Buying Property at a Judicial Auction in Spain: The Subasta Judicial Process and What Buyers Need to Know (2026)

A Spanish judicial auction, or subasta judicial, is a court-ordered forced sale of an embargado property carried out entirely online through the Portal de Subastas del BOE. Since Ley 19/2015 made the process electronic, any buyer, foreign or domestic, can bid from a browser, but the rules on deposits, charge subrogation, adjudication thresholds and the ITP tax base catch uninformed bidders. The governing law is the Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil (LEC, Ley 1/2000), Articles 643 to 680 for general civil execution and Articles 681 to 698 for mortgage foreclosure. This guide walks through the full process and flags the traps a Costa del Sol buyer hits.

What is a judicial auction and when does the court order one?

A judicial auction is the forced realisation of an embargado asset within a process of execution, regulated by Articles 634 to 680 of the Ley 1/2000 de Enjuiciamiento Civil (BOE-A-2000-323). It is the default mechanism when a debtor does not pay voluntarily and the parties cannot agree an alternative under Article 640. The court first embargoes the property (anotacion preventiva in the Land Registry under Article 629), then fixes a value, publishes the convocatoria on the BOE portal, opens the bidding window, and approves the remate through a decreto issued by the Letrado de la Administracion de Justicia. The whole procedure sits inside the via de apremio, the enforcement phase of a civil execution.

How does the electronic auction portal work?

Since the entry into force of Ley 19/2015 (BOE-A-2015-7851), all judicial auctions are conducted electronically through the Portal de Subastas del BOE at subastas.boe.es, managed by the Agencia Estatal Boletin Oficial del Estado. The portal lists every active subasta with the procedure identification, the embargado asset, the charges that survive, the auction value, the bidding window, and the deposit requirement. A bidder registers with a digital certificate or electronic ID, consigns the deposit electronically, and bids within the open window. The platform publishes the result to the court, which then issues the approval decree. There is no in-person auction; the portal is the only venue.

The bidding period for real estate runs a minimum of twenty calendar days from the convocatoria, during which pujas can be submitted at any time. The Letrado de la Administracion de Justicia sets the exact window in the convocatoria decree. Any person can participate, with the exception of those legally barred and the ejecutado (the debtor) himself, though the creditor can bid under Article 647.2.

What deposit must a bidder put down?

Article 669.1 LEC requires each bidder to consign 20 per cent of the auction value, with a minimum of EUR 1,000 if that percentage produces a lower figure. The deposit is made electronically through the portal using the tax agency’s payment services. The Letrado de la Administracion de Justicia has the discretion to raise or lower the percentage based on the circumstances of the auction. For movable goods, Article 647.1.3rd sets the deposit at 10 per cent instead.

The deposit is the entry ticket and the forfeiture stake. If the winning bidder does not pay the balance within twenty days under Article 670.1, the deposit is lost and applied to the execution. Losing bidders get their deposits back once the remate is approved. The creditor (ejecutante) can bid without depositing anything, but if he wants to adjudicate the property, he must participate under the thresholds in Articles 650 and 670.

How is the auction value set?

Article 666 LEC fixes the salida value. The property exits to auction at its appraised value minus the total of all prior encumbrances whose preference appears in the Land Registry certificacion de dominio y cargas. The Letrado de la Administracion de Justicia performs this arithmetic. If the value of the prior charges equals or exceeds the appraised value, the execution on that property is suspended under Article 666.2, because there is no equity left to realise.

In mortgage foreclosure cases, Article 682.2.1st LEC uses the tasacion value agreed in the mortgage deed, which cannot be below 75 per cent of the valuation under Ley 2/1981 del Mercado Hipotecario. This value is the one the auction runs against, and it is typically closer to market than a general civil execution valuation.

What are the adjudication thresholds?

This is the part most buyers misunderstand. Article 670 LEC sets a layered structure.

Scenario	Threshold	What happens
Best bid >= 70% of auction value	Automatic approval (Art 670.1)	Winner pays balance within 20 days
Best bid < 70%, debtor presents third-party offer >= 60%	Mejora de postura (Art 670.3)	Third party pays within 10 days of deposit
Best bid < 70%, no mejora, bid >= 50%	Approval at best bid (Art 670.3 final)	Winner pays balance within 20 days
Best bid < 50% but covers full creditor debt (min 40%)	Approval if it satisfies the creditor (Art 670.3)	Execution terminates
No bidder at all	Subasta desierta (Art 671)	Creditor adjudicates at 50% (non-residence) or 70% min 60% (habitual residence)

For the debtor’s habitual residence, Article 670.3 final paragraph hardens the floor: the remate cannot be approved below 70 per cent of the auction value unless it is for the exact amount owed to the creditor, with an absolute minimum of 60 per cent. This is the protection the LEC gives to primary residences that does not apply to investment or holiday property.

What charges does the buyer inherit?

Article 669.2 LEC establishes the decisive rule: by the act of bidding, the postor accepts the title as it stands in the court file (or the absence of title) and subrogates into all charges prior to the credito being executed. This is not a disclaimer; it is a legal fiction of acceptance. The adjudicatario takes the property subject to any mortgage, lien, usofructo or anotacion that predates the ejecucion, and becomes liable for them.

Article 674 LEC provides the counterweight: on request, the Letrado issues a mandamiento de cancelacion that wipes the anotacion generated by the execution itself and all later charges, even those registered after the certificacion was issued. But prior charges survive. The buyer’s due diligence, done before bidding, must pull the nota simple from the Registro de la Propiedad and read exactly which encumbrances predate the credito. A property with a EUR 400,000 first mortgage and a EUR 200,000 auction value is not a bargain; it is a liability. Our property valuation guide explains how to check the market value against the auction value.

How does possession and eviction work?

Article 675 LEC splits the possession question in two. If the property is unoccupied, the court puts the adjudicatario in possession on request. If it is occupied, the court orders the lanzamiento (eviction) immediately when it has already ruled under Article 661.2 that the occupants lack the right to stay. If no such ruling exists, the buyer can still request eviction of de facto occupants or those without sufficient title, but only within one year of the adjudication. After that year, eviction requires an ordinary civil suit, which is slower and more expensive.

Occupants with a registered lease predating the ejecucion, or a usofructo, have stronger protection. The bank REO purchase guide compares this with the cuerpo cierto regime on bank stock, where the bank sells as-is but the charge profile is different because the bank has already cleared subordinate liens.

What tax does the auction buyer pay?

The tax trap is the one most buyers miss. Since 1 January 2022, the Ley 11/2021 (BOE-A-2021-11473) reformed the ITP and AJD base: the taxable base is now the greater of the declared transfer price and the Catastro valor de referencia. The old regime let auction buyers pay ITP on the remate price; that exception was removed. So if you win a property at auction for EUR 120,000 and its valor de referencia is EUR 180,000, you pay 7 per cent ITP on EUR 180,000 in Andalusia (EUR 12,600), not on EUR 120,000 (EUR 8,400). The difference is EUR 4,200 the buyer did not budget for.

The ITP rate in Andalusia is a flat 7 per cent on resales under the Junta de Andalucia’s own tax page. For a new-build from a developer, the tax is 10 per cent IVA plus around 1.2 per cent AJD. The valor de referencia can be challenged through a tasacion pericial contradictoria, but only after the tax is paid. Total acquisition costs, including notary, Land Registry and lawyer, run to roughly 12 to 15 per cent on top of the price, as our complete foreign buyer guide details.

How does a judicial auction compare with a bank REO or a standard resale?

Dimension	Judicial auction	Bank REO (Sareb)	Standard resale
Legal basis	LEC Arts 643-680	Ley 9/2012 Art 35 (Sareb)	Civil Code compraventa
Venue	subastas.boe.es	Bank/Sareb portal	Private negotiation
Deposit	20% of auction value	None or small reservation	10% arras
Charge profile	Subrogate prior charges (Art 669.2)	Cuerpo cierto, bank cleared sub-charges	Clean, lawyer-checked
Occupant risk	Art 675 eviction within 1 year	Usually vacant	Vacant at completion
Financing	Rarely available at auction	Bank offers its own mortgage	Full mortgage market
Tax base	Valor de referencia (not hammer)	Valor de referencia	Valor de referencia
Discount potential	30-50% below market possible	20-40% below market	Market price
Due diligence window	Before bidding, nota simple only	Inspection usually possible	Full lawyer-led window

The comparison shows why the transfer method guide treats auction as the highest-risk, highest-discount route. The discount is real, but the charge subrogation and the ITP base rule mean a low hammer price is not the same as a low total cost.

What due diligence should a buyer run before bidding?

The minimum a foreign buyer should do before bidding at a Spanish judicial auction is: pull the nota simple from the Registro de la Propiedad to identify all prior encumbrances and confirm which survive the sale; inspect the property physically if the portal or court allows it under Article 669.3; check the Catastro valor de referencia on sedecatastro.gob.es to calculate the real ITP base; verify the ocupacion status (vacant, tenant, debtor in possession); and engage a Spanish abogado to read the expediente judicial for third-party claims, tercerias, or pending oposicion. The common mistakes guide catalogues the errors foreign buyers make when they skip these steps.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and individual circumstances differ. Verify current requirements with an independent lawyer (abogado) or tax advisor (gestor/asesor fiscal) before acting.