What does a Spanish notary check when you buy property?

Which checks belong to the notary?

A Spanish notario is a public official who authenticates legal acts and provides legal advice. Under the Notarial Regulation, article 147, the notary must establish the parties' common intention, bring the deed into conformity with the law and explain its effects. The advice is impartial. Choosing the office does not give you a lawyer retained to argue your side.

For an ordinary purchase of registered property, the notary checks registered ownership and charges before authorising the deed, subject to statutory exceptions. That check belongs as close as possible to execution (article 175). Your early nota simple, the Land Registry's information extract, helps you assess the purchase; it cannot replace the completion check.

One exception matters when reading the draft. Under article 175.5.b, the buyer may declare satisfaction with the seller's title, statements and agreed terms, allowing the current Registry information to be omitted. If you see such a clause, ask which check you would be giving up before agreeing. The seller's assurances do not establish the current registered charges.

Send the seller's title to the office early. A person signing for someone else must have sufficient authority for this sale. Where a notarial power is used, a photocopy is no substitute for the appropriate authorised copy. Tell the office about marital and representation circumstances when it asks: these may affect whose consent is needed.

Parties must provide the tax identification numbers required for the property deed. NIF means tax identification number; NIE is the identification number assigned to foreigners. As an overseas buyer, ask the office which identification you need and bring the documents requested. Resolve gaps before arranging payment.

The deed must also record how the price was paid: amounts, when payments took place and the means employed (Notaries Act, article 24). Keep evidence of the reservation payment and deposit, as well as the balance. A bank cheque ready for completion does not account for money transferred earlier.

The notary also has duties concerning IBI, the local property tax. Article 64.1 of Spain's Local Finances Act requires the notary to obtain information and warn about outstanding IBI debts and the property's liability for them. The property can be used to recover unpaid IBI through the statutory procedure for subsidiary liability. Before paying the deposit, ask the town hall or collecting authority for outstanding-debt information and agree how any debt will be settled. The latest paid bill alone does not show whether older bills remain unpaid.

If the home belongs to a comunidad de propietarios, an owners’ association, establish which civil-law rules apply. Under the state Horizontal Property Act (LPH), article 9.1.e, the seller must declare community debts and supply a matching certificate. The deed cannot be authorised without it unless you expressly waive its production. Waiving the certificate does not remove the property's liability: under LPH, this covers unpaid amounts for the elapsed part of the purchase year and the three preceding calendar years. Obtain the certificate before the deposit and agree how debts will be cleared.

For an existing building covered by Royal Decree 390/2021, the registered energy performance certificate and its rating label must be attached to the sale contract (article 17.2). If an exclusion is claimed, ask for its basis under article 3. The certificate is not a building-condition survey.

What investigation must I arrange separately?

The notary examines a legal transaction using documents, registry information and declarations. That does not amount to a building inspection. For a rural house, commission a technician to examine its condition and compare the buildings with the records. If the advertised area, an access route or a proposed extension does not fit the documentation, investigate before committing your deposit.

The certificación catastral descriptiva y gráfica is the Cadastre's descriptive certificate with a property plan. It is incorporated into the public documents covered by the legislation. It assists identification; it does not replace a boundary survey or grant a right to build. Compare the plan with the site. An accurate cadastral reference will not resolve a disputed fence or explain an undocumented pool.

A seller's statement that there are no occupants is also different from checking that the house is empty. Agree how possession and keys will be handed over and arrange a visit close to completion. Obtain the relevant evidence for water supply, utility connections and flood exposure. A deed does not establish that these suit your intended use.

The notary also has planning duties. Spain's Land and Urban Rehabilitation Act, known as TRLSRU, article 27, requires certain planning situations and outstanding duties to appear in transfer titles, and allows the notary to request planning information. These functions do not amount to a full investigation of permissions, enforcement history or future building options.

Request a written answer from the town hall about the existing use and your proposed works, under the information right in TRLSRU article 5.d. Ask your lawyer and the notary which further documents the property and applicable regional law require. If the purchase depends on extending or converting a building, start with what the planning rules allow.

What is the escritura pública, and when do I become the owner?

The escritura pública is the public purchase deed authorised by the notary. It records the contract, consents and agreed terms. The signed original, the escritura matriz, stays in the notarial protocol, the official collection of originals, with the electronic counterpart provided for by law. Buyers receive copies.

Do not assume that you remain uncommitted until this appointment. Under the common Civil Code rules, an agreement meeting the necessary requirements can bind before the notarial appointment. Agreement on the property and price can create a binding sale contract even before payment or delivery (articles 1278 and 1450). Have the deposit contract and its conditions reviewed before sending money.

For transfer, the common Civil Code combines contract with delivery. Executing the public sale deed normally counts as delivery unless the deed clearly indicates otherwise (articles 609 and 1462). Your adviser should check the civil law applicable to the transaction, including any regional rules. Delivery and registration are separate matters; the registration date is not automatically the date you acquired ownership.

Does signing mean the Land Registry has registered my purchase?

No. The Registro de la Propiedad, Spain's Land Registry, must receive and assess the title before registering the purchase. Unless the interested party instructs otherwise or technical impossibility intervenes, the notary must send the authorised electronic copy promptly, on the signing day or at latest the next working day (Notarial Regulation, article 249.2).

Ask for the receipt and details of the asiento de presentación, the entry recording when the title was lodged. It establishes priority, but is not final registration. The registrar independently examines the title and existing entries, and may identify defects that prevent registration (Land Registry Act, articles 17 and 18). Notarial authorisation does not remove this assessment.

Registration also requires the applicable tax formalities. A title can be lodged before evidence of tax compliance is supplied; that does not mean registration is finished. Agree who will handle tax filings, required communications, any defects and follow-up. If using a gestoría, an administrative handling service, obtain its scope in writing.

Registration brings statutory presumptions and protections, subject to their conditions. The protection under Land Registry Act article 34 for a good-faith purchaser for value from a registered holder requires the purchaser to register. Keep following the application after a copy of the deed arrives in your inbox.

For a seller's mortgage, paying the lender and cancelling the registry entry are separate steps. Cancellation needs the appropriate authentic title or another legal route. Before completion, agree who arranges, pays for and presents it, and how you will verify the outcome. Include this in your pre-purchase checks.

Which copy of the deed do I need?

The distinction depends on authentication, not whether a document arrives as a PDF or on paper.

An authorised copy can be paper or electronic. The electronic version carries the notary's qualified electronic signature and is sent through the notarial electronic office after the recipient's legitimate interest is checked. Printing it at home does not by itself produce an authenticated paper copy; the legislation provides a notarial conversion procedure.

As a party to the deed, you can request copies from the notary holding the protocol, including through the identified electronic procedure. Keep the notary's name, execution date and protocol number so that a later custodian can locate the record. It is not an unrestricted public download available to anyone who knows the property's address.

Can I choose a different notary from the estate agent's suggestion?

There is a right of free choice within legal limits. Under Notarial Regulation article 126, the buyer or customer chooses in sales by habitual professional sellers, transactions under standard terms and bank contracting. The chosen notary must have a reasonable connection with a personal or property element of the transaction.

For other transactions, any specific applicable legislation comes first, then the parties' agreement and, failing agreement, the choice belongs to whoever must pay most of the tariff fees. For an ordinary private sale, do not rely on a blanket assertion that the buyer always chooses. Check what your contract says before accepting an office selected for the agent's convenience.

Territorial competence also limits where a notary may act. Contact the proposed office directly about availability, documents and language support. Payment of the invoice does not change the duty to advise impartially.

What should be resolved before the signing appointment?

Request the draft early enough to read it against your agreement. You have the right to read the deed before signing and have its effects explained (Notarial Regulation, articles 147 and 193). Check the properties included, the right being acquired, the price, payments and possession arrangements. Send a written list of discrepancies rather than relying on a hurried conversation at the desk.

Tell the office in advance if you cannot sufficiently understand the deed's language. A notary who knows your language can communicate its contents. Where the notary cannot do so, an interpreter appointed by you must take part and sign the instrument (article 150). An agent's informal account of what the document says does not replace that requirement.

Ask about wording declaring you satisfied with information you have not received. Recording a warning may document an unresolved risk without resolving it. Establish what is missing, the consequence and whether the appointment should be postponed.

What does the service cost, and is a mortgage different?

Notarial charges follow a statutory tariff. The value, document length and copies affect the applicable charges, so there is no universal purchase-deed price. Request an itemised estimate separating notarial charges, taxes, disbursements, Registry costs and handling services. Check the contractual allocation of costs too; an advance of funds is not the final invoice.

Under common Civil Code article 1455, unless otherwise agreed, the seller pays for executing the sale deed and the buyer pays for the first copy and subsequent sale expenses. Ask your adviser which civil law applies. Consumer purchases from a business also have mandatory protection: article 89.3 of the Consumer Protection Act prohibits passing on documentation and handling costs legally owed by the business.

Advice and legal structuring of a transaction the notary documents do not attract a separate consultation charge under the tariff's annex II, second rule. This does not include your independent lawyer or building inspector. Budget for the wider transaction using the guide to property purchase costs.

Law 5/2019 covers, for example, bank loans secured on residential property where the borrower, surety or guarantor is an individual (article 2). Ask whether it also covers your loan if buying land. The state minimum for supplying the precontractual documents is ten calendar days before signing (article 14.1); confirm the period applicable to your transaction with the notary.

Article 15 requires a separate notarial record of advice and checks on those documents, without a tariff charge. You choose the notary and must attend, yourself or through a representative, no later than the day before the loan deed is signed. Individual sureties and guarantors must also attend (article 15.4). Without the required documents and attendance, the loan deed cannot be authorised. Arrange everyone's appointments against your deposit-contract deadline.

The loan deed has its own cost rule: the lender pays its notarial tariff fees, and copies are paid for by whoever requests them (article 14.1.e). These documents are separate from the purchase deed. Checking the loan does not replace investigating the property.

What must I check before paying the deposit?

Speak to the notary before signing private documents. Retain your own lawyer if you need conditions negotiated or unresolved legal risks investigated. The costs and timing below must be confirmed for your file; they are not statutory quotations or guaranteed turnaround times.

Do not pay the deposit yet if…

• The only evidence offered of planning legality is that the house has a deed.
• You cannot establish what property or right is being sold, or who can sell it.
• An essential extension or intended use has no written confirmation.
• A sale advertised as free of charges has no verifiable cancellation arrangement.
• You are asked to accept missing documents without agreeing what happens to your money.

A refund is not automatic. Record who receives the deposit and the conditions for retaining or returning it. Later notarial involvement does not rewrite that commitment.