Buying without being there: how a power of attorney works

You live in Antwerp, London or Düsseldorf. You have found a place in Jávea, or somewhere else in the Marina Alta, and you want to buy it. But you can't fly to Spain every week for a signature. You don't need to. With a power of attorney, someone else signs on your behalf, while you follow the process from home.

What a power of attorney actually is

A power of attorney, in Spanish a poder, is a document that gives someone the right to act on your behalf. You decide yourself how broad or how limited that right is. Some people grant a power of attorney for the whole process: from opening a bank account to signing at the notary. Others limit it to a single act, for example only the signing of the title deed.

The person you authorise is called the attorney-in-fact. This can be a family member, a friend, a lawyer, or someone else you trust. What matters is that this person does exactly what the document says, no more and no less.

Where you draw up a power of attorney

A power of attorney for a purchase in Spain can be drawn up in two places. You can go to a Spanish notary, in Jávea or in your own country if there is a Spanish consulate there. Or you have the power of attorney drawn up by a notary in your own country, in your own language, after which it gets translated and given an apostille so it is valid in Spain.

The route via the consulate is often simpler, because the text is then straight away in Spanish and matches what the Spanish notary needs. What works best depends on where you live and how much time you have. You discuss that with the notary or lawyer drawing up the power of attorney for you.

What goes into the power of attorney

The content differs per situation, but a number of elements come up often:

• The right to open and manage a bank account
• The right to apply for a NIE number, the identification number for foreigners in Spain
• The right to negotiate and sign a purchase agreement on your behalf
• The right to sign the title deed at the notary
• The right to put utilities in your name after the purchase

You can choose to put everything into one power of attorney, or to use separate ones for different stages. The second option gives you more control, but also means more paperwork.

Where TREE fits in

We don't buy for you, and we don't sign for you. That's done by the person you authorise. What we do is set up the process so a power of attorney works well.

If you have your eye on a place in the Marina Alta, we walk through the viewing with you over video call if you can't be there yourself. We show what there is to see: the state of the roof, damp patches, the age of the installations. Before an offer, our surveyor can carry out a technical inspection, with a general indication of any repair costs. That way, the person who will sign on your behalf, and you yourself, know exactly where the property stands.

We work with notaries and lawyers in the region who are used to working with powers of attorney, including international ones. They check whether the document you have had drawn up is complete for what needs to happen. A power of attorney that's drafted just a bit too narrow can cause delays at the notary in Jávea. You avoid that by aligning this properly beforehand.

What you need to arrange yourself

A power of attorney is exactly what it says, not what you meant by it.

So agree clearly with the person you authorise on what may and may not happen. Put that in writing too, outside the power of attorney itself, for example in an email or a short agreement between the two of you. That way your attorney-in-fact knows exactly up to which amount they can negotiate, and what to do if something differs from what you expected.

Keep in mind too that a power of attorney can be revoked at any point, usually through the same notary where it was drawn up. Once the purchase is complete, the power of attorney has done its job.

Buying without being there is possible

Many buyers in the Marina Alta don't live in Spain and can't travel over for every step. A power of attorney solves that, as long as it's drawn up properly and the people around you know what to do. We take care of the property side: the viewing, the technical checks, the contact with the seller. The legal side of the power of attorney itself we leave to the notary or lawyer who specialises in it.

That way you can buy a place in Jávea, Dénia or Moraira from Antwerp, London or Düsseldorf, without needing to be physically present at every moment.