A viewing form (hoja de visita) is the document in which an estate agency records that it showed a property to a person on a given date. Its great value is proving that you introduced that buyer: if seller and buyer later close the deal without you, the Supreme Court awards the full commission when your work was decisive. On its own, it does not oblige the visitor to pay you: several Provincial Courts strike down those clauses.
What a viewing form is and what it is not
It is a record of a fact: who visited, which property, when and with which agent. The Provincial Court (Audiencia Provincial) of Almería summed it up in 2023: the viewing form "sirve para documentar un trabajo que realiza la agencia inmobiliaria, mostrando el inmueble a un supuesto comprador" (serves to document work carried out by the estate agency, showing the property to a prospective buyer) (SAP Almería 1165/2023).
In the same sentence it made clear what the form is not: "La hoja de visita no es una hoja de encargo" (the viewing form is not an instruction to sell). The instruction, which is the brokerage contract (mediación or corretaje), is signed with whoever hires you, usually the seller, in the instruction note (nota de encargo). Almost every judgment we cite below turns on that confusion.
Commission when buyer and seller close without the agency
The typical case: you show a flat, the visitor says they are not interested, and a few weeks later they buy it directly from the owner, sometimes for a lower price. Do you get paid?
The Supreme Court's case law on brokerage is clear on the essentials. The right to commission arises when the contract the brokerage was aiming for is signed, and the fee is owed "tanto si el negocio se realiza con su intervención inmediata, como cuando el comitente se aprovecha de su gestión para celebrarlo directamente" (whether the deal is done with the broker's direct involvement or the client takes advantage of the broker's work to close it directly) (STS 448/2014, which gathers earlier case law).
The key judgment is STS 228/2014 of 21 May. The facts match the typical case: the agency showed the flat, the visitor asked for a reduction, said she was not interested and, almost three months later, bought directly from the owner for a price below the one in the instruction. The Supreme Court found for the agency and laid down this doctrine:
"el mediador encargado de la venta de una vivienda tiene derecho a la retribución íntegra de la comisión pactada cuando su gestión resulte decisiva o determinante para el 'buen fin' o 'éxito' del encargo realizado, con independencia de que la venta se lleve a cabo por el oferente sin su conocimiento y del precio final que resulte de la misma."
(The broker instructed to sell a home is entitled to the full agreed commission when its work is decisive or determining for the "successful outcome" of the instruction, regardless of whether the seller completes the sale without the broker's knowledge and of the final price.)
There is a limit, and it is worth knowing. In STS 448/2014 of 30 July, the instruction was not exclusive. One agent showed the flat, but two months later the same buyer bought it through a second agency for a "notablemente inferior" (significantly lower) price. There the Supreme Court required the first agency to prove that its involvement "fue determinante" (was decisive). It could not, and it was not paid.
The instruction note matters too. In an exclusive instruction, the Provincial Court of Madrid in 2026 applied a clause that set different fees depending on whether the owner sold to a client introduced by the agency or with no involvement from it at all, and ordered payment of the amount agreed for a direct sale (SAP Madrid 118/2026).
Does the viewing form oblige the buyer to pay?
Here the courts do not agree, although of the six Provincial Court judgments in the table below, five say no. The trouble comes from forms that include, in the small print, a promise by the visitor to pay fees if they buy through another route.
| Court | What it decided |
|---|---|
| Madrid, Section 12, 173/2024 | Found for the buyer: the viewing form did not bind her |
| Madrid, Section 19, 185/2025 | No transparency and no consideration: showing the flat is part of the service the agency provides to the seller |
| Almería, Section 1, 1165/2023 | The clause did not bind the buyer, but the proven viewings were used to order the seller to pay the commission |
| Seville, Section 6, 238/2025 | A clause like that, in a document that is not contractual in nature, has "un carácter sorpresivo e inesperado" (a surprising and unexpected character): claim dismissed |
| Granada, Section 5, 519/2025 | An open-ended promise not to deal outside the agency, with nothing in return: unfair (abusivo). Found for both seller and buyer |
| Valencia, Section 11, 443/2024 | It did bind: the buyer had signed two clear fee documents, a month apart |
The reasons given by the courts that say no keep coming back. The Madrid court in 2025, citing the 2024 judgment, points out that a broker can charge both seller and buyer, "pero siempre y cuando ambos hayan adquirido de manera concluyente y sin ambages esa obligación" (but only as long as both have taken on that obligation conclusively and unambiguously). And it applies article 80 of the Consumer Protection Act (Ley General para la Defensa de los Consumidores y Usuarios), which requires clauses that were not negotiated individually to have "concreción, claridad y sencillez en la redacción" (concrete, clear and simple wording), and to be accessible and legible.
The Valencia judgment shows the other side: the buyer had signed two clear fee documents, and the court enforced them. But a separate document is not always enough. In the 2025 Madrid case, the buyer had also signed a "declaración de honorarios" (fee declaration) the day after the viewing, and it was rejected because it did not contain "un encargo específico de compra independiente del encargo de venta" (a specific instruction to buy, separate from the instruction to sell).
The practical lesson: if you want to charge the buyer, agree a buying instruction with them in writing, clear and separate from the viewing form, setting out what service you provide to them. Do not hide it in the form.
What the viewing form can prove and what it cannot
| It can help prove | It does not prove on its own |
|---|---|
| That the agency showed that property to that person | That the visitor asked you to find them a home |
| The date of the viewing, if it is reliable | That they owe you fees |
| That the buyer learned of the property through you | That your work was decisive if another agency stepped in later |
| The agent who accompanied the viewing | A date beyond dispute, if nothing backs it up |
That last point matters. In the Granada case, the agency bringing the claim had no other evidence of its work: apart from the viewing form, "no constan correos, u otro tipo de comunicaciones que acrediten las gestiones realizadas" (there are no emails or other communications on record proving the work done). The form works best as one more piece of the file: the emails with the buyer, the offer, the messages with the owner and the notes from each call.
Data protection: what you have to do with the visitor's data
When you fill in the form you are processing personal data, so the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Organic Law 3/2018, Spain's data protection act (LOPDGDD), apply. In practice:
- Ask only for what you need. Data must be "adecuados, pertinentes y limitados a lo necesario" (adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary) (art. 5.1.c GDPR). Name, phone or email and the viewing details are usually enough.
- Do not photocopy ID documents as a matter of routine. The Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) points out in its reports that the national ID card (DNI) "únicamente se ha de someter a tratamiento cuando la norma así lo establezca, resultando excesivo el mismo cuando se pretende únicamente identificar a las personas" (should only be processed when a rule requires it, and doing so is excessive when the only aim is to identify people) (Report 0048/2023). If you need to check someone's identity, ask them to show you the document.
- Have a legal basis. Article 6.1 GDPR lists the possible ones. For handling a viewing the person has asked for, steps taken before a contract at the person's request (6.1.b) or legitimate interest (6.1.f) may fit. Decide which, and write it down: the controller has to be able to show that it complies (art. 5.2).
- Inform people at the time. Article 13 GDPR requires you to inform people when you collect their data. Article 11 of the LOPDGDD allows this in layers: on the form it is enough to say who the controller is, the purpose and how to exercise their rights, plus a link or another way to get the rest.
- Set a retention period. Data cannot be kept "más tiempo del necesario" (longer than necessary) (art. 5.1.e). Keep the form for as long as it could help you prove the introduction, and decide when you will delete it.
- Do not send them more properties without permission. Marketing emails require the recipient to have asked for or agreed to them, unless there is a previous contractual relationship involving similar products (art. 21 LSSI, Spain's e-commerce act). Ask for that consent with a separate tick box.
If you work in the Comunitat Valenciana: the register of agents
The Comunitat Valenciana, the region that includes Alicante and the Costa Blanca, has its own rule. The Law 2/2017 on the social function of housing provides, in its sixth additional provision, for a "registro obligatorio de agentes de intermediación inmobiliaria" (compulsory register of real estate agents). It is developed by Decree 98/2022 of 29 July, published in the DOGV (the regional gazette) on 16 August 2022 and in force two months later.
Two points affect your day-to-day work:
- The register. It applies to anyone who habitually acts as an intermediary in the Comunitat. Those excluded include, among others, property administrators (administradores de fincas) who only carry out the functions in article 20 of the Horizontal Property Act (Ley de Propiedad Horizontal).
- The number on the instruction. Article 3 requires you to state in the mandate contract or instruction note your professional identification, location, insurer or financial institution, the guarantee reference and your registration number.
The decree has not survived intact. The High Court of Justice of the Comunitat Valenciana (Tribunal Superior de Justicia) partly upheld an appeal by the CNMC, Spain's competition authority, and struck down, among other points, the professional training requirement in article 3 b) and the fixed amounts for guarantees and surety insurance (STSJ CV 706/2024 of 13 December). It did not strike down the register itself. The judgment could be appealed to the Supreme Court; the CNMC, which brought the appeal, treats it as final in its file LA/03/2022, but confirm that before you rely on it. If you work in another region, check whether it has a register of its own.
Template viewing form
This template records the viewing and nothing else. If you are going to charge the buyer fees, do it in a separate document. The template is in English so you can see what each part does; the Spanish wording is in the Spanish version of this article.
VIEWING FORM
Agency: [company name], NIF [number], [address]. [In the Comunitat Valenciana: registration no. in the Register of Real Estate Agents.]
Property: reference [code], [address or area].
Date and time of the viewing: [date], [time].
Accompanying agent: [name].
Visitor: [full name], phone or email [contact details].
Declaration: The visitor learned of this property through the agency and has viewed it today accompanied by the agent named above. [If you already knew of it through another route, please state it here: ________.]
Fees: This form does not oblige you to pay any fees to the agency. If the agency were to charge you for any service, that would be agreed in writing in a separate document.
Data protection: Controller: [agency]. Purpose: handling the viewing and proving the introduction to the owner. You can exercise your rights at [email]. More information at [link].
[ ] I would like to receive other similar properties by email.
Signed by the visitor and the agent. A copy is given to the visitor.
How to keep it so that it is useful
A paper form in a drawer is of little use if the lawsuit arrives two years later. What protects you is being able to show, together, the seller's instruction, the viewing form and what happened afterwards.
In our CRM, each deal lives in a single record with its documents organised in folders, the contacts, reminders and history, plus global search and CSV export. Documents are kept in the CRM's own storage. To see how it fits with the rest of an agency's work, we explain it in automation for estate agents.
Sources
- Supreme Court, Civil Chamber, judgment 228/2014 of 21 May (ECLI:ES:TS:2014:2465).
- Supreme Court, Civil Chamber, judgment 448/2014 of 30 July (ECLI:ES:TS:2014:3557).
- Provincial Court of Madrid, Section 12, judgment 173/2024 of 23 May.
- Provincial Court of Madrid, Section 19, judgment 185/2025 of 12 May.
- Provincial Court of Madrid, Section 9, judgment 118/2026 of 2 March.
- Provincial Court of Almería, Section 1, judgment 1165/2023 of 21 November.
- Provincial Court of Seville, Section 6, judgment 238/2025 of 3 July.
- Provincial Court of Granada, Section 5, judgment 519/2025 of 20 November.
- Provincial Court of Valencia, Section 11, judgment 443/2024 of 30 July.
- High Court of Justice of the Comunitat Valenciana, Administrative Chamber, Section 4, judgment 706/2024 of 13 December (ECLI:ES:TSJCV:2024:5929).
- CNMC, file LA/03/2022, status of the judgment.
- Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), arts. 5, 6 and 13.
- Organic Law 3/2018 on the Protection of Personal Data, art. 11.
- AEPD, Legal Office Report 0048/2023.
- Law 34/2002 on information society services (LSSI), art. 21.
- Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007, General Law for the Protection of Consumers and Users, art. 80.
- Law 2/2017 of 3 February on the social function of housing in the Comunitat Valenciana, sixth additional provision.
- Decree 98/2022 of 29 July of the Consell (DOGV of 16 August 2022), arts. 2 and 3.
This article explains the law and published court criteria as of the update date. It is not a substitute for advice from a lawyer on a specific case.