Selling an Inherited Flat in Madrid (2026): Steps, Taxes and What to Do If There Are Several Heirs

Selling an inherited flat is one of the most common transactions in Madrid and, at the same time, one of those that raises the most questions. It isn't enough to put up a listing: first you have to prove who the heirs are, accept the inheritance before a notary, settle the Impuesto de Sucesiones (inheritance tax) and the plusvalía municipal (municipal capital gains tax) and, in practice, register the flat in your names. Only then will a buyer and their bank agree to sign.

In this guide we go through the steps in order, with the deadlines and what each one costs in the Comunidad de Madrid (Madrid region) in 2026. We also explain which taxes are paid when you sell, why the value declared in the inheritance affects IRPF (income tax) and what legal routes there are when there are several heirs and one of them doesn't want to sell. You'll find the general sales process in “How to sell a flat in Madrid in 2026”.

Can you sell an inherited flat without completing the inheritance?

No. Until the inheritance is accepted and divided, the flat remains in the name of the deceased and nobody can sell it on their own. Acceptance and allocation are formalised in a deed before a notary, which is the document required when there are properties to be registered in the heirs' names, as the Junta de Andalucía's guide to procedures after a death points out, applicable throughout the territory governed by the general Civil Code.

What you can do is organise the timing so that the inheritance and the sale follow on from each other: prepare the sale (valuation, the flat's documents, finding a buyer) while the inheritance is being processed and sign as soon as there's a deed, the taxes have been filed and ownership is clear. What isn't a good idea is signing arras (a deposit contract) before knowing for certain who the heirs are and that they all agree.

The steps, in order

1. Obtain the death certificate, the certificate of last wills and the life insurance certificate.
2. Request a copy of the will or, if there isn't one, apply for a declaration of heirs.
3. Draw up an inventory of assets and debts and decide how to accept the inheritance.
4. Sign the deed of acceptance and allocation (or division) of the estate before a notary.
5. File the inheritance tax with the Comunidad de Madrid (self-assessment form) within the deadline.
6. File the plusvalía municipal for the inheritance with the town hall where the flat is located.
7. Register the inheritance at the Registro de la Propiedad (Land Registry).
8. Sell: arras, sale deed, plusvalía on the sale and IRPF the following year.

1. Death certificate, last wills and insurance

Everything starts with the full death certificate, issued by the Registro Civil (Civil Registry). With it, you request the certificado de actos de última voluntad (certificate of last wills) from the Ministerio de Justicia (Ministry of Justice), which shows whether the person made a will and before which notary. According to the Junta de Andalucía's guide, it can only be requested once 15 working days have passed from the day after the death, and there is a fee paid using form 790.

It's worth requesting at the same time the certificate from the Register of insurance contracts with death cover, which shows whether there was any life insurance or mortgage protection insurance. If the flat had an outstanding loan, that insurance can change the numbers considerably. Both certificates can be requested online, in person or by post.

2. Will or declaration of heirs

If the certificate shows there is a will, any of the heirs can request an authorised copy from the notary's office where it was made, providing the certificate of last wills and the death certificate. That copy is what is then used for the division of the estate and the procedures.

If there is no will, a declaración de herederos abintestato (declaration of heirs on intestacy) is needed. Since 23 July 2015 notaries handle it through an acta de notoriedad (notarial attestation) when the heirs are descendants, ascendants, the spouse or collateral relatives; the court only becomes involved if there are no relatives entitled under the law.

3. Acceptance and allocation before a notary

With the title to the succession in hand, the heirs sign the deed of acceptance and allocation of the inheritance before a notary. In it, the assets and debts are inventoried, valued and it's decided how they are divided. If the heirs are adults and the testator didn't make the division themselves, they can divide as they see fit (art. 1058 of the Código Civil, the Civil Code); if they can't agree, the courts remain an option (art. 1059).

This is where a key decision for the sale is made: allocate the flat to just one of the heirs (compensating the others with other assets or money) or allocate it to all of them in proindiviso (joint undivided ownership), each with their percentage. The latter is the most common when the idea is to sell and share the money, but it requires everyone to sign the sale. Further down we explain what happens if someone doesn't want to.

How you accept also matters if there are debts. With unconditional acceptance (pura y simple), the heir is liable for the estate's debts with their own assets too (art. 1003 of the Civil Code). With acceptance a beneficio de inventario (with the benefit of inventory), they are only liable up to the value of the inherited assets (arts. 1010 and 1023). We look at this in detail in the special cases section.

4. Inheritance tax in the Comunidad de Madrid in 2026

Each heir must file their own inheritance tax self-assessment. The good news in Madrid is that the tax is reduced almost to zero for close family members. Article 25.1 of the consolidated text on taxes ceded to the Comunidad de Madrid (Legislative Decree 1/2010) establishes that heirs in groups I and II:

shall apply relief of 99 per cent to the tax payable on acquisitions upon death

Art. 25.1 of Comunidad de Madrid Legislative Decree 1/2010

Since 1 July 2025, Comunidad de Madrid Law 2/2025 has raised the relief for group III from 25% to 50% and extended it to relatives by marriage. A ruling published by the Comunidad itself (CTE 11-25/S) clarifies an important nuance: the group III relief only applies to assets declared in full in a self-assessment filed on time, or filed late without a prior request from the tax authorities.

Source: art. 25.1 of Legislative Decree 1/2010 (Comunidad de Madrid ruling CTE 11-25/S) and Law 2/2025 of 25 June (Fiscal Impuestos, June 2025).

To give an idea of the effect: in a worked example published by the OCU (Spain's main consumers' organisation) involving a death in Madrid in 2021, a son over 21 inherited assets worth €630,000. The full tax due was €150,243.86 and, after the 99% relief, he paid €1,502.44. Even though the final figure is small, the self-assessment must always be filed.

5. Plusvalía municipal on the inheritance

Inheriting an urban property also triggers the Impuesto sobre el Incremento del Valor de los Terrenos de Naturaleza Urbana (tax on the increase in value of urban land), the plusvalía municipal. In inheritances it is paid by the heirs, and the deadline to declare it is six months from the death, extendable up to one year if requested (art. 110 of the consolidated Ley de Haciendas Locales, the Local Finances Act, according to Consumo Responde). If it can be shown that the land hasn't increased in value, nothing is payable, but it must be declared and the deeds provided.

In the city of Madrid, the bylaw approved by the City Council plenary in 2022 grants relief on inheriting the deceased's habitual home when it goes to descendants, ascendants or the spouse: 95% if the cadastral value of the land doesn't exceed €60,000, 85% up to €100,000, 70% up to €138,000 and 40% above that. In the OCU example, a tax of €10,440 came down to €522 thanks to the relief, which had to be expressly requested. If the flat is in another municipality in the Comunidad, check its own bylaw, because each town hall sets its own relief.

6. Registration at the Land Registry

The last step is taking the deed to the Land Registry so the flat is recorded in the heirs' names. To dispose of the allocated assets you must show that the inheritance tax has been filed, as BBVA's guide for heirs points out. The buyer and their bank will review the nota simple (land registry extract), and the sale is much simpler if the heirs already appear on it as owners.

Deadlines: six months and the extension

The deadline to file inheritance tax is six months from the death. According to the Comunidad de Madrid's online portal (information updated on 8 October 2026), an extension of another six months can be requested, with these rules:

• It must be requested within the first five months after the death; after that it isn't granted.
• It can be requested by the heirs, the executor or the administrators of the estate, with the death certificate and the reasons.
• If a month passes without a reply, it is deemed granted.
• The extension starts when the initial six months end and requires late-payment interest to be paid up to the date of filing.
• There's no fee and it can be submitted online or in person (form 467F1).

The plusvalía municipal on the inheritance has its own deadline, also six months extendable up to one year, and the extension must be requested before the first deadline expires. They are two separate procedures before two different authorities: requesting the inheritance tax extension doesn't extend the plusvalía. Filing late leads to surcharges and interest.

What value to declare in the inheritance and why it matters when you sell

This is the point that can save the most money if you plan to sell soon. For IRPF on the sale, the acquisition value of an inherited flat isn't what your parents paid, but the value resulting from the inheritance tax rules, which cannot exceed market value (art. 36 of the IRPF Act, as applied by the Dirección General de Tributos, the Directorate-General for Taxation, in binding ruling V3016-21). The acquisition date is the date of death.

In other words: if you declare a very low value in the inheritance, a large gain will appear for IRPF when you sell. With Madrid's 99% relief, declaring a value in line with the market barely increases inheritance tax for children or a spouse and reduces the future gain. To set it, a valuation or a study of prices in the area is advisable, compared with the Catastro's (land cadastre's) reference value. The value must be justifiable, so review it with an adviser.

Taxes when selling the inherited flat

Once the inheritance is complete, the sale is taxed like any other sale. There are two taxes paid by the seller: the plusvalía municipal on the sale and IRPF on the capital gain.

The plusvalía on the sale is filed within 30 working days of the deed, and the period that counts begins on the date of death, not the original purchase. If the sale price is similar to the value declared in the inheritance, you can prove with the deeds that there has been no increase and nothing is payable. Since Royal Decree-law 26/2021 you can choose between the objective method (cadastral value of the land times a coefficient based on the years) and the real method, whichever gives the lower tax; the rate cannot exceed 30%.

For IRPF, each heir declares their share of the gain in the tax return for the following year. The gain is the difference between the transfer value (sale price minus sale costs, such as intermediary fees, plusvalía municipal or certificates) and the acquisition value (the inheritance value plus the costs and taxes inherent to the acquisition that were paid, according to art. 35.1.b of the IRPF Act). The Dirección General de Tributos confirmed in binding ruling V1858-25 that what is paid to the estate agency and the plusvalía municipal are deductible on the sale of an inherited property.

Source: savings tax base scale since 2025 (HelpMyCash). The rates are applied by band, not to the whole gain.

An indicative example with round figures: two siblings inherit a flat declared at €300,000 and sell it for €330,000, with €10,000 of sale costs and €2,000 of inheritance costs. The total gain is €18,000, €9,000 each. Each sibling would pay €1,140 on the first €6,000 (19%) and €630 on the remaining €3,000 (21%): €1,770 in total per person. If they had declared €250,000 in the inheritance, the gain would be €68,000 and the IRPF would shoot up.

• If the sale price doesn't exceed the acquisition value plus costs, there's no gain and no IRPF is paid on the sale.
• The exemption for selling the habitual home when over 65 only applies if the flat was the habitual home of the heir who is selling.
• If a reduction requiring the asset to be kept was applied for inheritance tax (for example, the habitual home reduction), selling too early may mean having to regularise; check this before putting the flat on the market.

When there are several heirs and you can't agree

This is the most delicate situation and also the most common: three siblings inherit a flat, two want to sell and one prefers to keep it, let it or wait for prices to rise. Before the division, the heirs have a joint ownership of the whole estate; after the flat is allocated in proindiviso, they are co-owners of the property. In both cases the Civil Code starts from the same idea: nobody is obliged to remain a co-owner forever.

No co-owner shall be obliged to remain in the co-ownership.

Art. 400 of the Civil Code

The same article allows an agreement to keep the property undivided for a set period of up to ten years, extendable by a new agreement. And article 1051 applies an equivalent rule to inheritances: no co-heir can be forced to remain in undivided ownership, unless the testator expressly prohibited division. From there, there are four routes.

Sell together

This is the quickest route and usually gives the best price. All co-owners sign the arras and the deed, and the money is divided according to each person's percentage. Before going on the market, it's wise to agree in writing the minimum price, who manages the viewings and how costs are shared until the sale (IBI property tax, community fees, utilities).

One buys out the others: extinción de condominio

If one of the heirs wants to keep the flat, they can pay the others for their share. If this is done in the division itself, article 1062 of the Civil Code provides for an indivisible asset to be allocated to one of the heirs, who pays the others the excess in money. If the flat has already been allocated in proindiviso, the transaction is called extinción de condominio (dissolution of joint ownership) and is signed before a notary.

For tax purposes, the extinción de condominio is usually subject to Actos Jurídicos Documentados (stamp duty), which is cheaper than the Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales (transfer tax) on a sale to a third party. But the tax treatment depends on how it's done (whether there's an excess allocation, whether it's paid with one's own money or with a mortgage), so it's a point to review with the notary or an adviser before signing.

Sell only your share

Each co-owner has full ownership of their share and can sell, assign or mortgage it (art. 399 of the Civil Code). In practice, finding someone to buy a percentage of a flat is difficult and the price is usually well below the proportional value, because the buyer joins a co-ownership without being able to use the flat freely.

In addition, the others have preferential rights. If an heir sells their inheritance right to an outsider before the division, any of the co-heirs can take the buyer's place by paying them the price, within one month of being notified (art. 1067 of the Civil Code, the co-heirs' right of redemption). After the division, co-owners have the co-owners' right of redemption (retracto de comuneros).

Court-ordered division: the last resort

If there's no agreement, any co-owner can ask a judge for division. As a flat is essentially indivisible, article 404 of the Civil Code provides that, if the co-owners don't agree to allocate it to one of them while compensating the others, it is sold and the price divided. In inheritances, article 1062 adds that it is enough for a single heir to request a sale at public auction, open to outside bidders, for this to happen.

It's a court procedure, with the costs of a lawyer, a procurador (court representative) and often an expert, and people outside the family can bid at the auction. The outcome is uncertain: an auction price may fall below market value and the costs of the process are deducted before the proceeds are divided. That's why the threat of a court-ordered division is usually more useful as a negotiating tool than as a goal in itself.

Source: arts. 399, 400, 404, 1062 and 1067 of the Civil Code (CEF Civil-Mercantil).

If an heir doesn't respond or blocks the division

Sometimes the problem isn't that someone wants something different, but that they don't respond. Article 1005 of the Civil Code allows any interested party to go to a notary to have the heir formally summoned: they will have thirty calendar days to accept or renounce and, if they say nothing, they are deemed to have accepted the inheritance unconditionally. That unblocks at least the first step.

For the division, if no contador-partidor (estate divider) was appointed in the will, heirs and legatees representing at least 50% of the estate can ask the notary or the court clerk (letrado de la Administración de Justicia) to appoint a contador-partidor dativo (court- or notary-appointed estate divider) (art. 1057 of the Civil Code). Their division requires approval, unless all heirs expressly confirm it.

Special cases

Inherited flat with a tenant living in it

The owner's death doesn't end the tenancy agreement: the heirs become the landlords and must respect it. Selling a rented flat is possible and doesn't require the tenant's permission, but the buyer takes over the contract and will have to respect it on the terms set by the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos (Urban Leases Act). In addition, that law gives residential tenants a preferential right to buy (tanteo y retracto, right of first refusal and pre-emption), unless it has been validly waived, so they must be notified of the sale before signing.

A flat with a tenant usually appeals mainly to investors, and the price may be lower than for an empty flat. Before deciding, it's wise to read the contract carefully (duration, extensions, lodged deposit) and work out whether it's better to sell now or wait for it to end. If the tenant is interested in buying, they may be the simplest buyer.

With a usufruct for the widow or widower

If the deceased was married and there's no will saying otherwise, a surviving spouse inheriting alongside children is entitled to the usufruct (lifetime right of use) of the tercio de mejora, the third of the estate that can be used to favour certain heirs (art. 834 of the Civil Code). If inheriting only alongside ascendants, to the usufruct of half the estate; and if there are neither descendants nor ascendants, of two thirds (arts. 837 and 838). Many wills also leave the spouse a universal usufruct.

While the usufruct exists, the children only have the nuda propiedad (bare ownership), and an ordinary buyer won't want a flat someone else has the right to use. To sell full ownership, the usufructuary and the bare owners must sign, and the price is divided according to the value of each right. The heirs can also agree with the surviving spouse to commute their usufruct into a life annuity, the income from certain assets or a cash sum (art. 839).

Calculated using the lifetime usufruct rule set out in BBVA's guide for heirs: 89 minus the usufructuary's age, with a minimum of 10% and a maximum of 70%. This is the tax value; the division of the price can be agreed differently.

With debts or an outstanding mortgage

If you suspect the deceased had debts, don't accept the inheritance lightly. Any heir can accept with the benefit of inventory, even if the testator prohibited it, or first request an inventory in order to deliberate (art. 1010 of the Civil Code). That way they aren't obliged to pay the debts beyond the value of the inherited assets, and their own assets aren't mixed with the estate's (art. 1023). If they already have assets from the estate in their possession, they must notify this before a notary and request the inventory within thirty days (art. 1014).

If the flat has a mortgage, the debt passes to the heirs along with the property. When selling, it's usually paid off with the sale proceeds on the signing day itself. Beforehand, it's worth checking whether there was life or mortgage protection insurance linked to the loan (the insurance certificate will show this) and asking the bank for the certificate of outstanding debt.

Summary table of costs and deadlines

Source: Comunidad de Madrid, Junta de Andalucía, Consumo Responde, Ayuntamiento de Madrid, LawAndTrends (September 2026) and HelpMyCash. Notary and registry fees depend on the value of the assets and the number of heirs.

Common mistakes that make the sale more expensive or slower

• Letting the first five months pass without requesting the inheritance tax extension when the inheritance is going to be complicated.
• Declaring a very low value in the inheritance to pay less now and then facing a large gain for IRPF when selling.
• Signing arras with a buyer before all the heirs have accepted and agreed on the price.
• Not checking the nota simple: charges, old uncancelled mortgages or a usufruct nobody remembered.
• Accepting unclear intermediary terms: always ask in writing what the commission includes, who pays it and whether there will be additional costs.

How we do it at Llavely

At Llavely we can take care of everything, including the inheritance. With “Herencia completa + venta” (full inheritance + sale), our lawyers specialising in inheritance, with more than 35 years of experience, handle the whole inheritance: will or declaration of heirs, acceptance and division before a notary, inheritance tax, plusvalía and registration at the Land Registry. The inheritance has its own separate fixed quote, which we give you before starting. That way, when the property is shown, it will already be in the heirs' names, and no buyer will find, halfway through the process, an heir who didn't agree or an owner who isn't the person signing.

Once the property is in your names, we sell it with “Venta Llavely” (our Llavely Sale service): 2.5% + VAT of the sale price, paid only if you sell and on the day of the notary signing, all inclusive: valuation, photos, video, floor plan and virtual tour, buyers screened and verified by us, the viewings, which we carry out ourselves, offers and arras, coordination with the notary and the lawyers from start to finish, who review charges and the nota simple, draft the arras, prepare the deed, calculate the plusvalía and IRPF and come with you in person to the notary, including when there are several heirs or one of you lives abroad. From the private seller portal you follow every viewing and every offer.

No extra payments or hidden costs: what you see is what you get. If you haven't yet completed the inheritance, in “How much does an inheritance cost in Madrid in 2026” we go through the costs one by one. And if you're preparing to sell an inherited flat in Madrid, ask us for the inheritance quote or your free valuation and we'll get back to you within 24 hours (we reply in English by email, message or phone).

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Ruling CTE 11-25/S: relief under art. 25.1 of Legislative Decree 1/2010 (Comunidad de Madrid, 2026)
2. Extension of filing deadlines for inheritance tax (Comunidad de Madrid online portal, updated 8 October 2026)
3. Madrid raises inheritance tax relief to 50% for all Group III relatives (Fiscal Impuestos, 30 June 2025)
4. Procedures after a death (Junta de Andalucía, Andalusian regional government, August 2024)
5. The plenary approves the new plusvalía tax bylaw (Ayuntamiento de Madrid, Madrid City Council, 31 May 2022)
6. The plusvalía (Consumo Responde, Junta de Andalucía)
7. Binding ruling V3016-21 of the Dirección General de Tributos (Directorate-General for Taxation) on the acquisition value of inherited assets (El Notario)
8. Tax authorities allow deduction of fees paid to the estate agency that brokers the sale (Iberley, 12 May 2026)
9. Taxes on the sale of an inherited home (HelpMyCash)
10. Civil Code, arts. 1051 to 1087: collation and division of the estate (CEF Civil-Mercantil)
11. A worked inheritance example: how much tax is paid (OCU, February 2021)
12. Civil Code, arts. 392 to 406: co-ownership (CEF Civil-Mercantil)
13. Civil Code, arts. 959 to 1034: acceptance, renunciation and benefit of inventory (CEF Civil-Mercantil)
14. Civil Code, arts. 744 to 911: forced heirship and rights of the surviving spouse (CEF Civil-Mercantil)
15. Help guide for heirs (BBVA)
16. How much does it cost to inherit a house in Madrid? Taxes and costs (LawAndTrends, 28 September 2026)