Remortgaging and refinancing in Spain

Typical of the banks to have you pay for the survey of your property that they will hold ransom until you repay your mortgage. And they choose the surveyor on top! But anyway, what can you do? Actually, you can ensure that the bank makes the survey free subject to you taking up their mortgage. If for whatever reason the deal does not happen then you pay for the survey, but if you proceed with the mortgage then push them to absorb the cost.

Present as many IBI receipts from past years as you can. If you can show that your "valor catastral" (the official property price) has been revised upwards in the last few years then you can apply some "pressure" to the surveyor to estimate at a higher price. Remember, this is not like your typical UK survey, this is a lot more subjective as it only assesses the market value of the property. And if the bank is willing to give you money (otherwise they wouldn't be reaching the tasacion stage) then they will want the price to be estimated higher.

Make sure you are upto date with your community fees, they always have the possibility to check it, even if they don't always do.

Paint over any problem areas - don't worry about structural issues, they are not checked for these purposes. Amazing but true in my experience, surveyors for bank mortgages hardly spend any time inside the property.

Then sit back and cross your fingers!