Paying for property at completion in Spain in 2026: bank drafts, transfers and how money changes hands at the notary

At a Spanish property completion, the purchase balance is settled in the notary’s office using one of three instruments: a cheque bancario (a bank-certified draft), a TARGET2 interbank transfer, or an instant transfer. The notary records the means of payment in the public deed under Reglamento Notarial Article 177. Cash is effectively barred for property purchases because Spanish anti-fraud law caps cash payments at EUR 1,000 when a business or professional is involved. The Banco de España set out these three options in its consumer guidance published on 13 January 2026.

What are the accepted payment methods at a Spanish notary?

Spanish notaries accept three payment instruments for the purchase balance at completion. The cheque bancario conformado is a nominative bank draft with funds certified and blocked at the issuing branch. The TARGET2 transfer is a same-day European interbank transfer with no amount ceiling. The instant transfer moves funds in seconds, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Banco de España described all three in its January 2026 consumer guide on property payment methods.

Each method has different practical characteristics. The bank draft requires advance notice to your branch and may take a few days to clear at the seller’s bank. The TARGET2 transfer settles the same day if ordered before your bank’s cut-off time, otherwise the next business day. The instant transfer settles in seconds and, since October 2025, the EUR 100,000 per-transaction cap has been lifted under EU Regulation 2024/886, making it viable for property purchases. All three are irrevocable from the seller’s perspective: the draft guarantees funds are blocked, and both transfer types cannot be reversed once executed.

Feature	Cheque bancario conformado	TARGET2 transfer	Instant transfer
Settlement speed	Days (seller’s bank must verify)	Same day if before cut-off	Seconds, 24/7
Amount limit	No statutory limit	No limit	Cap removed October 2025
Irrevocable?	Funds blocked at issuance	Yes, once executed	Yes, once executed
Nominative?	Yes, only named beneficiary	N/A (account-to-account)	N/A (account-to-account)
Typical cost	Issuance and collection commissions	Possible transfer commission	Same as ordinary transfer
Advance notice needed?	Yes, bank must prepare draft	No, but check cut-off time	No
Beneficiary verification	No (nominative cheque)	No	Yes (name match before execution)

What is a cheque bancario and how do you obtain one?

A cheque bancario conformado is a draft that your bank issues and certifies, confirming the funds are blocked and available to the named beneficiary. It is nominative, meaning only the person or entity named on the draft can collect it. This is the traditional and still most common payment method at Spanish property completions, because it gives the seller immediate assurance that the money exists and is reserved.

To obtain one, contact your bank branch a few days before the signing date. The bank blocks the funds in your account and issues the draft in the seller’s name. On completion day, you hand the draft to the seller in the notary’s presence. The notary incorporates a testimony of the draft into the escritura, recording its number and the account code from which the funds were drawn, as required by Reglamento Notarial Article 177. Bear in mind that the seller’s bank may take a few days to clear the draft, and both the issuance and the collection may carry commissions.

Can you pay by bank transfer at the notary instead?

Yes. Two transfer types are accepted at completion. The TARGET2 transfer moves funds between European banks through the TARGET2 settlement system with no amount ceiling, settling the same day if you order before your bank’s cut-off time. If you miss the cut-off, funds arrive the next business day. This is the method the Banco de España describes as suitable for large transactions with no amount restriction.

The instant transfer is the newer alternative. Funds move in seconds, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Under EU Regulation 2024/886, which entered its second application phase in October 2025, banks can no longer charge more for an instant transfer than for an ordinary one, and the previous EUR 100,000 per-transaction cap has been removed. The regulation also introduced a beneficiary verification service: before the transfer executes, the system checks whether the destination name matches the account holder, allowing you to cancel if something looks wrong. Both transfer types are irrevocable once executed, which gives the seller the same security as a bank draft.

The Ley 16/2009 de servicios de pago governs payment services in Spain and establishes the framework for these instruments. For property transactions, the key practical difference is timing: the TARGET2 transfer depends on the bank’s cut-off schedule, while the instant transfer executes immediately regardless of the hour.

What must the notary record about your payment?

Under Reglamento Notarial Article 177, the notary must identify the means of payment in the escritura pública. The specific requirements depend on the instrument used. For cash, the parties declare the amounts paid and the dates. For a bank draft, the notary incorporates a testimony with the draft’s number and the account code from which the funds were drawn. For a transfer, the parties declare the cargo and abono account codes, which are recorded in the deed.

If the parties refuse to identify the means of payment, the notary will issue a formal verbal warning, recorded in the deed, that the document cannot be registered in the Property Registry under Ley Hipotecaria Article 254.3. This means the buyer would not obtain registered title, which defeats one of the main purposes of the notarial process. The notary also incorporates the Modelo S1 declaration for cash movements exceeding EUR 100,000 for residents or EUR 10,000 for non-residents, as required by anti-money-laundering legislation (Ley 10/2010).

The Reglamento Notarial sets out minimum identification thresholds: for a cheque, it is sufficient to record the drawer, drawee bank, beneficiary, whether it is nominative, date and amount. For a transfer, identification is sufficient even without the account codes, provided the orderer, beneficiary, date, amount, and sending and receiving institutions are recorded. This means a transfer can be identified even if the parties prefer not to disclose their full account details, though the notary will still report the omission of account codes to the Agencia Tributaria via the Consejo General del Notariado.

Can you pay cash for a Spanish property?

Cash is effectively barred for property completions in Spain. Since 11 July 2021, when Ley 11/2021 entered into force, the general cash payment limit has been EUR 1,000 for any operation where at least one party acts as a business or professional. This threshold covers virtually every property transaction, because estate agents, developers, notaries and banks all qualify as professionals under the law. Non-resident individuals who do not act as business owners or professionals face a higher threshold of EUR 10,000.

The sanction for exceeding the cash limit is 25 per cent of the total payment amount, under Ley 7/2012 Article 7 as amended. This is a fiscal infraction enforced by the Agencia Tributaria, not a criminal offence, but the penalty is severe enough to make cash payment of any property purchase balance impractical. Even where a cash payment might technically fall below the threshold, for instance a private sale between two non-professional individuals, the notary must still declare cash movements exceeding EUR 100,000 for residents or EUR 10,000 for non-residents under the Modelo S1 anti-money-laundering declaration.

For a practical guide to the full cost stack at completion, including transfer tax, notary fees and registry costs, see our cost of buying property on the Costa del Sol.

How does the payment flow work on completion day?

The payment for a Spanish property unfolds in stages, not as a single transfer. The arras deposit, typically 10 per cent of the price, is paid at the reservation stage to take the property off the market. A further payment is often made at the private contract stage (the contrato de compraventa), sometimes another 10 to 20 per cent. The remaining balance is settled at the notary on the day of signing the escritura de compraventa.

Consider a EUR 500,000 purchase in Marbella. The buyer pays EUR 50,000 as an arras deposit to reserve the property, as explained in our arras contract guide. At the private contract signing two weeks later, the buyer pays a further EUR 50,000 by transfer. On completion day, the remaining EUR 400,000 is paid in the notary’s office. The buyer arrives with a cheque bancario conformado for EUR 400,000 drawn in the seller’s name, or executes a TARGET2 transfer for the same amount from their Spanish bank account. The notary records the instrument in the escritura, along with any tax proration adjustments for IBI, community fees and pending utility charges, which are split between buyer and seller based on the completion date. For a detailed breakdown of how these adjustments work, see our guide to tax proration at property completion.

The conveyancing timeline from offer to keys is laid out step by step in our property conveyancing timeline guide, and the notary’s role, costs and digital reforms are covered in our Spanish notary guide. If you are buying off-plan, the payment structure involves stage payments and bank guarantees rather than a single completion balance, as explained in our off-plan buying guide.