Skriven av Nicki Price, CEO
If you buy a property on the Costa del Sol that already has a tenant, in nearly all cases you inherit the lease, you cannot simply ask the tenant to leave because the owner has changed. Under the Ley 29/1994 de Arrendamientos Urbanos (the LAU), a residential tenant with a valid contract keeps the right to stay for the mandatory minimum term (five years if the previous landlord was an individual, seven if a company), and you step into the old landlord's shoes as the new owner. You collect the rent, you honour the deposit (the fianza lodged with the Junta de Andalucía), and you can only recover the home early in the narrow situations the law allows. Below is exactly how that works before you sign anything.
Yes, it is perfectly legal to buy a tenanted property, and plenty of resale apartments and villas on the Costa del Sol change hands with a tenant in place, especially buy-to-let stock. The sale is between you and the seller; the tenant is not a party to it and does not have to approve it. What changes is that from completion you become the landlord of record. The lease does not restart or reset, the clock the previous landlord started keeps running, which is the single most important thing most buyers get wrong.
This matters whether you plan to keep the tenant for the income (see our buy-to-let yields guide) or you want the property empty to live in yourself. The route to vacant possession is very different depending on the lease, so read the contract before you pay a single euro of deposit.
In most cases, yes. Article 14 of the LAU (Ley 29/1994) provides that where a tenant holds a validly registered lease, the buyer is subrogated into the landlord's position and must respect the contract for its full mandatory term. The practical upshot on the Costa del Sol:
Our fuller breakdown of landlord and tenant duties sits in the Spain rental law 2026 guide, which is worth reading alongside this article.
Spanish tenants rarely register their lease at the Registro de la Propiedad because it costs money and most landlords never ask. That actually helps a buyer who wants vacant possession, because an unregistered lease only binds you for the legal minimum, not the full contractual term. Always confirm the registration status on the nota simple, if the lease is listed there, assume you are locked in.
| Lease situation | Who was the landlord | How long you must respect it | Can you recover the home early? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered at Land Registry | Individual | Full contractual term | Very limited |
| Registered at Land Registry | Company | Full contractual term | Very limited |
| Not registered | Individual | 5-year LAU minimum from start date | Only for own/family use under strict conditions |
| Not registered | Company | 7-year LAU minimum from start date | Rarely, and never for own-use clause |
| Non-payment / breach | Any | N/A | Yes, via court eviction (desahucio) |
From the completion date you collect the rent, the tenant simply pays the new owner into the account you nominate, usually confirmed by a short written notice. The agreed rent and any annual review clause (typically indexed to the official reference index now used instead of the old IPC under the 2023 housing law) continue unchanged; you cannot raise the rent just because you bought the property.
The fianza (one month's deposit for a residential let) is important. On the Costa del Sol it should have been lodged with the Junta de Andalucía's deposit registry. Make sure the seller either transfers the deposit to you at completion or that it is clearly accounted for in the purchase, because when the tenant eventually leaves, you, as the new landlord, are the one who must return it. Have your lawyer list the rent, deposit and any additional guarantee in the arras contract so nothing is lost at the notary.
Possibly. The LAU gives residential tenants a pre-emption right, the derecho de tanteo y retracto, meaning the tenant may have the first option to buy on the same terms, unless they waived it in the contract (a waiver is valid and common in post-2019 leases). If the right was not waived, the seller must notify the tenant of the sale terms, and the tenant has 30 calendar days to match the offer. If this step is skipped, the tenant can later exercise retracto and effectively substitute themselves as buyer within 30 days of learning the real terms, a nasty surprise you avoid by having your lawyer confirm the waiver or the proper notification in writing before completion.
This is the question most owner-occupier buyers care about. You cannot evict simply because you are the new owner. Your realistic routes are:
Before you plan around any of this, get a lawyer to read the actual contract, the dates, the type of landlord, the owner-use clause and the registration status together decide what is possible. Our rent vs buy comparison is useful if you are still weighing whether to buy for yourself or as an investment.
If the tenant stops paying, you can start a court eviction, the desahucio por falta de pago, through the courts of the province (Málaga for most of the Costa del Sol). You claim possession and the unpaid rent in the same procedure. The tenant can usually stop the first eviction once by paying everything owed (the enervación), but not repeatedly. Be realistic about timing: Spanish eviction cases commonly take several months to well over a year, and recent housing legislation added extra steps where the tenant is classed as a vulnerable household, which can pause proceedings while social services are consulted. If you are buying specifically to inherit a problem tenant you intend to remove, factor the court timeline and legal costs into your offer, and never assume a quick result.
A tenanted home is still a normal resale purchase, so the taxes are the same as any Costa del Sol resale. In Andalucía the transfer tax (ITP) on resale is 7%, charged on the higher of the price or the Catastro valor de referencia, not necessarily what you pay. On top of ITP, budget notary (~0.2-0.5%), Registro de la Propiedad (~0.1-0.25%), lawyer (~1% + IVA) and a gestoría (~€300). As a rule of thumb, allow around 10-12% on top of the price for a resale in Andalucía, lower than the Costa Blanca, where Valencian ITP is 9% (11% above €1M, from deeds signed 1 June 2026 under Ley 5/2025), or the Costa Cálida at 7.75% (Ley 3/2025).
| Region | Autonomous community | Resale ITP rate |
|---|---|---|
| Costa del Sol / Costa Almería | Andalucía | 7% |
| Costa Cálida | Murcia | 7.75% |
| Costa Blanca | C. Valenciana | 9% (11% above €1M) |
Across our current stock Mediter has 8,213 properties for sale, covering Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca North and South, Costa Cálida, Costa de Almería and Mallorca. Many are resale apartments and villas, the pool from which tenanted buy-to-let opportunities most often come, and our Costa del Sol area guides, such as Benalmádena and Estepona, set out what homes cost in each location so you can judge whether a tenanted price is genuinely a discount.
No. As the new owner you are subrogated into the existing lease and must respect at least the LAU minimum term (five years with an individual former landlord, seven with a company). You can only end it early by agreement, by waiting for the term, through a valid owner-use clause, or through court eviction for non-payment or breach.
No. Under Article 14 of the Ley 29/1994 de Arrendamientos Urbanos the lease continues and you take over as landlord. A sale is not a ground to terminate a valid residential tenancy.
The new owner becomes responsible for returning it, so make sure the fianza lodged with the Junta de Andalucía is transferred to you or accounted for in the purchase price at the notary.
Only if their pre-emption right (derecho de tanteo y retracto) was not waived and the seller failed to notify them of the sale terms. A properly documented waiver removes the risk, which is why your lawyer must confirm it before completion.
Often slightly, because the buyer pool is smaller and vacant possession is not guaranteed. The taxes are identical to any resale, 7% ITP on the Costa del Sol on the higher of price or valor de referencia, so any saving comes from the negotiated price, not the costs.
Realistically several months to over a year through the Málaga courts, and longer where the household is classed as vulnerable. Treat any inherited problem tenant as a cost and time risk in your offer.
Whether you want a ready-let investment or a home you can move into, Mediter Real Estate can check the lease, the nota simple and the deposit before you commit, and match you with the right resale across the Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca, Costa Cálida and Costa Almería. Contact our team to talk through a specific property and get the tenancy position confirmed before you pay a deposit.
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