Article drafted on 6 November 2025 by practising lawyer No. 8254 ICAMALAGA, Mr Jesús Picossi Ávila.
We are auction lawyers in Fuengirola. At our professional office, we can participate in public auctions on behalf of third parties, with all legal guarantees for our clients, investors or individuals. They can bid on all kinds of goods at auction, with a substantial discount on the price, even reaching 50% of the market value of the awarded goods.
What are public auctions?
According to the Supreme Court, referring exclusively to judicial auctions, it states:
“Public auctions are a procedure for the forced disposal of the debtor’s assets or rights, carried out by the judge, as a participant in state power, or the public administration within its executive prerogatives, or a notary in the exercise of public faith. The purpose of this procedure is to achieve the highest possible price in order to pay the enforcing creditor.”
Auctions must comply with the requirements of transparency, publicity, generality and freedom.
Is it easy to participate in public auctions?
Participating in public auctions is not easy, and can sometimes be quite complex. This is due to the combination of various factual or legal vicissitudes or risks that may arise in an auction. However, this is offset by the significant benefits that can be obtained by purchasing goods at auction. These risks can be minimised with adequate preparation and practical and legal knowledge.
What types of public auctions are there?
The types of public auctions, according to the body or authority involved in their management, are as follows:
A) Judicial auctions, which are conducted before a judicial body.
B) Notarial auctions, which are conducted before a notary.
C) Administrative auctions, which are processed by a public administration body, whether state (Tax Agency, Social Security, etc.), regional (Regional Ministries, Regional Tax Authorities, etc.), or local (Town Councils, Provincial Councils, etc.).
-Auctions can also be classified, according to voluntariness, as:
A) Voluntary Auctions: These are promoted before a competent authority by the owner or owners of an asset or right who wish to sell it by auction, and always outside of enforcement proceedings.
B) Compulsory or mandatory auctions: These are auctions whose purpose is the compulsory realisation of the assets of a defaulting or foreclosed debtor.
-In relation to auctioned goods, auctions can be classified as follows:
A) Real estate auctions: These refer to rural and urban plots of land, homes, and commercial and industrial premises.
B) Movable property auctions: These refer to vehicles, aircraft, boats, lots of goods or products, etc.
Who can participate in an auction?
Any individual or legal entity that wishes to do so may participate in public auctions, provided that they have the capacity to act and accept both the general and specific conditions of the auction.
Exceptions are made for civil servants or professionals involved in the corresponding judicial or administrative proceedings of the auction, according to the cases established by law.
How do you attend and bid in an auction?
Most auctions are currently conducted electronically by attending and registering on the auction portal of the State Agency BOE.
You can attend on your own behalf or on behalf of third parties, provided you accept the conditions of the auction.
Once you are registered on the online platform, you will be able to access complete information on each of the auctions you select in a given province.
You may bid in any of the auctions that are enabled, during the general period of 20 days, making a deposit of normally 5% of the auction value in order to participate in a specific auction. Bidding may or may not be in monetary increments, if so established in the auction.
Once the auction time has ended, the duration of the auction may be extended hour by hour, up to a maximum of 24 hours, if bids are made every hour.
What happens if I am the highest bidder in an auction?
In this case, the auction management authority will require us to pay the amount awarded for the property within a certain period (from 15 to 40 working days, depending on the type of auction and the property auctioned), minus the amount initially paid as a deposit for the auction.
Where applicable, the corresponding auction award decree will be issued, declaring us the successful bidders for a specific asset.
We will then proceed to pay any taxes applicable to the award of the asset and to register the property that has been awarded, where applicable.
What is our professional involvement in the auction process?
As lawyers with more than 25 years of professional experience and expertise in this field, our goal is to provide security to our clients.
We have participated in numerous property auctions, representing our clients in all types of electronic auctions, always following their instructions and looking after their interests.
We participate from the beginning of the auction until the end, and beyond, and can even prepare and file taxes and register the awarded properties, if the client requests it.
What are our professional fees for participating in the auction process?
Our professional fees would be considerably lower than those charged by any estate agent in the area for the sale of any property.
In this case, no intervention by a real estate agency is necessary, as the property acquired would be chosen by the client themselves from among those published on the auction portal, which is a public and free portal. In the event of a property being awarded, the client would be charged a fee depending on the value of the property awarded.
Once we know the specific property to be bid on and its value, we would provide the client with a fixed and transparent quote for the service to be provided and the price to be charged for that service.
At our professional office, we study the advisability or feasibility of participating in a specific auction. If professional intervention is feasible, upon request by the client, we will ask them to provide the necessary documentation to be able to participate.