Buying property on the Costa del Sol —
the legal checklist

Why the Costa del Sol is different

The Costa del Sol — the coast of Málaga province, from Nerja in the east through Málaga city, Marbella, Estepona and Manilva in the west — has the highest concentration of foreign property buyers in Spain. British, German, Dutch, Scandinavian, Irish, and increasingly American buyers dominate the villa and apartment market in Marbella and the surrounding municipalities.

The legal issues foreign buyers face on the Costa del Sol are different from the Costa Blanca in three ways:

• Andalucía, not Valencia. Planning, inheritance, and transfer-tax rules all come from the Junta de Andalucía, and they differ from the Valencia equivalents.
• The Marbella PGOU mess. Spain's Supreme Court annulled Marbella's 2010 master plan in 2015. Thousands of properties were left in legal limbo. Many have been regularised since, but the issue continues to surface.
• High-value segment. Villa purchases routinely run into millions. The stakes of getting the due diligence wrong are proportionally higher.

The Marbella PGOU story

This one needs some history. PGOU stands for Plan General de Ordenación Urbana — a municipality's comprehensive planning plan. Marbella approved a new PGOU in 2010 that attempted to regularise thousands of irregular properties built during the chaotic 1990s (the era of former mayor Jesús Gil).

In November 2015, Spain's Supreme Court annulled the 2010 PGOU. The legal foundation for thousands of recently-regularised properties disappeared overnight. Marbella reverted to its 1986 PGOU — a plan created before much of the modern urban footprint existed.

Since 2015, the municipality has worked to regularise properties individually through specific procedures (see AFO below). Many cases have been resolved; many haven't. As of 2026, there are still properties in Marbella where the planning status is ambiguous, and where a buyer needs specialist advice.

AFO — Asimilado Fuera de Ordenación

The AFO — Asimilado a Fuera de Ordenación — is the Andalucía-specific mechanism for regularising properties built without licence, where the statute of limitations for enforcement has expired (typically 6 years from completion for minor infractions). AFO status is not a licence; it's a recognition that enforcement is no longer possible, and therefore utility connections and basic municipal services can be granted.

What AFO does:

• Allows utility connections on regular contracts
• Blocks municipal enforcement action
• Permits conservation works but not expansion

What AFO does not do:

• Grant a building licence retrospectively
• Allow extensions, modifications, or new construction
• Resolve rural land classification issues

For a buyer, AFO status is acceptable if you understand it: the property is legal to live in, connect, and sell, but frozen at current dimensions. No extending, no adding a pool, no converting the garage. If you buy expecting to renovate and expand, AFO is a problem.

Mortgages on AFO properties

This is where things get practical. Spanish banks are conservative about lending against AFO properties. Some won't lend at all. Some will lend but at lower loan-to-value (60% rather than 70-80%). Foreign banks lending cross-border may not understand the concept and refuse entirely. If you're buying an AFO property with a mortgage, check financeability before you sign the arras.

The LPO and segunda ocupación

As on the Costa Blanca, the LPO is the first-occupation licence — the proof that the building is legally habitable. On the Costa del Sol, the Andalucía equivalent for existing (not new-build) properties is the Licencia de Segunda Ocupación or, more recently, the DRO (Declaración Responsable de Ocupación).

For a resale property:

• An LPO is usually required to transfer utility contracts to the new owner.
• If the original LPO is old and the property has changed since (extensions, pool, etc.), a fresh licencia de segunda ocupación or DRO may be required.
• Request the most recent one. If none has been issued, raise it as a pre-arras concern.

The Junta de Andalucía dimension

Andalucía has its own version of the property purchase taxes that differ from other regions. Two worth flagging:

ITP (Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales) — resale transfer tax

For resale properties in Andalucía, ITP is currently 7% of the purchase price. This is lower than many other autonomous regions (Valencia charges 10% up to €1M, Catalonia charges 10%+). The 7% rate has been in effect since late 2021 as part of Andalucía's tax-competitive positioning.

IVA + AJD for new builds

New build purchases attract 10% IVA plus AJD (Actos Jurídicos Documentados) — Andalucía currently charges 1.2% AJD. So a new build effectively costs 11.2% in taxes on top of the purchase price, versus 7% for a resale.

See our full guide to Spanish property taxes for how all these interact with non-resident status and wealth tax.

Municipality notes

Marbella

The post-2015 PGOU situation requires specific attention. Request the informe urbanístico from the Gerencia Municipal de Urbanismo for any property you're serious about. Older developments (Nueva Andalucía, Puerto Banús, San Pedro's historic blocks) are mostly clean; 1990s-2000s build in the sierra and hillsides sometimes are not.

Estepona

Generally a more orderly planning record than Marbella. Newer development in Estepona Oeste and the New Golden Mile has been built under proper planning. Check coastal law setbacks for any property close to the sea.

Benahavís

Inland, villa-heavy, predominantly high-value. Many gated urbanisations with healthy communities of owners. Verify urbanisation fees and whether the community owns roads and infrastructure (meaning owners collectively fund maintenance).

Mijas and Fuengirola

Mixed stock from the 1970s onwards. Older apartments sometimes have shared-cost issues — antiquated lifts, lack of accessibility, pending ITE inspections. Fuengirola is particularly apartment-heavy; community due diligence is critical.

Málaga city

Central, urban, significantly different from the resort municipalities. Historic centre properties may have BIC (Bien de Interés Cultural) protection affecting what can be modified. Apartments in the expansion areas (Teatinos, Huelin) are generally low-risk.

Manilva and Casares

Western end of the Costa del Sol, lower-priced stock. Some 2000s-era developments remain with imperfect licensing following the financial crisis. Extra care with smaller, less well-known urbanisations.

Tourist rental licences

Many foreign buyers plan to let their Costa del Sol property on short-term rental platforms during the weeks they're not using it. Andalucía regulates this through the Registro de Turismo de Andalucía, and individual municipalities may have additional restrictions.

Key points:

• Short-term rental requires a Vivienda con Fines Turísticos (VFT) registration.
• The community of owners can, by majority vote, prohibit short-term rentals in the building. Many Marbella communities have done so.
• The property needs the LPO / segunda ocupación to qualify.
• Municipalities can impose additional restrictions — Málaga city has tightened considerably in 2023-2024.

If rental income is part of your investment case, verify before signing the arras: check the community rules and the municipal register. Communities that currently allow rentals can restrict them later by vote — so consider the building's composition (owner-occupiers versus investors) as a proxy for future stability.

The Costa del Sol checklist

1. Nota Simple — current, within 30 days, all sections reviewed.
2. Certificado urbanístico — from the ayuntamiento, explicitly confirming post-2015 PGOU status (especially Marbella).
3. AFO status — if the property is post-1990 and you're not sure, verify directly.
4. LPO or DRO / Licencia de segunda ocupación — on file, reflecting current state of the building including any pools or extensions.
5. Mortgage viability — pre-approval from a bank that has seen the Nota Simple and understands the planning status.
6. Tourist rental — if you plan to let: VFT eligibility, community rules, municipal restrictions.
7. Coastal law status — for any property within 200m of the sea.
8. Community of owners — administrator's certificate, last two years of actas, pending derramas.
9. Debts — IBI, community, tax affections as per our debt checklist.
10. Tax strategy — ITP 7% versus IVA+AJD 11.2%, non-resident status, see the tax guide.

Verificar.ai handles all of the above automatically for Costa del Sol properties. If you're comparing two or three potential purchases, commissioning a report on each lets you compare like with like — including the issues that a seller's agent may not be foregrounding.