also called contrato de arras · earnest money Spain · seña
A preliminary payment under Spanish and some Latin American practice that reserves a property purchase or rental and sets penalties if either side walks away.
Arras is a preliminary payment used in Spain and parts of Latin America to reserve a property purchase or rental, with penalties written in if either side backs out. It makes the reservation legally sticky well before the final lease or deed is signed. Treat it like a casual, refundable holding fee and you can lose the money or face a claim for the other party's losses.
You put down arras to hold a flat you like, thinking of it as a soft placeholder you can walk away from. When a better place turns up and you pull out, you find the agreement had teeth, and you forfeit the money, or worse, face a claim, because arras was never the casual deposit you assumed.
Arras agreements can make a reservation legally sticky before the final lease or deed. Travellers who treat them like a casual holding fee can forfeit money or face claims for the other party's losses.
The difference is the whole point, so here is each one in a line.
These are the upfront payments a landlord or agent asks for, which are easy to confuse.
A deposit is the refundable sum held against damage or unpaid rent, a holding deposit reserves the place while checks are done, and rent in advance is paying several months before you move in.
First and last month bundles actual rent with the deposit idea, key money is a non-refundable gift to the landlord common in Japan, an agency fee pays the letting agent, and arras and fianza are the Spanish and Latin American words for a reservation payment and the rental deposit.
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