A claim over a contract that was not honoured has, as a general rule, five years, but when the damage was caused by someone you had no contract with, the Spanish Civil Code gives you one year from the moment you learned of it. That second group covers the upstairs neighbour whose botched repair floods your kitchen or the building work next door that cracks your façade, and anyone who lets the year pass thinking they have five loses the compensation even when the damage is fully proven.
That year can be stopped. A written claim to the person responsible interrupts it and makes it start again, and since 2025 so does the invitation to negotiate that Spanish law requires before a lawsuit, as long as it describes clearly what is being claimed. The first thing we check in any civil matter is therefore the date, and the second is whether that attempt at agreement has been made and whether it will stand up in court.
At Perseus & RC Abogados, a firm in A Coruña that has opened more than 5,000 matters since 2015, the civil practice is run by Ana María Reza Cortiñas, member no. 6064 of the A Coruña Bar Association and managing partner of the civil practice, and Luis Jurado Cano, member no. 6317. We explain every step in English to clients who live in Galicia or own property here, and the court documents, which are in Spanish, we go through with you before anything is filed.
Before suing, an attempt at agreement
Since 3 April 2025, Organic Law 1/2025 has required that almost any civil claim be preceded by an attempt to reach an agreement with the other side, and the court will not admit a claim that does not prove it. The attempt can take several forms, a direct negotiation or one between each side’s lawyers, a mediation, a conciliation before a notary or a confidential binding offer. The law asks that what was negotiated be the same as what is later claimed and that there be a written record of it.
If the other side signs a document on the negotiation, that is enough. If they do not reply, any document will do that proves they received the invitation or proposal, on what date and that they could read it in full. That is why we send it by burofax to their address or through the channel the parties already used to communicate, never a new one. The Provincial Court of A Coruña has already upheld the rejection of a claim in which the notice was sent as a certified text message, never opened, to a mobile number the parties had never used to talk to each other.
If thirty calendar days pass from receipt with no reply and no meeting, the negotiation is treated as ended and you may sue, within one year. Refusing to negotiate has consequences for costs, since a party who refuses without good reason does not recover them even if they win.
The attempt is not required to enforce a judgment or another document that already allows seizure of assets, to seek interim measures before the case, to recover through the fast-track route a home or property you have been dispossessed of, in cases on fundamental rights or in the special procedure for bills of exchange, cheques and promissory notes. Evictions for unpaid rent and order for payment procedures, on the other hand, are not among the exceptions, so both require it.
When you claim as a consumer against a business, a bank or an insurer, the requirement is met by the prior complaint to that business if it does not answer within the time its rules allow or its answer does not satisfy you. Against a bank, a decision of the Bank of Spain also counts.
What we handle in civil law
Tenancies and evictions
For landlords whose tenant has stopped paying we prepare the demand for payment, the attempt at agreement and the eviction claim together with the rent owed, and against the guarantor if there is one. Tenants who have been served with a claim we advise on what they can do in the ten days the court gives them. The whole process is on the evictions page. How much the rent can rise each year, with the IRAV cap for leases signed on or after 26 May 2023, is worked out by the CPI update calculator.
Claims against banks
We recover what a bank charged under terms it should not have applied, such as mortgage set-up costs or a floor clause, and the interest on revolving credit cards and quick loans that may be usurious. That is on the claims against banks page. If what happened is that someone emptied your account by posing as your bank, that is a different matter governed by payment services law, covered on the bank fraud page.
Unpaid debts
Debts owed to you, backed by invoices, an acknowledgment of debt or a contract, usually go through the order for payment procedure and then enforcement against the debtor’s assets, as explained on the debt recovery page and in our article on the order for payment procedure.
Inheritance
Inheritance is led by Ana Reza under Galician civil law, which has its own rules on the children’s forced share and on distributing an estate during one’s lifetime. Wills, declarations of heirs, estate debts and siblings who cannot agree have their own page, inheritance.
Contracts, damage and neighbours
We draft and review contracts, enforce or terminate them when the other party fails to perform, claim compensation for damage caused by third parties and handle disputes with residents’ associations and between neighbours. If the contract was signed on a screen, its value in court depends on the type of signature, which we explain in electronic signatures and contract validity.
Time limits to keep in mind
| What you are claiming | Time limit | From when |
|---|---|---|
| Performance of a contract or a debt with no special limit | 5 years | From when it could be demanded |
| Unpaid rent | 5 years | From each monthly due date |
| Damage caused outside a contract | 1 year | From when the injured party learned of it |
| Hidden defects in something you bought | 6 months | From delivery |
| Recovering lost possession through the fast-track route | 1 year | From the dispossession or disturbance |
| Suing after a failed attempt at agreement | 1 year | From receipt of an unanswered proposal or the end of the negotiation |
These are general rules. Insurance, residential construction and consumer purchases from businesses have their own limits, and each case is checked against its dates before anything is given up for lost.
Who handles your case
Ana María Reza Cortiñas, member no. 6064 of the A Coruña Bar, is the managing partner of the civil practice, and Luis Jurado Cano, member no. 6317, handles civil litigation with her. Whoever sees you at the first meeting follows your case to the end. Bring the contract, invoices, messages and any letters you have sent or received, with their dates, and we will tell you what can be claimed and against whom. You receive a written quote before we start.
Where we are
Rúa Torreiro 13, 3.º C, 15001 A Coruña, Spain. Phone +34 677 841 007. Monday to Thursday 9 am to 8 pm, Friday 9 am to 3 pm. If you live elsewhere, we can meet by video call with the documents in front of us, in English.
Related reading
- The order for payment procedure, how to recover an unpaid debt
- Can you collect from a debtor who says they have nothing?
- Squatters in your property, what the owner can and cannot do
- Is a contract signed electronically valid?
- Can you be disinherited? The forced share
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to try to reach an agreement before suing?
In almost every civil case, yes. Since 3 April 2025 Spanish courts will not admit a claim unless it is shown that negotiation on the same subject was attempted first, directly, between lawyers, through a mediator or through a conciliation before a notary. It is not needed to enforce a judgment, to seek interim measures before the case or to recover through the fast-track route a home you have been dispossessed of.
The other side is ignoring my proposal. How do I prove I tried?
Any document showing that they received the invitation to negotiate or the proposal, on what date and that they could read all of it, such as a burofax with certified content sent to their address. If thirty calendar days pass from receipt with no reply and no meeting, the negotiation is treated as ended and you can sue. From then on you have one year to do so.
I have a judgment in my favour and I am still not being paid. Do I have to negotiate again?
No. The law exempts enforcement proceedings, which are the ones you bring to collect what a judgment or another enforceable document already recognises. You ask the court directly to seize the debtor's accounts, salary or assets.
What happens if the other side refuses to negotiate?
A party who refuses without good reason to take part in the negotiation they were invited to does not recover their legal costs even if they win, and if the claim succeeds only in part the costs can be imposed on them. If it was the other side who refused, the party who invited them is in principle not ordered to pay costs, unless they have abused the process.
Do I need a lawyer for a civil claim in Spain?
Up to 2,000 euros you can file the claim yourself, and you can also file the initial application in an order for payment procedure whatever the amount. Above that figure, and in evictions and other proceedings assigned by subject matter rather than value, a lawyer and a court representative are compulsory. Even when they are not, it pays to check the time limit and the negotiation requirement first, because a mistake in either can keep the claim out of court.
If I lose, do I have to pay the other side's costs?
As a general rule the party whose claims are all rejected pays the costs of the first instance, unless the judge finds that the case raised serious doubts of fact or law. The part corresponding to lawyers and other professionals without official fee scales cannot exceed one third of the value of the case, unless the losing party acted recklessly. If the claim succeeds in part, each side pays its own costs and shares the common ones.