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Yacht guides Mallorca — documents, charts and research on a dark wooden desk

Guides · Yacht knowledge Mallorca

First-hand knowledge — Julian's guides to buying, chartering and taxation

Guides · Yacht Knowledge Mallorca

Yacht Ownership Guides Mallorca

Seven deep dives into the questions every buyer from the UK or mainland Europe asks on Mallorca — tax, financing, running costs, law, insurance. Honest answers drawn from my day-to-day work at the marina in Puerto Portals.

Most yacht buyers arrive with the wrong order of priorities. They fall in love with a yacht first, then think about the tax, then the financing, then the insurance. That is the expensive sequence — it often locks in a structure that cannot be changed later without paying tens of thousands of euros to unwind it.

These seven guides reverse that order. They explain the structural decisions that have to be made BEFORE you choose the yacht — and the operational decisions that come afterward. They are written from my daily practice as a yacht broker in Puerto Portals, with concrete price ranges, ownership-structure models, and the reality of dealing with the authorities. They are no substitute for individual advice — but they bring you to the level you need to ask the right, specific questions.

The yacht is the easy decision when you buy a yacht. The structure behind it is the hard one.

Julian Hoeke

Tax

  • Spanish Yacht Tax — the 12-Percent Question

    Spain's 12% Matriculación registration tax on yachts from 8 m under the Spanish flag — when it applies, the charter exemption that exists, and four ownership-structure models for international buyers.

    For buyers choosing between a Spanish and a foreign flag

  • Importing a Yacht into the EU via Spain

    Bringing a yacht into the EU: 21% IVA on import versus Temporary Admission as the alternative. Three typical import scenarios (US yacht, Caribbean move, Brexit) and the documentation each one demands.

    For buyers of non-EU yachts

Finance

  • Yacht Financing Mallorca

    The reality of yacht financing in 2026: 50–60% loan-to-value, three lender categories (UK marine specialist, Spanish private banking, international), interest-rate spreads, and yacht-leasing structures.

    For buyers from €500,000 in yacht value upward

Ownership

  • Yacht Running Costs

    Annual costs by yacht size — 8–12% of the purchase price per year. Six cost categories (berth, insurance, maintenance, fuel, crew, management), with a detailed breakdown for the 65-foot class.

    For the affordability check before you buy

  • Yacht Handover Checklist

    A 30/60/90-day checklist for after the sale closes — what happens on handover day (hour by hour), the must-do items in the first 30 days, and the problems that catch foreign buyers out.

    For the final takeover phase

Legal

  • MCA Charter Licence and the Alternatives

    MCA Cat 0/2/4/6, plus the Spanish Lista 7, plus the Maltese commercial flag — three routes to chartering a yacht commercially on Mallorca, compared honestly.

    For owners planning to market their yacht for charter

Insurance

  • Yacht Insurance Spain

    Hull, liability and the charter rider — international insurers (Pantaenius, Allianz) versus Spanish ones (Mapfre, Mutua), premium ranges, claims handling on the island, and four common insurance mistakes.

    For configuring the policy before handover

My recommended reading order

If you are planning your first yacht purchase, read the seven guides in an order that follows the actual logic of the decision:

  1. Spanish Yacht Tax (Matriculación) — the tax structure is decided before the yacht.
  2. Yacht Running Costs — understand whether you can genuinely afford the size of yacht you have in mind.
  3. Yacht Financing — the bank structures that fit your tax set-up.
  4. Yacht Insurance Spain — a policy configuration that matches how you will use the yacht.
  5. Yacht Handover Checklist — what to do once the contract is signed.

The MCA charter licence and the EU-import guide are situational add-ons — they only concern you if you intend to charter the yacht or import a non-EU boat.

Continue in context

— Julian Hoeke