Buying or opening a language school in Spain: costs, payback and permits

An existing language school in Spain sells via traspaso for about €35,000 on average: half of 32 listings from 2025–2026 ranged from €12,000 to €75,000, and around €60,000 in Madrid.

Opening an academy from scratch costs €20,000–60,000.

It needs no education permit, language teaching is usually VAT-exempt, and payback in our example is 2.6 years.

Looking at a language school for sale in Spain?

Below: what an existing academy costs and what the price really buys, what opening from scratch or a franchise costs, which permits an academy needs and how to become a Cambridge or DELE exam centre, how a nursery differs, what a school earns with teachers paid under the collective agreement, how it is taxed and what to check before buying. The page includes a payback calculator with an illustrative academy.

What an existing language school costs

We reviewed 32 traspaso and sale listings for foreign-language academies, including “languages plus school tutoring” academies, published in 2025–2026 (milanuncios, negociosenventa, Wallapop, traspasamos, tablondeanuncios, SMERGERS, October 2026).

The median is €35,000, the average about €58,000, and half the schools fall between €12,000 and €75,000. These are asking prices: they come down in a deal.

A typical academy in the sample has about 120 m² and four or five classrooms at a rent of about €980 a month, or €8 per m².

The price averages 58 months’ rent, or about €700 per student.

Where the seller stated a profit, the price equals 1.8–3.3 years of pre-tax profit — on the seller’s own figures.

Examples from the sample: a 280 m² academy in central Madrid with 15 staff, preparing for Oxford, Cambridge and Aptis exams — €290,000 with rent of €5,540; a 125 m² academy near Plaza de Castilla with a profit of about €22,500 a year — €75,000; a Cambridge preparation centre a minute from the beach in El Perelló with a summer school — €40,000, with the premises sold separately for €140,000; a 325 m² academy with 400 students in Bétera near Valencia — €12,500 with rent of €1,750; a franchised children’s English school in Salamanca with 200 students — €139,000.

Of the 22 listings from 2026, 10 went up in July–September, just before the school year.

What you are actually buying

Legally, a traspaso is the assignment of the premises lease together with the furniture, equipment, teaching materials, website and name.

The seller’s company is not included. An academy has no costly kitchen or machinery, so the price is almost entirely payment for students and reputation:

• Students. You do not buy them for good: every autumn parents and adults enrol again. Pay for the students already enrolled for this school year, not for a “student base” from past years.
• Teachers. Employees transfer to the buyer with all their rights. If the seller teaches, their hours — and some of the students — leave with them.
• Status and contracts. A Cambridge preparation centre, after-school classes in local schools, a franchise agreement — all are contracts with third parties, and their transfer to the new owner has to be confirmed separately.

What it costs to open a language school from scratch

An academy needs no extraction or professional kitchen, so opening is cheaper than for a café or restaurant. Benchmarks from advisers and franchisors:

• A small academy of 50–70 m² — €11,300–23,700: design and licence €1,500–5,000, fit-out €2,000–6,000, furniture and equipment €2,500–4,500, rent deposit €1,000–3,000, setting up an SL and its capital, initial marketing.
• A small or mid-sized centre — €20,000–60,000, of which premises, refit and furniture €15,000–40,000.
• A franchise — according to a franchise directory, from €6,000 for models without premises to €100,000–180,000 for children’s English schools of well-known chains with a joining fee of €13,000–30,000; some chains also charge royalties on revenue.
• A reserve — the first students arrive in September, while rent and salaries are due from signing. How to size the buffer is covered in Cash gap.

Hence the main argument for buying an existing academy: the median €35,000 costs about the same as opening one, but comes with enrolled students and revenue from the first month.

The argument against: schools whose students leave with the teacher-owner are sold too.

Which permits an academy needs

A private academy that does not award official qualifications operates under ordinary law, without an education permit; it may not use a name that could be confused with official education centres (art. 24.1 LODE).

That is why an “Escuela Oficial de Idiomas” is always a state school, while a private one is an academia or escuela de idiomas.

Language teaching (IAE heading 933.9) is in the annex of Spain’s retail liberalisation law: in premises up to 750 m² no activity licence is required — a declaration or notification to the town hall replaces it, and a change of owner only needs to be notified (Ley 12/2012, arts. 2–4).

A technician’s project, fire safety and accessibility are still required and are checked under the municipal ordinance.

A separate topic is exams, which bring in students:

• Cambridge. A school can become a Preparation Centre and enter candidates through a local authorised centre. Becoming an exam centre is harder: Cambridge checks whether a centre is needed in the area and whether the institution is financially sound, asks for a 3-year business plan with sales forecasts and charges an approval fee.
• DELE. A school teaching Spanish to foreigners can become a DELE and CCSE exam centre under an agreement with the Instituto Cervantes: it needs a coordinator with C1 Spanish and a person to run the exam platforms; the Institute’s accreditation for Spanish-teaching centres is separate and requires at least two years of teaching.

How a nursery is different

A nursery (escuela infantil for children under three) is no longer an academy but regulated education.

A private centre that regularly takes in pre-school children may open only with a permit from the education authority (art. 24.2 LODE), and the requirements for premises and staff are set by each region:

• Andalusia. The regional education ministry grants the permit; groups may have no more than 8 children under one, 13 aged one to two and 20 aged two to three; 2 m² per child but at least 30 m² per room, and a playground of at least 75 m²; carers must be infant-education teachers (maestro) or hold the Técnico Superior en Educación Infantil, with at least one more member of staff than there are groups (Decreto 149/2009, arts. 10, 13, 14 and 16).
• Valencian Community. Minimum requirements are set by Decreto 2/2009; the Directorate-General for Education Centres authorises private centres, which are entered in the register.

Nurseries in 2025–2026 listings cost €65,000–100,000 — two to three times the median academy.

A ludoteca, a leisure centre, is not a nursery: it cannot regularly look after toddlers all day without a permit, and its “licence” should not be bought as if it were one.

Nurseries have their own sector collective agreement, so the figures below do not apply to them.

What a language school earns

An academy’s revenue is students multiplied by fees and months. The school year runs from September to June; summer leaves intensive courses and exam preparation.

In listings where the seller stated revenue, a student brings in €670–800 a year, or €65–80 a month.

The main cost is teachers.

Under the national collective agreement for non-formal education, a teacher (Profesor/a Titular) earns at least €18,459.05 a year in 2026 plus a €126.17 monthly supplement for working half-time or more; the annual working time is 1,446 hours, with a 34-hour week as reference.

That is €19,973 a year gross. Employer contributions in 2026 add about 32%, so a full-time teacher costs the school about €26,400 a year.

Language school payback calculator

The calculator shows an illustrative 120 m² academy with 140 students: a traspaso of €40,000 plus €8,000 for refreshing the premises and marketing before September.

A student pays €75 a month on average for ten months a year: revenue is €10,500 per trading month, €105,000 a year.

Materials and learning platforms are 5%, two teachers cost €5,300 per trading month (the owner teaches and manages without a salary), rent is €1,200 a month including VAT the academy cannot recover, and other costs (power, internet, insurance, gestor, marketing, cleaning) are €800 a month.

Pre-tax profit is €22,750 a year, about €18,400 after tax, and the €48,000 investment pays back in about 2.6 years.

Two caveats. First, a school with two teachers rests on the owner’s own work. Replace the owner with a third teacher and the academy makes a loss of about €3,600 a year.

It is more a bought job paying above a salary than a passive business. Second, costs are almost fixed while revenue depends on September enrolment.

Break-even is about €8,100 per trading month, roughly 108 students; if revenue falls by 10%, pre-tax profit drops from €22,750 to €12,775, and by 15% to €7,790.

How to read the payback period and what to compare it with is covered in Payback period.

Take revenue for the calculation from bank statements and this year’s enrolment lists, not from the seller’s word.

How a seller justifies the price is covered in How to value a business for sale.

Taxes: VAT and modules

• VAT. Foreign-language teaching is VAT-exempt when given by a recognised centre; the tax authority treats as such a centre that mainly teaches subjects from the school and other official curricula — and foreign languages are part of them. Leisure activities without teaching do not qualify (art. 20.Uno.9º Ley 37/1992, DGT ruling V1473/2025). The same exemption covers authorised nurseries.
• The flip side. The exemption is not optional, and VAT on rent, refits and equipment linked to exempt revenue cannot be deducted (art. 94 Ley 37/1992) — for an academy it is a straight cost, which is why rent in the model includes VAT.
• Modules. In 2026 language academies (heading 933.9) can use the modules regime with up to 5 employees; the annual base is €15,727.62 per working owner, €1,253.49 per employee and €62.36 per m² of premises (Orden HAC/1425/2025). Example: owner, two employees and 120 m² — about €25,700 of base a year before depreciation and reducing coefficients, close to the profit of our illustrative academy.
• Module limit. Modules are available with previous-year revenue up to €250,000 — that is the tax agency’s position, although parliament has not ratified the decrees extending these limits. The academy in our example, with €105,000 of revenue, qualifies.
• SL. A school owned by an SL pays corporate tax: in 2026, with turnover under €1m, 19% on the first €50,000 of profit and 21% above. How to take profit out is covered in Salary or dividends from a Spanish SL.

What to check before buying a language school

1. Students and prepayments. How many students are enrolled for the current school year, by group and level, and who has already paid the seller for a course or term: the buyer has to teach them.
2. Teachers and the owner. Who teaches which groups, on what contracts, and whether they stay after the deal. If the seller teaches, how many hours they cover and who will take them.
3. Monthly figures. Revenue for 2–3 school years from bank statements, not just a “student base”; summer and after-school classes separately.
4. The lease. A business tenant may assign the lease without the landlord’s consent, but the landlord may raise the rent by 20%, and must be notified within a month (art. 32 LAU). The lease may prohibit assignment or change these terms (art. 4.3 LAU).
5. Exams, franchise, schools. Whether the Cambridge or DELE centre status, the franchise agreement (and whether a new joining fee is due) and after-school contracts with schools pass to the buyer — confirm with Cambridge, the Instituto Cervantes, the franchisor and the clients before paying a deposit.
6. Debts and staff. The buyer of a going concern is liable for the seller’s tax debts (art. 42.1.c LGT) unless they obtain a tax-debt certificate before the deal, issued within 3 months (art. 175.2 LGT); for Social Security debts (art. 168.2 LGSS); employees transfer with all their rights, and seller and buyer are jointly liable for wage debts for 3 years (art. 44 ET).
7. VAT on the deal. The sale of a whole business capable of operating on its own is not subject to VAT (art. 7.1 Ley 37/1992); a simple transfer of rights and assets usually carries 21% VAT — how to structure the deal is decided with a tax lawyer.

How an existing business is checked before a deposit is described on the traspaso audit page; if you are buying the company that owns the school, you need a full due diligence.

If you are moving to Spain for this business

A non-resident can buy an academy, but a non-EU citizen can live in Spain and run it personally only with a residence permit — usually a self-employment permit, initially for one year.

The golden visa has been abolished, and the startup visa does not fit an ordinary business of this kind.

Relotus explains how the self-employment permit works and how it differs from employment in “Cuenta propia in Spain“.

The sensible order: first check whether the permit suits you, and only then pay a deposit.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a language school for sale in Spain cost?

In a sample of 32 listings from 2025–2026, a language academy costs €35,000 on average, with half between €12,000 and €75,000. In Madrid it is about €60,000, in the city itself about €77,000. Large schools with staff and exam-centre status are offered at €120,000–340,000. These are asking prices.

How much does it cost to open a language academy from scratch?

A small academy of 50–70 m² costs €11,300–23,700, a small or mid-sized centre €20,000–60,000. A children’s English franchise from a well-known chain starts at €100,000 with a joining fee of €13,000 or more. You also need a reserve until September enrolment.

Does a language academy need a licence from the education authority?

No. An academy that does not award official qualifications operates without an education permit. For premises up to 750 m², a declaration to the town hall is enough. Nurseries and centres offering official education do need a permit from the education authority.

Does a language school charge VAT?

Usually not: foreign-language teaching by a recognised centre is VAT-exempt, so students are not charged VAT. The flip side is that the academy cannot deduct VAT on rent and purchases, and it becomes a cost.

How much does a language school in Spain earn?

In our illustrative example, an academy with 140 students, €105,000 of revenue a year and two teachers makes about €18,400 after tax if the owner teaches and manages it. Without the owner’s work, such a school makes a loss.

How do you become a Cambridge exam centre?

The simplest route is a Preparation Centre that enters candidates through a local authorised centre. To run exams yourself you need Cambridge’s approval: a check of your finances and of local need, a three-year business plan and an approval fee.

How is a nursery different from an academy?

A nursery needs a regional permit, and its floor space, group sizes and staff qualifications are set by regional decree. An existing nursery in listings costs €65,000–100,000.

Key points on buying a language school in Spain

• A language academy costs €35,000 on average, about 58 months’ rent or €700 per student; Madrid is the most expensive.
• An academy needs no education permit: premises up to 750 m² open on a declaration. A nursery needs a regional permit.
• Language teaching is VAT-exempt, but VAT on costs becomes an expense.
• What you buy is this year’s students, the teachers and the contracts — check those, not a “student base” from past years.
• Payback in our example is about 2.6 years, but only while the owner teaches and manages.

Sources

• Ley Orgánica 8/1985 (LODE), arts. 23–24 — BOE; Ley 12/2012, arts. 2–4 and annex — BOE.
• Decreto 149/2009 (Andalusia) — BOJA; Decreto 2/2009 (Valencian Community), permits for private centres — DOGV 2024.
• X Convenio colectivo de enseñanza y formación no reglada — BOE; Orden PJC/297/2026 (contributions) — BOE.
• Ley 37/1992 (VAT) — BOE; DGT ruling V1473/2025 — text; Orden HAC/1425/2025 (modules for 2026) — BOE.
• LAU, arts. 4 and 32 — BOE; LGT, arts. 42 and 175 — BOE; Estatuto de los Trabajadores, art. 44 — BOE.
• Cambridge English: how to become a centre — cambridgeenglish.org; Instituto Cervantes: DELE exam-centre criteria — examenes.cervantes.es.
• Start-up cost benchmarks — ayudatpymes, L’Express; franchises — asest.es.
• Academy traspaso listings — milanuncios, negociosenventa, traspasamos, tablondeanuncios, Wallapop, SMERGERS, October 2026.