The short answer: until the auction closes you can still stop it by paying what you owe in arrears, not the whole loan, if it is your main home. Before and after that point there are other ways out: negotiating with the bank, selling the house yourself, someone buying the debt, or asking for the eviction to be suspended if your household meets the conditions. None of them is guaranteed and all of them depend on moving early.
In this article
Which stage you are in
A Spanish mortgage foreclosure always follows the same order. Find the last document you received and you will know where you are.
- Missed payments and acceleration. The bank cannot call in the whole loan over one instalment. For mortgages on homes granted to individuals, the law requires a minimum default: 3% of the capital or twelve monthly instalments if you are in the first half of the loan, and 7% or fifteen instalments if you are in the second (article 24 of Act 5/2019).
- Claim and demand for payment. The court orders enforcement and demands payment from you (article 686 of the Civil Procedure Act). The deadline to oppose starts here, and it is short.
- The auction is called. Twenty days after the demand for payment, the bank can ask for the auction (article 691).
- Auction. It is held online, on the BOE auction portal, and bids are accepted for twenty calendar days (article 649).
- Award and handover. The winning bid is approved, the house is awarded and, if it is still occupied, eviction is requested.
What you can do, from least to most conflict
1. Talk to the bank before the claim
This is when most things can be agreed: a payment holiday, a longer term, a partial write-off or, if nothing else works, handing over the property in settlement of the debt (dación en pago). If the bank has signed up to the Code of Good Practice and your household is below what the law calls the exclusion threshold, it has to consider those measures. The threshold is defined in Royal Decree-law 6/2012: as a general rule, household income not above three times the IPREM index, an instalment that takes more than half of net income and a home whose purchase price did not exceed certain limits. Ask in writing and keep proof.
2. Sell the house yourself
Until it is awarded, the house is still yours and you can sell it. An ordinary sale usually fetches more than an auction, and the price pays off the mortgage. If the price does not cover everything, the bank has to agree to accept less, and that needs to be negotiated before you sign anything with the buyer.
3. Pay the arrears and release the house
This is the way out fewest people know about. If it is your main home, until the auction closes you can release it by paying into court what was overdue when the claim was filed, plus the instalments and default interest that have fallen due since. You do not need the bank's permission (article 693.3). The loan goes back on track and the proceedings end.
There are three limits. You also have to pay the legal costs, which are calculated on the overdue instalments and cannot exceed 5% of the amount claimed. If you have already released the house once, you can only do it again if at least three years have passed. And if it is not your main home, it depends on the bank agreeing.
4. Oppose in court
The grounds are few and fixed by law: that the debt has been paid, that the amount is wrongly calculated, or that there is an unfair term on which the enforcement is based or which determined the amount claimed (article 695). If there is a basis, opposition suspends the proceedings until it is decided. If there is not, it only adds costs.
5. A third party pays or buys the debt
The law allows a third party to pay for you and release the house, with the bank's consent. It also happens that the bank sells the loan to an investor for less than is owed. You cannot make it do so, but when it happens the new creditor often has more room to agree a way out. We explain exactly what is being sold in what an NPL is.
6. Pay everything before the award is approved
Even once the auction has ended, until the winning bid or the award is approved you can recover the house by paying principal, interest and costs in full (article 670.7). It is hard without outside finance, but it exists.
"Until the auction has closed, what you have to pay to stop it is the overdue instalments, not the whole mortgage."
If the auction goes ahead
When it is your main home, the house cannot be awarded at just any price. The winning bid is not approved below 70% of the auction value, unless the amount covers everything owed, and even then never below 60% (article 670.3). If the best bid falls short of 70%, you have ten days from the close to put forward someone willing to improve on it.
We describe how this looks from the buyer's side in the debtor's main home in a foreclosure and in buying a home at a court auction. Reading them helps you understand what the other side will do.
What happens to the debt that is left
This is the point that surprises people most: losing the house does not wipe out the debt. If the auction proceeds do not cover what you owe, the bank can go on claiming the rest against your other assets and your income (article 579).
For a main home there is some relief. You are released if, within five years of the award, you pay 65% of what was left outstanding, or 80% within ten years, with statutory interest. And if whoever was awarded the house sells it within the following ten years, what you still owe is reduced by half of the gain they make.
Eviction and the suspension for vulnerable households
Once the house is awarded, the next step is eviction. Act 1/2013 suspends it when the property is the main home of a household in a situation of special vulnerability. The suspension is set for fifteen years from the date the Act came into force, that is, until 15 May 2028.
It is not for everyone. You have to fall into one of the situations listed in the Act (large family, single-parent family with dependent children, a minor in the home, disability or dependency, unemployment, gender-based violence or being over 60, among others) and also meet the financial conditions: as a general rule, income not above three times the IPREM index, a mortgage instalment above half of net income, and the property being your only home. You apply to the court and have to prove it with documents. The suspension holds off the eviction. It does not give the house back or cancel the debt.
Mistakes that make it worse
- Not collecting court notices. The proceedings carry on regardless and you miss the deadlines.
- Waiting until there is an auction date. By then the bank has less reason to negotiate and you have less time to sell.
- Verbal agreements with the bank. What is not signed does not stop the court.
- Paying someone who promises to stop the auction. Nobody can guarantee that. Be wary of anyone who charges up front in exchange for a result.
- Signing a sale or a power of attorney in a hurry for someone who turns up offering to "take over the debt". Have it checked first by a professional with no interest in the deal.
When it makes sense to get help
As soon as the claim arrives, because the deadline to oppose starts running that day. If you cannot afford a lawyer, apply for legal aid at the local bar association straight away and tell the court. And if your debts go beyond the mortgage, ask about personal insolvency proceedings: it can affect the enforcement, but it is a route with its own rules and needs to be looked at case by case.
Frequently asked questions
Until when can I stop the auction of my home in Spain?
If it is your main home, until the auction closes you can release it by paying the overdue instalments, default interest and costs (article 693.3 of the Civil Procedure Act). After that, only by paying the whole debt before the winning bid is approved.
Do I have to pay the whole mortgage to stop the auction?
No, if it is your main home and the auction has not closed: the amount overdue up to that point plus costs is enough. If you have already done it once, at least three years must have passed.
If my home is auctioned, do I still owe money?
Yes, if the proceeds do not cover the debt. For a main home you are released by paying 65% of the outstanding amount within five years or 80% within ten (article 579 of the Civil Procedure Act).
Until when are evictions of vulnerable households suspended?
Until 15 May 2028, under Act 1/2013, for the main home of households that fall within the vulnerability situations and meet the financial conditions set out in the Act.
At what price can my main home be awarded at auction?
The winning bid is not approved below 70% of the auction value, unless the amount covers everything owed, and in that case never below 60% (article 670.3).