Branded residences and top-end off-plan: what you're actually paying for.

At the top end of this coast, two things get sold together: the building and the name on it. Spanish law protects the money you pay for the building in ways worth understanding properly. The name is a commercial arrangement. It can change, and you pay for it every year, not just once.

This guide is for buyers looking at new builds and branded schemes in Marbella, Estepona and Benahavís. The basics of stage payments, guarantees and delays are in our off-plan guide. Here we go into what's different when the price runs to seven figures and comes with a logo.

What the brand actually is

In most branded residences the hotel group or design house isn't the developer. The developer buys the land, builds and sells. The brand licenses its name and usually runs the services, or oversees whoever does.

An industry column on loss-of-brand risk sets out the acknowledgement buyers are typically asked to sign. It says the brand isn't the developer or an investor, and it grants only a limited, revocable right to use its name. It also says the brand can end the association. The same piece notes that brands usually earn from sales plus a management fee, so whether they stay depends on whether the scheme stays worth it to them.

Spain has more of these than anywhere else in Europe. The Branded Residences Monitor, as reported in the Spanish press in August 2025, counted 2,041 units in Spain, with Marbella and the Costa del Sol holding about 62% of them.

What the premium buys

Savills' global branded residences study, published in February 2026, puts the average premium at 33%, rising to 39% in resort locations. That's a worldwide average, not a Marbella figure. And it's money you pay on day one and hope to see again when you sell.

What it should buy is service to a hotel standard: concierge, housekeeping, maintenance, shared facilities, often a rental programme, and design or furnishing from the brand itself. Ask exactly which of those come with your unit, which are extras and which are only in the renders. If the brand is on the sign but not in the fit-out or the running of the place, you're paying for a badge.

Running costs are the real price

Savills is plain that running costs are higher in branded schemes, and that they vary with the level of service and facilities. In Spain, an apartment in a shared building sits under the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal, and the owners vote the community budget. The brand's services come through service contracts, and somebody pays for them.

When you buy from a developer, Real Decreto 515/1989 entitles you to see the community statutes and information on the community's service contracts. Get them early. Your lawyer should check who signed the management contract, how long it runs, how the fees rise and whether the owners can end it.

Then put the figure into what it costs to own every year. A service charge you didn't plan for is the quickest way to stop enjoying a place.

Rental programmes and what they restrict

Many branded schemes come with a rental programme run by the operator. Savills has described schemes where owners can't let privately, the programme is compulsory and personal use is tightly limited. Its example was eight weeks a year, two of them in high season. Not every scheme works like that, so read the programme terms as closely as the purchase contract. Look at the revenue split, who sets prices, blocked dates, the furnishing standard you'll pay to keep up, and how you get out.

The Andalusian rules sit underneath all of this. Holiday lets are regulated by Decreto 28/2016, as amended. It excludes tourist apartments of the “conjunto” type, which come under a separate decree, and its preamble describes that category as the route for operators with three or more units. So a rental pool run by one operator may sit under tourist apartment rules rather than individual holiday-let registrations. Which one applies affects the licence, the obligations, and what happens if you leave the pool. Have your lawyer confirm it for the specific scheme.

Since 3 April 2025, an owner who wants to start a tourist let in a building needs the community's express approval. That takes three-fifths of all owners, who must also hold three-fifths of the shares, and the same majority can limit or prohibit tourist lets. Lets already running legally before that date can carry on. In a branded building the community is the other buyers, and their plans may not match yours. There's more on this in our guides to holiday lets in Andalusia and why the letting rules are tightening.

If the brand leaves

Brands do leave. The same industry column lists the usual reasons. The upkeep might be underfunded below the brand's standard, or owners might vote to cut costs. The hotel the residences are tied to might lose its brand, or the developer and the brand might simply decide it's no longer worth it. Buyers have often signed away any claim against the brand in advance.

So ask what happens to the services, the rental programme and the community contracts if the name goes. The resale premium depends on the brand still being there, which is part of the wider new build or resale question.

The off-plan protections that matter at this price

The guarantee. Under the first additional provision of the Ley de Ordenación de la Edificación, as rewritten by Ley 20/2015, the developer must guarantee the return of your payments plus legal interest from the moment the building licence is granted. The guarantee is either surety insurance or a joint and several bank guarantee. Your money has to go into a special account kept separate from the developer's other funds.

An insurance policy must be individual to you and identify the property. The cover includes the taxes you've paid, which matters because IVA is charged on each stage payment as you make it. The contract must name the insurer or bank and the account. When you sign, the developer must hand you the document that proves the guarantee covers your payments.

If the developer doesn't repay within thirty days of a formal demand, you claim from the insurer or bank. A bank guarantee lapses two years after the developer misses its deadline if you haven't made a demand by then, so don't sit on a missed date. When single stage payments run to six figures, check each one is covered before it leaves your account.

The specification. Real Decreto 515/1989 says the details about construction, services and installations in the offer and advertising are enforceable even if they aren't in the contract. Keep every brochure and price list. But a phrase like “or similar quality” leaves the developer room to change things, and so do words like “premium”. For the items you care about, ask for the brand and model in an annex to the contract.

Changes and upgrades. Agree the price of any change in writing, along with any effect on the completion date. Then ask your lawyer whether money paid for extras outside the purchase contract is covered by the guarantee.

Delays. If the home isn't delivered in the agreed time, the law lets you choose. You can cancel and get your money back with interest, or you can grant an extension, recorded in an extra clause with the new date. The refund obligation also applies if the occupation licence or its equivalent isn't obtained. The contract needs a firm date, any grace period spelled out, and nothing vague about what counts as delivery.

The energy certificate. Under Real Decreto 390/2021, the energy label must appear in all advertising for the sale. If a home is sold before it's finished, the seller must provide the project label, then the finished-building certificate once it's issued.

Taxes. Buying new from the developer, you pay 10% IVA on the home, plus up to two parking spaces and annexes sold with it. In Andalusia you also pay 1.2% stamp duty (AJD) on the deed. The full picture is in our guide to the 10 to 13% rule.

Keys and paperwork. In Andalusia, moving into a new building normally runs on a declaración responsable of occupation filed with the town hall, together with the final works certificate, under the LISTA. Utility companies need that paperwork before signing permanent supply contracts. The ten-year structural insurance (seguro decenal) is compulsory for residential buildings. A notary won't authorise, and the registry won't record, the declaration of a finished new building without it.

Snagging and warranties. The LOE gives one year for defects in finishes, three years for defects affecting habitability and ten years for structural defects. Each period runs from the date the developer formally accepts the works from the builder, which can be before you get your keys. Claims must be brought within two years of the damage appearing. Snag thoroughly before you sign, put the list in writing and have it fixed or held back. Our guide to what a good lawyer checks covers the rest of the file.

Where we come in

Branded and top-end schemes are sold well, often by people paid to sell them. If you'd like someone on your side going through the brochure, the service contracts and the rental terms alongside your lawyer, our private search service is built for exactly that.