Approval withdrawn before completion — the route via the bank that pays during construction
A buyer had his bank's verbal approval, and the valuer had already visited the site. Then the bank pulled back: it would have to wait for the completion inspection.
What can you do when a bank withdraws its verbal approval before completion of a new build?
Use the route via the bank that pays during construction. The buyer contributes his equity, its amount set by the tasación; after that, the bank pays every developer instalment as it falls due, directly to the developer, as the building progresses. Of the 30+ institutions we approach, only one pays before the building has been signed off.
The structure behind it
The sequence is deceptive because it looks like progress. The bank gives verbal approval. It sends a valuer for an assessment. The buyer assumes it's going ahead — and by this point has long since signed and paid the reservation deposit.
Then comes the withdrawal: financing can only proceed once the building has been signed off. Formally, that's not wrong — before the completion inspection there's no security capable of registration, and without the Licencia de Primera Ocupación, neither the notarial deed nor the handover can go ahead. But that explanation doesn't help the buyer: his instalments are due, his money is committed, and the purchase is at risk.
This is exactly the point at which clients regularly come to us — this case reached us on 14 July 2026. We will arrange the financing for him. The path is the same as in the other cases: the buyer contributes his equity, its amount set by the tasación; after that, the bank pays every developer instalment in full as it falls due — directly to the developer, as the building progresses.
Why is a verbal approval not the same as financing?
A verbal approval isn't financing, and a valuer's visit is no proof that the bank can actually service the construction phase at all.
What this case teaches: a verbal approval isn't financing. And a valuer's visit is no proof that the bank can actually service the construction phase at all. Anyone who has the developer's payment schedule checked before signing spares themselves this moment.
Case status: in progress (as of 14.07.2026)
Anonymised case report from our own brokerage practice. Property details, amounts and personal information have been omitted or altered to protect our clients. Every financing case is assessed individually; no claim to an identical outcome follows from any single case.
How many banks pay developer instalments before sign-off?
Of the 30+ institutions we approach per case, one pays the developer instalments before the building has been signed off.
Of the 30+ institutions we approach per case, one pays the developer instalments before the building has been signed off (Perini market check, as of 14.07.2026). This is exactly where new-build purchases by non-residents fail — not on creditworthiness, but on the documentation required upfront.
Similar cases by region and price band: Cases with a comparable region and price band — for context, not a promise of the same outcome.
Frequently asked questions
What happened when the bank withdrew its approval?
Then comes the withdrawal: financing can only proceed once the building has been signed off. Formally, that's not wrong — before the completion inspection there's no security capable of registration, and without the Licencia de Primera Ocupación, neither the notarial deed nor the handover can go ahead.
What does this case teach?
What this case teaches: a verbal approval isn't financing. And a valuer's visit is no proof that the bank can actually service the construction phase at all. Anyone who has the developer's payment schedule checked before signing spares themselves this moment.
Why can't a bank finance a new build before the completion inspection?
Before the completion inspection there's no security capable of registration, and without the Licencia de Primera Ocupación neither the notarial deed nor the handover can go ahead.
Related pages
Fully paid, two-year wait — financing
Case report: a Spanish new-build paid in full, completion delayed for years. How up to 70% of the tasación was still raised as financing afterwards.
How stage-payment financing works
Stage payments in Spain: the developer wants instalments during construction; the Spanish bank pays at handover. One of the 30+ lenders we approach closes that gap.
Off plan Spain – construction phase financing: why won't the standard bank pay?
The Spanish mortgage comes into existence only at completion, once the property is finished, signed off and entered in the Registro de la Propiedad.
Fuerteventura property for sale: how much will a bank lend to non-residents?
A developer new build runs differently: the stage payments fall due before a mortgage can even exist — see financing a new build during construction.
Property valuation in Spain: does the bank lend on the price or the valuation?
A gap of €21,000 — in cash, at short notice, on top of the purchase costs. And it only becomes visible once the private contract has long been signed.
Tasación Spain Property Valuation — What It Means
Six months sounds generous until a new-build completion or a slow probate pushes the deed date back, at which point the clock has usually run.
Buying off-plan property in Spain: who pays the instalments during the build?
Buying off-plan property in Spain: the developer wants instalments while it is being built; the Spanish bank pays at handover. How the gap is closed.
Content by Siegfried Perini — local brand representative since 2019, active in real estate since 1992, entered in the German intermediary register (§ 11a GewO) as a person directly involved in brokerage and advice. Point of contact for German-speaking buyers in Spain and Portugal. Brokerage by Olga Nikushkina, mortgage credit intermediary under § 34i German Trade Regulation (GewO); in Portugal through a locally licensed intermediary.