Estate agent, buyer's agent, adviser: who is actually working for you

Most people arriving on this coast assume the property market works the way it does at home: someone is licensed, someone is regulated, and the person showing you round is broadly on your side. Two of those three assumptions do not hold in Spain, and the third holds less often than buyers expect.

This page explains the structure rather than the sales pitch. We have an obvious interest in how you answer the question, so the last section sets out what argues against using us.

Estate agency in Spain is not a licensed profession

This is the fact that surprises people most, and it is worth stating plainly: there is no national licence you need in order to sell property in Spain. The activity was liberalised at the start of the century. Anyone may set up tomorrow, print cards, and start showing houses.

Three consequences follow.

Qualifications are voluntary, not required. The professional bodies exist and some agents belong to them, but membership is a choice. An agent without letters after their name is not breaking any rule.

Some autonomous communities keep their own register. The picture differs across Spain, and whether a register applies to a given agency is a question for the regional administration rather than something you can infer from a website. For Andalusia, the Junta is the body to ask.

Recourse runs through consumer law, not a professional regulator. If something goes wrong there is no licensing board to strike anyone off. What exists is the ordinary consumer-protection route through the Junta de Andalucía, and the courts.

None of that makes Spanish agents untrustworthy. Plenty are careful, long established and good at the job. It does mean that the reassurance you are used to — they must be licensed, or they could not do this — is not available here, and something has to take its place.

Who pays, and whose side that puts them on

The second structural point matters more in practice than the first.

In Spain the seller normally pays the commission. The agent who opens the door for you has, in the ordinary case, been instructed by the owner. Their mandate is to sell that property at the best price achievable, and their fee depends on the sale completing.

That is a legitimate role, openly held, and a good listing agent will tell you so if asked. But it answers the question people rarely ask out loud: the person advising you on whether this house is worth the asking price is paid a percentage of that asking price, by the other party.

Two situations sharpen it:

The same agency on both sides. Where one firm holds the mandate and also introduces the buyer, the fee is undivided and the incentive to close is at its strongest. This is common and not in itself improper — but you should know when it is happening.

The property you were not shown. An agent can only sell you what is on their books or on a shared network. A property that suits you better but sits outside that network does not come up, and you will never know it existed.

The three roles, and how they differ

Once the money question is clear, the distinctions are easy.

The listing agent is instructed by the seller and paid by the seller. Their duty runs to the owner. They market the property, field enquiries and push for completion.

The buyer’s agent, sometimes called a personal shopper in Spain, is engaged and paid by the buyer. They search across the whole market rather than one portfolio, and they have no interest in any particular house completing. The model is well established elsewhere and less common here, which is itself worth knowing: if someone describes themselves this way, ask who pays them.

The adviser may not transact at all. The work is assessment: what the registry says, what the town hall says, what the community statutes say, what the running costs will actually be, and whether the price stands up against comparable completed sales rather than asking prices.

The labels matter less than the money. Ask who pays, and when. An answer that arrives quickly and without discomfort tells you most of what you need.

What you can check before you sign anything

Six things, none of which require you to take anyone’s word.

A company, an address and a tax number. A Spanish company has a NIF and an entry in the Registro Mercantil. A firm that cannot readily give you both is telling you something.

Professional indemnity insurance. Not compulsory, which is precisely why asking is informative. A firm that carries it will say so without hesitation.

A written mandate, and what it says. Read the exclusivity clause, the duration, the notice period and how the fee is triggered. A fee that becomes payable on introduction rather than on completion is a different arrangement from the one most people assume they are signing.

Who holds your deposit. Money should sit in a client account or with the lawyer or notary, not in an operating account. Ask where it goes and get the answer in writing.

Whether they will name their own lawyer for you. The convenient answer is a lawyer they work with often. The safer answer is your own, independently chosen. A firm that pushes hard against independent representation is showing you its priorities.

What they say about the paperwork. In Marbella specifically, ask what they have checked about the licence of first occupation, the entry in the register and the planning position of the plot. An agent who treats those as details is not being careless about paperwork so much as unfamiliar with this municipality, where the 1986 plan still governs and irregularities are common enough that the Supreme Court described the situation as generalised.

What an adviser cannot do for you

The honest limits, because a page like this tends to skip them.

An adviser is not your lawyer. Checking a nota simple is not legal representation. Conveyancing, the contract and the liability that goes with them belong to a lawyer you appoint, and we recommend one on every purchase.

An adviser is not a tax adviser. What you will pay depends on your residence, your family situation and your other assets. That is a conversation with a gestor or asesor fiscal who sees your whole position.

An adviser cannot make an overpriced house a good buy. Advice improves the decision. It does not improve the property.

And no adviser has access to a secret market. Off-market instructions exist, but the claim is made far more often than it is true. Ask how many, and of what kind, and listen to whether the answer is specific.

What argues against using us

We are a small firm. If what you want is the widest possible selection shown to you quickly, a large agency with a big portfolio will serve you better than we will, and we would rather say so than take you on.

We also decline instructions. Where a price is unrealistic or the paperwork is not clean, we say so, which is uncomfortable and occasionally loses us the work. And we do not publish average square-metre prices, which some people read as evasiveness. Our reason is on the buying page: an average across Casco Antiguo, Nueva Andalucía and Sierra Blanca describes no house you can actually buy.

If those are the wrong trade-offs for you, that is useful to establish early, and it costs a conversation to find out.

Frequently asked questions

Do estate agents in Spain need a licence?

No. Estate agency was liberalised at national level and there is no compulsory qualification to sell property in Spain. Professional bodies exist, but membership is voluntary. Some autonomous communities operate their own registers; whether one applies to a particular agency is a question for the regional administration.

Who pays the estate agent in Spain?

Normally the seller. The agent who shows you a property has usually been instructed by the owner and is paid a percentage of the sale price on completion. That is a legitimate arrangement, but it means the person advising you on the price is paid by the other side.

What is the difference between a listing agent and a buyer’s agent?

The listing agent is instructed and paid by the seller and owes their duty to the owner. A buyer’s agent is engaged and paid by the buyer, searches the whole market rather than one portfolio, and has no stake in any particular property completing. In Spain the first model is far more common than the second.

How do I check that an agency in Marbella is legitimate?

Ask for the company name, NIF and Registro Mercantil entry; ask whether they carry professional indemnity insurance; read the mandate before signing, particularly the exclusivity and fee-trigger clauses; establish where your deposit will be held; and insist on your own independent lawyer.

Is it a problem if the same agency represents buyer and seller?

Not automatically, and it is common. What matters is that you know it is happening, because the undivided fee makes the incentive to close as strong as it gets. Ask directly whether the firm holds the seller’s mandate.

Do I still need a lawyer if I use an adviser?

Yes. Advice on a property is not legal representation. The contract, the conveyancing and the liability attached to them belong to a lawyer you appoint independently. We work alongside the lawyer you choose rather than proposing our own.

What should I ask about the paperwork in Marbella specifically?

What has been checked about the licence of first occupation, the description in the property register against what is actually built, and the planning position of the plot under the 1986 plan that still governs the municipality. An agent who treats those as formalities is unfamiliar with Marbella.

Are off-market properties real?

Some are. Instructions given quietly, without a portal listing, do exist. But the claim is made far more often than it is true, so ask how many the firm currently holds and of what kind. A specific answer is worth something; a vague one is marketing.