Non-judicial auctions in Spain: notarial, tax agency and more

When someone says "a flat at auction" they almost always picture a court and the BOE (Boletín Oficial del Estado, Spain's Official State Gazette). But some of the properties auctioned in Spain never go before a judge: they're sold by a notary, the Agencia Tributaria (the Spanish tax agency, also known as Hacienda), Social Security, a city council, a specialist entity or the owner themselves. Each route has its own rules on deposits, deadlines and charges, and applying the court-auction rules where they don't belong is a quick way to lose your deposit. Here is the full picture.

1. Notarial auctions

This is the out-of-court sale of the mortgaged property (venta extrajudicial): if the mortgage deed provided for it, the bank can enforce its security before a notary instead of in court. The auction is held on the Portal de Subastas del BOE (the BOE's auction portal) just like court auctions, but it's run by the notary and the rules come from the Ley Hipotecaria (the Mortgage Act) and its regulations, with cross-references to the LEC (Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil, the Civil Procedure Act). In practice they're very similar to a court auction (deposit, payment deadline, cancellation of later charges), but it's worth reading the notice because the specific deadlines are set by the notary.

2. Tax agency auctions (Hacienda, AEAT)

The Agencia Tributaria (AEAT) seizes and auctions properties belonging to tax debtors under the Reglamento General de Recaudación (the General Collection Regulations), not under the LEC. They're also published on the BOE portal, but with their own conditions: the deposit is still 5% of the starting price (tipo), the payment deadlines are set by the notice and, if the auction ends with no bids, a direct sale (adjudicación directa) may follow. Less competition than at court auctions and a somewhat more predictable procedure. More detail in tax agency auctions.

3. Social Security auctions

The Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (TGSS, the Social Security General Treasury) does the same with the debts of self-employed people and companies, under its own collection regulations. Fewer properties come up, and they tend to be commercial premises, industrial units and homes belonging to business debtors. How they work is covered in Social Security auctions.

4. City council and provincial council auctions

Unpaid IBI (the local property tax), plusvalía (the municipal tax on the increase in the value of the land) or local fees can end up at a municipal auction, run by the collection body of the city council or of the diputación (the provincial council). They're announced on their official websites (sedes electrónicas) and sometimes in the BOE. There are few of them and they get little attention, which is why they sometimes attract very little bidding.

5. Specialist entities

The court can entrust the sale of a seized asset to a specialist entity instead of auctioning it itself. The most active is the Portal de Subastas de los Procuradores (the auction portal of the procuradores, the court representatives who act for the parties in proceedings). The conditions are set by the terms (pliego) of each sale, and there's usually more information and the chance to view. We explain it in procuradores' auctions.

6. Voluntary auctions

An owner decides to sell by auction: inheritances with several heirs, companies selling off assets, insolvency administrators (administradores concursales), even private individuals. There's no debt and no court: it's an ordinary sale in which the price is set by bidding, with terms that state the deposit, the deadline and the conditions. Charges aren't cancelled by the winning bid, so the Nota Simple (the Land Registry extract) has the final word.

7. Insolvency sales

In insolvency proceedings (concurso de acreedores), the insolvency administrator sells the properties of the insolvent company or individual, by auction or by direct sale authorised by the court. They tend to be lots, industrial units, land and half-finished developments, with liquidation prices and deadlines set by the plan.

What changes from one to another

• Deposit: 20% of the auction value at court auctions (since April 2025); 5% of the starting price at the tax agency; whatever the terms say for the rest.
• Payment deadline: 20 days from the close at court auctions; whatever the notice sets for the others.
• Charges: at court and notarial auctions, charges ranking after the one being enforced are cancelled and earlier ones are taken on by the winning bidder; at voluntary and insolvency sales, whatever the Nota Simple and the terms say.
• Taxes: ITP (the property transfer tax) in most cases; IVA (VAT) plus AJD (stamp duty) when a company sells a new property or waives the exemption. Ask before bidding, because it can change the cost by up to ten percentage points.
• Viewings: almost never at court and administrative auctions; often at voluntary sales and those run by specialist entities.

Further reading: the full rules of the court auction, which is the benchmark to compare all the others against, in court auctions. Every day, RadarPro adds the BOE and Social Security auctions, with their market value and their discount.