The running cost of a Costa del Sol home is modest by northern European standards, but it is made of five separate things and one of them catches nearly every non-resident buyer out.
IBI
The municipal property tax, charged on the valor catastral rather than the market value — and the catastral value is usually well below what you paid. Rates vary by town. In practice most of our clients pay somewhere between a few hundred euros and a couple of thousand a year. Ask for the last IBI receipt before you buy; it tells you the catastral value too, which you will need later.
Community fees
The single biggest variable. A simple block might charge €100 a month. A gated development with 24-hour security, landscaped gardens, a gym, a spa and two pools can be €500 or more. Neither is wrong — but know which you are buying, and read the community's accounts, not just the monthly figure. A community with no reserve fund is a special levy waiting to happen.
Basura, utilities, insurance
Refuse collection is billed separately and is small. Electricity is the meaningful one if you run air conditioning through August or heat a pool through winter. Buildings insurance is generally covered by the community; contents and civil liability are yours.
Modelo 210 — the one nobody expects
If you are a non-resident and the property is not let, Spain still taxes you on a notional rental income. The taxable base is 1.1 or 2 per cent of the catastral value depending on when it was last revised, and the rate is 19 per cent for residents of the EU, Norway and Iceland, 24 per cent for everyone else. It is filed annually on form Modelo 210.
The sums are usually small — often a few hundred euros. The problem is that people do not know it exists, do not file, and discover the accumulated position when they come to sell. Set it up with a gestor in your first year and forget about it.
If you do let it out
You file the actual rental income instead. EU, Norwegian and Icelandic residents may deduct expenses proportionally; residents elsewhere are taxed on the gross at 24 per cent, which changes the arithmetic considerably. And you will need a tourist licence — a subject in its own right.
Correct as of 4 December 2025. Rates and thresholds change; confirm with a Spanish gestor or tax adviser before budgeting on these numbers.