SDG9
FERRETTI 720 M/Y SDG9 is a highly compelling 2024 Ferretti Yachts 720, offering buyers the opportunity to acquire a virtually new example of one of
THE EYB COUNTRY GUIDES · Spain
Set clear purchase-survey instructions, distinguish regulatory inspections and use findings in the actual sale conditions.
Boat survey Spain questions need a distinction between the inspection you commission to assess a purchase and the statutory inspection record supporting navigation. Decide what you want examined and agree the scope before the visit. Then check the yacht's official technical documents separately. A report that helps you judge condition should be read against its instructions and limitations, rather than treated as a guarantee that every problem has been found or every legal requirement satisfied.
This guide explains useful purchase-survey preparation as recommendations and verifies the separate statutory inspection and maritime-sale rules. It covers access, a written scope, timing questions and handling findings. It gives no invented survey price or compulsory purchase-survey checklist. A locally qualified lawyer should assess how the actual sale conditions allocate the consequences of a report. For anything this guide does not cover, email us at info@europeanyachtbrokers.com for the latest information.
Key facts at a glance
Royal Decree 10 September 1999,1434/1999 on recreational boat inspections, Article 2 covers Spanish-registered recreational craft with hull length 2.5 to 24 metres carrying no more than 12 passengers, in the consolidated text checked 3 October 2026.
BOE – recreational inspection framework ·Royal Decree 1434/1999, Article 4 makes the seaworthiness certificate the record of statutory inspections, their categories and next dates, in the consolidated text checked 3 October 2026.
BOE – recreational inspection framework ·Royal Decree 1434/1999, Article 5 assigns the specified compulsory periodic, intermediate, additional and extraordinary inspections to authorised collaborating inspection entities, with its stated overseas alternative, in the consolidated text checked 3 October 2026.
BOE – recreational inspection framework ·Law 24 July 2014,14/2014, de Navegación Marítima, Article 117 requires a detailed sale inventory; Article 121 extends the sale provisions to craft where their nature permits, in the consolidated text checked 3 October 2026.
BOE – Maritime Navigation Act ·Law 14/2014, Article 119(1), places vessel loss and deterioration before delivery on the seller unless agreed otherwise, and after delivery on the buyer; Article 121 extends the rule to craft where their nature permits, in the consolidated text checked 3 October 2026.
BOE – Maritime Navigation Act ·Section 1
Begin with your intended decision. As a practical recommendation, tell the surveyor whether you need a condition assessment before purchase and identify particular concerns about the hull, machinery or equipment. Ask for the proposed scope and exclusions in writing. This guide does not establish one compulsory pre-purchase survey for every Spanish yacht sale. The useful question is what the commissioned work will examine, what access it requires and what remains outside the report before you rely on it.
The statutory framework is a separate matter. It covers defined Spanish-registered recreational craft and provides an official seaworthiness certificate, called certificado de navegabilidad, recording required inspections. A private purchase instruction does not automatically appoint the surveyor to undertake an authorised regulatory inspection. Ask the person proposing the work to explain each role. This guide does not claim that the current certificate proves every aspect of condition that concerns a buyer, nor that a private report renews that certificate.
The legal framework identifies authorised collaborating entities for the stated statutory inspections. Keep that qualification separate from a general statement about experience in marine surveys. As a recommendation, ask who will undertake each part of the proposed work and what authorisation is relevant to any regulatory service offered. Then read the purchase-report terms on their own merits. No professional surveyor's marketing claim, insurance premium or undocumented national accreditation requirement is used as a factual substitute for the official sources in this pack.
Broker tip: As a practical commissioning check, ask for the purchase-report scope and exclusions before accepting the quotation. If statutory inspection work is also offered, ask who performs it and which authorisation applies to that separate service. See also our guide on how to buy a boat in Spain.
Surveyor carrying out an engine inspection on a boat.
Statutory craft scope
Section 2
Agree access before the appointment. As a recommendation, ask the seller which areas can be opened, which equipment can be operated and what documents will be available. Discuss lifting, machinery testing or a sea trial with the provider if you want those activities assessed. These are proposed scope questions, not statutory components asserted for every purchase survey. Ask the report to identify unexamined areas and limits so you do not interpret silence as confirmation that the relevant item was satisfactory.
Use the proposed sale inventory as part of the inspection preparation. The Maritime Navigation Act addresses a detailed inventory of the elements sold with a vessel, with extension to craft where their nature permits. As a practical recommendation, ask the surveyor to work from the inventory you intend to agree and identify discrepancies you need to resolve with the seller. The report and sale inventory serve different purposes. Do not assume that an item described in a report is automatically included in the transaction.
Agree how findings will be presented and when you need them for the purchase decision. As a recommendation, request clear distinctions between observations, items requiring further examination and proposed remedial work. Ask who will assess matters outside the provider's scope. This guide does not turn those report preferences into an official Spanish survey format. Put any intended consequences for the sale into the actual purchase conditions, with a locally qualified lawyer explaining the wording before you rely on it.
Broker tip: As a practical preparation step, send the proposed inventory and your specific concerns before the visit. Agree access and ask the report to identify what could not be examined so those limits remain visible in your purchase decision. Readers often go on to our guide on what boat insurance you need in Spain.
Boat lifted by a travel lift for a haul-out survey.
Sale inventory requirement
Buying or selling a boat in Spain and want a second opinion? Speak to one of our brokers.
Section 3
Obtain a written quotation for the work you are actually commissioning. As a recommendation, identify survey services, lifting, attendance at a trial and any specialist tests separately where they are proposed. Ask who authorises and pays each item. No official universal pre-purchase survey tariff was verified in this guide. A price supplied for one provider or boat is not presented as a national norm, and an estimated repair allowance is not invented to complete the purchase budget.
The inspection decree includes a service-capability provision for authorised entities undertaking statutory checks. That provision should not be copied into a promise about the delivery date of your voluntary purchase report. Ask the proposed provider to confirm the actual appointment and report arrangements. The official certificate service also lists different administrative requests. Keep the timetable for technical work separate from the processing of an issue, renewal or replacement application so a report appointment is not mistaken for completed administrative clearance.
Fit the proposed report delivery into the sale conditions before agreeing deadlines. As a practical recommendation, ask the buyer, seller and adviser to align access, reporting, any further examination and the decision required under the contract. The guide does not prescribe a compulsory survey period or a standard seller response time. Use the actual quoted costs and agreed dates. If several charges are involved, add their real amounts rather than using an invented worked example presented as customary Spanish survey pricing. No mandatory universal pre-purchase survey checklist, voluntary-report timetable or national survey tariff was verified. Inspection-scope and access suggestions are recommendations; the official statutory inspection timetable is not applied to private reports. For these, email us at info@europeanyachtbrokers.com for the latest information.
Broker tip: Ask the provider for a written quotation and actual appointment and report dates. As a practical check, keep lifting or specialist charges separate and align the reporting date with the decision required by your purchase contract. Our guide on boat valuation in Spain covers a related point.
Yacht broker and buyer inspecting a sailing yacht on deck.
Statutory service capability
Royal Decree 1434/1999, Article 6(1)(g) requires collaborating inspection entities to have organisation enabling requested statutory inspections in fewer than 15 calendar days from request; this is not a voluntary survey-report deadline, in the consolidated text checked 3 October 2026.
Source: BOE – recreational inspection frameworkThe ministry's current service checked 3 October 2026 lists first issue, renewal for specified changes and replacement for deterioration, loss, theft or exhausted inspection boxes for the seaworthiness certificate of recreational craft up to 24 metres.
Source: Ministry of Transport – seaworthiness certificateSection 4
Use the report through the agreed purchase conditions. As a recommendation, identify which findings require clarification, further examination or a proposed change to the agreement, and preserve the seller's response. This guide does not claim that every survey finding automatically entitles a buyer to cancel or requires the seller to repair it. Ask a locally qualified lawyer to explain the actual condition. The Maritime Navigation Act's hidden-defect provisions need their own scope assessment, including any applicable consumer framework.
A statutory inspection result has its own consequences. The decree describes renewal following a satisfactory result and a remediation period after an unfavourable result, with escalation where problems threaten navigation safety. Ask the authorised body and maritime authority to assess the actual status before departure. Do not transfer those regulatory procedures indiscriminately to a private purchase report. A recommendation to repair an item and an official restriction on navigation are different questions and should be explained separately in the transaction file.
Keep the final report, any follow-up evidence and agreed inventory with the purchase documents. As a practical recommendation, record what was resolved before delivery and what remains outstanding. The Maritime Navigation Act allocates loss and deterioration around delivery subject to agreement, and its sale provisions extend to craft where their nature permits. Have the adviser explain how the actual contract handles that stage. This guide does not promise a remedy or clearance based solely on a broker's summary of the survey.
Broker tip: As a practical follow-up, keep findings, seller responses and evidence of agreed work in one file. Ask the adviser to explain your contract options, and the authorised body to explain any separate regulatory restriction before departure. A related question is answered in our guide on whether you pay VAT on a boat in Spain. Surveyors and yards differ by area: see our guide on buying a boat in Costa Blanca.
Surveyor inspecting a yacht engine with a torch.
Satisfactory statutory result
Practical support
Peter Mattey is a yacht broker at European Yacht Brokers with a BA in Law. He is not a Spanish lawyer: for Spanish law and tax we refer you to a locally qualified adviser. What we can do is help you plan the transaction, put the right questions to the other side and spot gaps in the paperwork before you commit.
If you are buying or selling a boat in Spain, tell us about the boat and the area through the enquiry form on this page and a broker will reply. For anything this guide does not cover, email us at info@europeanyachtbrokers.com for the latest information.
The handover of a boat at the dock.
Your questions
The services should be identified separately. The statutory framework uses authorised collaborating entities for its specified inspections and an official seaworthiness certificate recording the required checks. A private purchase report needs its own scope and instructions. Ask the provider to explain which role it is undertaking rather than assuming a report commissioned for your buying decision automatically renews the official certificate. (BOE – recreational inspection framework)
Using the proposed inventory is a practical recommendation for identifying equipment and resolving discrepancies. The Maritime Navigation Act separately requires a detailed inventory for the sale provisions, extending to craft where their nature permits. Ask the surveyor what it will examine from that list. A report's description does not itself settle what the seller has agreed to include in the purchase. (BOE – Maritime Navigation Act)
No national pre-purchase survey tariff was verified in this pack. Obtain the actual provider's quotation and distinguish survey work from lifting or other proposed services. The statutory inspection service-capability provision concerns authorised entities and is not a pricing rule or a deadline for every voluntary report. Align the proposed report timing with the actual purchase contract rather than assuming a standard national timetable. (BOE – recreational inspection framework)
Yes; the decree describes a remediation period and the subsequent certificate-expiry process if the boat is not presented and passed as required. Serious safety defects have separate immediate notification and possible immobilisation consequences. Ask the authorised body to explain the actual result and navigation status. Do not apply that statutory procedure automatically to observations in a privately commissioned purchase report. (BOE – recreational inspection framework)
No automatic repair obligation for every private finding is established here. The actual sale conditions and applicable legal framework need assessment by a locally qualified lawyer. As a practical recommendation, preserve the findings, seller response and agreed work before delivery. The Maritime Navigation Act separately allocates loss and deterioration around delivery, subject to its agreement and craft-scope qualifications. (BOE – Maritime Navigation Act)
This guide only includes facts checked against official sources. For anything it does not cover, email us at info@europeanyachtbrokers.com for the latest information, and ask a locally qualified adviser to confirm the position for your own boat.
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Check it yourself
Royal Decree1434/1999 consolidated text checked3October2026: statutory inspection scope, process and outcomes.
Law14/2014 Articles117–121 on inventory, sale risks and hidden-defect provisions, with craft scope qualified.
Current official issue, renewal and replacement service for craft of24metres or less.
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