Situation: €390,000 outstanding. A German building materials supplier provided high-specification façade systems to a Spanish construction company working on a mixed-use development in Valencia. The materials were delivered in three shipments over four months, each confirmed by signed albarán de entrega (delivery note). Payment terms were 90 days net — generous by Northern European standards, standard in Spanish construction.

The first invoice was paid 47 days late. The second was paid 62 days late. The third and fourth invoices — totalling €390,000 — weren't paid at all. The debtor's project manager maintained regular contact, expressed optimism about the development's progress, and repeatedly referenced a "milestone payment" from the developer that would enable settlement. The milestone payment was always two to four weeks away.

The Spanish payment ecosystem

Spain's commercial payment culture operates on different assumptions than Northern European markets. Late payment in Spain is structural, not exceptional. The average B2B payment delay in Spain is 14 days beyond contractual terms — better than Italy but significantly worse than Germany, the Netherlands, or Scandinavia. In the construction sector, delays of 60-120 days beyond terms are routine, and payment is frequently tied to upstream milestone releases from developers and public entities.

For international creditors, the challenge isn't that Spanish debtors are dishonest. Most aren't. The challenge is that the Spanish commercial ecosystem treats payment deadlines as guidelines rather than obligations, and creditors who enforce strictly are perceived as culturally rigid rather than commercially reasonable. This perception gives debtors cover to delay indefinitely — until the creditor demonstrates that enforcement is imminent.

What we deployed

Spain's procedimiento monitorio (payment order procedure, Articles 812-818 of the Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil) is the country's primary fast-track instrument for undisputed commercial claims. The creditor files a petición de monitorio with the Juzgado de Primera Instancia (court of first instance) in the debtor's judicial district. No hearing is required. The court issues a requerimiento de pago (payment order) directing the debtor to pay within 20 days or file an opposition.

If the debtor doesn't respond within 20 days, the monitorio becomes enforceable as a court judgment — without any further proceeding. The 20-day window is the debtor's only opportunity to oppose, and many Spanish debtors miss it, either through inattention or because they assume the creditor won't follow through.

We filed the petición de monitorio at the Juzgado de Primera Instancia in Valencia within one week of receiving the mandate. Simultaneously, we obtained an embargo preventivo (precautionary attachment) against the debtor's bank accounts at CaixaBank. The embargo preventivo under Spanish law requires the creditor to demonstrate a "sufficient basis" for the claim and a risk that the debtor's assets may be insufficient — a threshold we met by presenting the debtor's pattern of delayed payments and the construction project's incomplete status.

The debtor received the requerimiento de pago and the bank account notification in the same week. The construction company's administrador (managing director) contacted our Madrid office within four days. The tone had shifted from mañana to ahora mismo (right now).

Payment of €390,000 was arranged in two tranches: €250,000 immediately (funded by a draw on the developer's escrow account, which had apparently been available for some time) and €140,000 within 45 days. Both payments arrived on schedule. Timeline: 31 days from mandate to first payment, 76 days to completion.

The Spain intelligence note

Spain's limitation period for commercial claims is five years (Article 1964 of the Civil Code, as amended in 2015 — reduced from the previous fifteen years). The Juzgado de lo Mercantil (commercial court) handles more complex disputes and insolvency-related claims. For EU creditors, Spain fully implements the European Order for Payment and European Enforcement Order procedures.

Spain's construction sector — which generates a disproportionate share of international receivables — has specific characteristics that creditors should understand: payment chains are long (developer → general contractor → subcontractor → supplier), milestone dependencies create genuine cash flow constraints, and the Ley de Morosidad (Late Payment Act) provides for statutory interest and compensation on late commercial payments, though enforcement of these provisions requires active creditor action.

If you're owed money by a Spanish entity and the debtor's timeline keeps extending, the monitorio resets the conversation in 20 days. Brief our Madrid team to determine whether your claim qualifies for fast-track enforcement.