Buying a property at Las Colinas Golf & Country Club

Buying inside a gated resort is not quite the same as buying a flat in a Spanish town, and most of the differences are in your favour. The resort is a single, planned community with its own rules, its own infrastructure and its own management. That makes the legal picture cleaner than average. It also means there are a handful of resort-specific questions you should ask before you sign anything, and they are not the questions a general buying guide will tell you about.

The two ways in

There are two quite different purchases here, and people often start out looking at one and finish by buying the other.

A resale. An existing home, already built, already landscaped, with its garden grown in. You see exactly what you are buying, you can normally complete in six to ten weeks, and the price is what the market says it is today. If you want to be using the place this season, this is the route.

A new build. Bought from the developer, either off-plan or as a finished key-ready unit. Off-plan is paid in stages against construction milestones, and you get to choose finishes. It is the better route if you want something specific and you are not in a hurry.

What the process looks like

• Viewing. Come for two days rather than one. The resort is large and spread across a valley, and the difference between two plots four hundred metres apart is bigger than any photograph will show you: orientation, noise, how far you actually are from the clubhouse.
• Reservation. A holding deposit takes the property off the market and freezes the price. It is normally held by the lawyer, not the agent.
• Due diligence. Your lawyer checks the title, the debts, the licence and the community position. On a resort this is quicker than usual because the paperwork is uniform, but do not skip it.
• Private contract. Usually ten per cent, less the reservation, with the completion date agreed.
• Completion. At the notary. Balance paid, keys handed over, utilities and community transferred into your name.

Things to ask that nobody volunteers

Which community do I actually join? A resort of this size has more than one layer: the overall resort community, and often a smaller sub-community for your particular phase or block. Two homes a street apart can have quite different monthly charges because one has a shared pool and lift and the other does not. Ask for the specific figures for the specific property, in writing, before you reserve.

What comes with the house, and what is separate? Golf access, beach club access and sports facilities are not automatically bundled into ownership. Some are, some are memberships you take out and pay for. This is the single most common misunderstanding we see, and it is worth ten minutes of clarity at the start.

What are the building and letting rules? Resorts protect their look, which is why they hold their value. That protection cuts both ways: there will be rules about what you can change externally, and there may be rules about short-term letting. If renting the property out is part of your plan, establish this before you buy, not after.

Which way does it face, and when? Ask to see the property at the time of day you would actually use it. A terrace that is glorious at ten in the morning can be unusable at six in the evening, and vice versa.

Costs on top of the price

Budget roughly twelve to fourteen per cent on top of the purchase price for taxes and fees on a resale, and a different mix on a new build where VAT applies instead of transfer tax. Your lawyer will give you an exact figure for your specific purchase. The headline items are the transfer tax or VAT, notary and land registry, your lawyer, and the cost of getting an NIE if you do not already have one.

Do you need to speak Spanish?

No. But you do need someone in the room who does, who is on your side, and who has read the community minutes. That is the part we do.