How to check a company in half an hour
A company’s tax number (NIF) and legal existence can be checked from public sources in about half an hour: the official gazette BORME, an extract from the Registro Mercantil (companies register) and the public insolvency register. The minimum before signing is to confirm that the legal name, NIF and address on the quote match the register, and that the bank account you will pay into belongs to that same company.
Here are the steps in order. Each takes a few minutes and none requires a lawyer.
What the NIF itself tells you
A Spanish company’s NIF starts with a letter, followed by seven digits and a check character. The letter shows the legal form: B for a limited company (SL, including an SLU with a single shareholder) and A for a public limited company (SA). If you are given a DNI or NIE number instead, you are dealing with a self-employed individual (autónomo), not a company.
Being autónomo is perfectly legal, but the person is liable with their own assets and their track record is harder to check in registers. For a renovation on the scale of an Eixample flat or a house in Castelldefels, that is worth bearing in mind.
The number alone does not tell you whether the company is trading today. That is what the registers are for.
Step 1. Cross-check the documents
Take the quote, the draft contract and any invoices you have received. The full legal name (razón social), the NIF and the registered address should be identical on all of them. The trading name may differ from the legal name, which is normal, but there must always be a specific company with its own NIF behind it.
If the quote only carries a logo, a first name and a phone number, ask for the company details in writing. A serious firm will send them the same day. An evasive answer is information in itself.
Step 2. BORME and the Registro Mercantil
On the BOE website you can search BORME by company name for free and see what has been published about it: date of incorporation, appointment and removal of directors, changes of address and name, dissolution. Look at the history. A company set up three months ago that has already changed its name and director twice deserves more questions than one that has traded under the same name for years.
A nota simple from the Registro Mercantil can be ordered online for a small fee. It shows the company’s current status, its directors and whether it files its annual accounts. A company that has not filed accounts for years is a warning sign. If it does file, you can see the rough size of its turnover. A contractor whose annual turnover is smaller than the value of your project may not have the financial capacity to carry it.
Step 3. Debts and insolvency
The Registro Público Concursal lets you check by NIF whether the company is in insolvency proceedings. Signing a contract with an upfront payment to a company in that situation is a bad idea.
Ask the contractor for certificates showing they are up to date with the tax agency (Hacienda) and Social Security (Seguridad Social). A company can download them itself in minutes. Construction firms working in subcontracting chains must be listed in the Registro de Empresas Acreditadas (REA), and you can ask to see that entry too.
A number in the EU’s VIES system only appears if the company is registered for intra-EU trade. Not being listed there means nothing bad on its own.
Who signs, and where your money goes
The contract should be signed by a director of the company or by someone holding a notarised power of attorney. The director’s name is on the nota simple. If it is signed by a “manager”, ask on what authority.
Check the bank account for payments. It must be in the name of the same company that appears on the contract. Being asked to transfer the deposit to a director’s personal account or to another firm’s account is a serious red flag, as is being offered a cash deal. We cover that in a separate guide.
What this check will not tell you
The registers confirm that the company exists, who runs it and whether it is insolvent. They say nothing about the quality of its work, its liability insurance or its real references. Those are the next steps, and each has its own guide.
You can check us the same way. The company is BCNYARD, SLU; its details are on our About page and in the contract. Payments follow the contract, stage by stage, into the company’s account. Send us your enquiry and we will reply within an hour.