditors) can assign their winning bid to a third party before the court order of award, within five days and in writing signed by both. A private buyer can't assign their own winning bid, but can be the third party the bank assigns it to, usually paying the price of the winning bid plus a fee.
Paying in twenty days: the mortgage problem
Once the sale is approved, you have twenty days from the close of the auction to pay the difference between the deposit and the price. There's no personal notification that starts the clock: it runs on its own. If you don't pay, you lose the deposit and the property can pass to the next bidder who kept their bid on hold.
Twenty days is less than any bank takes to approve a mortgage from scratch. There are three real options: pay cash and refinance afterwards, with the home already registered in your name; arrive with a mortgage pre-approved on that specific property (few banks do it, and they require a prior valuation); or a bridging loan, which is expensive, to cover the gap. Decide which is yours before you lodge the deposit, not after you win.
What to read before bidding: charges and occupation
The document that decides whether an auction is a good deal or a disaster isn't the notice, it's the Land Registry certificate of title and charges (certificación registral de dominio y cargas) in the court file. It shows which debt the auction is for and which charges are registered ahead of it. The mortgage being enforced is cancelled with the sale; the earlier charges are taken on by the winning bidder. A home at half price with an earlier mortgage of €90,000 isn't at half price.
- Earlier charges: mortgages, seizures or entries registered before the debt being enforced. They stay with you.
- Owners' association: you're liable for the fees of the current year and the three before it. In homes that have spent years in enforcement, ask the association before bidding.
- IBI (the local property tax) and special levies: outstanding IBI goes with the property.
- Occupation: the court file says whether the property is occupied and by whom. If the occupant has a legal right to be there (a tenancy that predates the mortgage), you respect it; if not, you have to ask the court for the eviction, and that takes months. The price allows for it; your time doesn't.
- Physical condition: you can almost never view it. Budget for a renovation and don't trust the photo in the notice.
Taxes and costs of an auction purchase
You pay ITP (Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales, the property transfer tax) as on any resale purchase, on the price at which you're awarded the property; if the reference value set by the Catastro (Spain's property register for tax purposes) is higher, the tax authority can charge it on that value instead. There's no deed or notary, because your title is the court order of award issued by the court, but there is registration at the Land Registry and, if the home is occupied, the costs of the eviction. Add it all to the price before you decide your bid.
How to find them without living on the BOE
The portal publishes thousands of auctions a month, mixed in with garages, rural land and undivided shares, and it doesn't say what each property is really worth. Every day RadarPro gathers the residential auctions from the BOE and Social Security, works out the market value of the area and the real discount on the auction value, and alerts you when one comes in that matches what you're looking for.
Frequently asked questions about court auctions
How much money do you need to bid at a court auction?
To bid on a property you have to deposit 20% of the auction value, with a minimum of €1,000 (article 669 of the LEC, Spain's Civil Procedure Act, since April 2025). The court can raise or lower that percentage. If you're not awarded the property, the deposit is returned; if you are and you don't pay the rest, you lose it.
How long does a BOE auction last, and can you see the other bids?
Twenty calendar days from when it opens, with no extensions. Since 2025 bids are sealed: the portal doesn't say whether there are bids or how much they are. Each bidder states the maximum amount they offer and, for equal amounts, the bid submitted first wins.
What happens if my bid doesn't reach 70% of the auction value?
The sale isn't automatic. The debtor has ten days to present a third party who improves your offer, and the creditor keeps options over the property. Only if nobody uses them is the sale approved in your favour. Above 70%, the sale is approved directly.
How long do I have to pay if I'm awarded the property?
Twenty days from the close of the auction to pay the difference between the deposit and the winning bid (article 670 of the LEC). Before April 2025 it was forty. If you don't pay, you lose the deposit and the sale can pass to the next bidder who kept their bid on hold (reserva de postura).
Can I pay for an auction with a mortgage?
Legally yes, but no bank processes a mortgage from scratch in twenty days. You have to arrive with the financing pre-approved before bidding, or with the money to pay cash and refinance afterwards, with the property already registered in your name.
What is the cesión de remate (assignment of the winning bid)?
The option for whoever is awarded the property to assign that winning bid to a third party before the court order of award. Only the enforcing creditor and later creditors can do it, within five days and in writing signed by both. For a private buyer, the way in is to be that third party: to buy the winning bid from the bank that was awarded the home.
Do I take on the previous owner's debts?
Not the mortgage being enforced: it's cancelled with the sale. The charges registered before that mortgage, yes: the winning bidder takes them on. And with the owners' association, you're liable for the fees of the current year and the three before it. All of that is in the certificate of charges in the court file, and you need to read it before bidding.
