Legacy homes can be sold now without waiting for unforeseen heirs

With the pandemic and the death of many elderly people, the real estate sector has received a significant injection of housing stock for sale and rent. With the legal change on Friday, inherited home purchases that in the past required a warning from notaries to buyers, are no longer valid. Until now, many of these operations could be blocked or be susceptible to mistrust, due to the risk they entail for the buyer, since, if in the two years after the purchase the property is claimed by the forced heir (an illegitimate child), the buyer could not refuse to return it. But in return, the buyer should continue to pay the mortgage granted by the bank.
Historical reasons

In any case, conflictive cases have been very few in recent years, although in the past it had relevance because it allowed the children of Spanish emigrants to have time to find out about the death and return to Spain and thus be able to claim their part of the inheritance. In case of doubt, article 28 of the mortgage law could be a reason for haggling in the final sale price, but in the most doubtful cases it could even block operations for two years. In real estate sources, it is suspected that the prices of inherited homes could reflect a small increase from now on. In addition, this repeal is retroactive, so banks should reduce risk rates in mortgage operations with recently inherited homes. The criteria when issuing an appraisal for the granting of a mortgage guarantee are not affected.

Certainly the pandemic has caused a considerable increase in home inheritance. According to the INE, between January and June there were 103,116 transfers of property ownership by inheritance in the whole of Spain, which gives an average of practically 570 per day. This is the highest number recorded in the historical series that began in 2007.
More inheritances in Catalonia

Catalonia was the autonomous community where there were more home inheritances in the first five months of the year, with almost 18,000. It is followed closely by Andalusia (17,225), and at a distance, Valencian Community (13,610) and Madrid (13,358). The next most prominent regions are Castilla y León (6,553) and the Basque Country (5,246). La Rioja is the only community where fewer homes have been inherited in the first half of the year (1,026 units), while the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla close the national ranking, with 100 and 84 transmissions of this type between January and June.