What proves that the well has a water-use right?
Water filling a tank during a viewing shows that the well and pump work that day. It does not prove how much you may take, where it may be used or whether it can lawfully supply the house.
Renewable groundwater generally forms part of Spain's publicly owned water resources, subject to statutory exceptions. Buying the land does not give you unrestricted ownership of the water beneath it. The consolidated Water Law, known as TRLA, provides two ways to acquire a private right to use public water: directly under the law or through an administrative concession. Longstanding use alone cannot create that right (article 52). Historic private-water rights also exist and need their own documentary review.
Ask your lawyer to identify the legal basis, then match it to the physical well. A water reference for a neighbouring property, an unresolved application or a document allowing particular works is insufficient evidence of the abstraction right you need. If the seller cannot identify the file, arrange authority access with their cooperation before accepting a price based on a legally usable water supply.
Does the 7,000 m³ rule mean I can simply use the well?
Article 54.2 of the TRLA provides a statutory route for springs within a predio, the relevant property, and groundwater used there, where the total annual volume does not exceed 7,000 m³. Exactly that volume falls within the ceiling. Other conditions still apply.
The volume is aggregated across the property's extraction points. A second well does not create a second allowance. Water under this route cannot be taken to a different property, and the quantity must be justified by its use without waste. If the annual volume sought exceeds the ceiling, apply for a concession covering the whole amount, rather than just the excess (RDPH, articles 84 and 87). RDPH is the Public Water Domain Regulation.
If buying part of a larger holding, show the authority the purchase boundary, cadastral references and existing entitlement. Subdivision and separate cadastral references do not automatically create new water allowances.
What does notification involve, and what should the seller show me?
The statutory route requires a comunicación, a formal notification to the basin authority, with evidence of ownership and details of the proposed use. It identifies instantaneous flow, maximum annual and monthly volumes, purpose and works. Groundwater documentation includes the descriptive and graphical cadastral certificates for the property's parcels, showing the intake, proposed works and irrigable area where relevant (RDPH, articles 85 and 87).
The authority checks the documents and whether the works and flows suit the intended purpose. If satisfied, it informs the owner and registers the use. Otherwise it identifies the defects or illegality and prohibits the abstraction (RDPH, article 88). A submission receipt proves filing; it is not the conformity decision or water-register entry. Ask for the outcome as well as the original application.
Small volume does not remove location-specific approvals. New works in a groundwater body formally declared at risk need authorisation. A well in a watercourse's zona de policía, its regulated control zone, also needs basin-authority authorisation. Well-separation rules must be checked against the basin plan. Before drilling, deepening or moving a borehole, submit a description and ask which procedure applies. An old entitlement is not a general permission to alter the installation.
For an existing well, obtain the required drilling and pump-installation approvals and completion documents, then compare them with what is installed. Ask the water authority, town hall and relevant industry or mining office which documents apply. A water-register certificate does not establish that all works and equipment have the necessary approvals.
How do I check a concession and the water register?
A concesión is an administrative right to use water on stated conditions. Uses outside the statutory route generally require a concession (TRLA, article 59). Read the decision and its expiry, then check whether the well has been out of use and why. Three consecutive years of non-use attributable to the holder can lead to a declaration that the right has lapsed (TRLA, article 66.2). This is not automatic deletion from the register: ask about any proceedings. A concession does not guarantee water availability or replace other required licences.
The Registro de Aguas is a public water register from which certificates can be requested. It is separate from the Registro de la Propiedad, the Land Registry used for the property purchase. Section A includes concessions and certain other titles. Section B includes these statutory small abstractions. Section C contains temporary historic private-water rights (RDPH, article 189); it is not a new route for an undocumented well.
Have the lawyer compare the decision and certificate against the property plan and installation:
- the holder and documented transfers leading to the seller;
- intake location and the land where the water may be used;
- annual volume, instantaneous flow and any seasonal limits;
- permitted purpose, irrigation area and specific conditions;
- expiry and restrictions affecting the right.
For historic private water, obtain the original entitlement and later records. The transitional period for temporary rights in section C ends on 31 December 2035. Holders have priority when seeking the corresponding concession; that future concession is not already granted (TRLA, transitional provisions two and three; RDPH, article 189). The Catálogo de Aguas Privadas, the private-water catalogue, is a separate record. Do not apply that end date to all catalogue rights.
Restoring an old well can also change its legal basis. Under these historic regimes, increasing abstraction or changing operating conditions requires a concession for the whole use. Changing the well’s depth, diameter or location counts as a modification, as do specified changes of irrigation use or land. Granting the concession extinguishes the previous private-water right (TRLA, transitional provisions two, three and three bis). Have your lawyer check this before you budget for bringing an old well back into use.
What if the aquifer is overexploited or formally at risk?
Identify the masa de agua subterránea, the groundwater body containing the intake. Obtain its applicable declaration, precautionary measures and recovery programme. A map showing poor groundwater status helps locate a concern; it is not necessarily the complete legal restriction on this particular use.
TRLA article 56 and RDPH article 171 allow measures that limit existing abstractions, pause certain applications and temporarily suspend recognition of new statutory rights. Recovery programmes can reorganise existing intakes. Ask the authority before relying on a replacement borehole.
Existing rights may also be subject to temporary use restrictions. Ask what can be taken now, for the intended purpose, and on what conditions. Obtain current metering requirements, meter readings and consumption records. A maximum in the title is not a promise that the same amount will be available every year or throughout a dry period.
Do irrigation rights cover water for the house?
Check the authorised purpose rather than relying on the property's description as regadío, irrigated land. Concession water is tied to the uses in its title. Irrigation cannot simply be moved onto other land, and changes to concession characteristics require prior authorisation (TRLA, articles 61 and 64). Explain separately what you need for the crops and the house.
Supply may come through a comunidad de regantes, an irrigation community holding or administering a collective entitlement. Ask it to confirm the exact parcels and area covered, the underlying water-use entitlement, allocation or watering turns, and current restrictions. Request its ordinances, charges and decisions on pending works. A pipe at the boundary or the seller's last receipt does not establish all these points.
Obtain a written debt statement too. Community debts relating to conservation, improvements, water administration and distribution can burden the benefited land despite a change of owner. The community can enforce payment and stop water use until they are settled. The same rule covers fines and compensation imposed by irrigation tribunals or juries (TRLA, article 83.4). Have these items included in the debt statement and agree how settlement will be documented before completion.
Where a neighbour supplies the water, check that the source's entitlement allows supply to the property you are buying. Have your lawyer examine the rights to use the well, pump and pipe, including access for servicing and repairs. Establish whether you can still exercise those rights after ownership changes, and who pays for electricity, breakdowns and replacement equipment. Settle these points in the documents before paying a deposit.
Which authority should I contact in my region?
Start with the exact basin and intake coordinates. A confederación hidrográfica is a basin authority for the relevant interregional waters; wholly internal basins may be administered regionally. The region's name alone is not enough to choose the office. Send a site plan and cadastral references with the enquiry.
| Area | Where the distinction matters |
|---|---|
| Andalucía | The Junta's water catalogue includes notification for uses up to and including 7,000 m³. Establish whether the intake falls under the Junta or a basin confederation before choosing that route. |
| Comunitat Valenciana | Both the Júcar and Segura demarcations include Valencian territory. Locate the intake within the competent demarcation rather than choosing solely by province. |
| Región de Murcia | Confirm the particular demarcation. The Segura authority publishes a specific article 54.2 authorisation procedure alongside its concession procedures. |
| Cataluña | For internal Catalan basins, the ACA water agency identifies the procedure up to 7,000 m³ and requires a concession above that volume or where the intake is outside the property of use. Confirm the authority elsewhere. |
| Illes Balears | A concession is also required above 1 litre per second or for use outside the source property. The regional procedure separates drilling approval, the water concession and approval of extraction or pumping installations: obtain the applicable decisions. |
| Canarias | The islands have their own water law and Consejos Insulares de Aguas, island water councils. Verify the title and island register; do not assume the state 7,000 m³ notification route applies. |
In the Canary Islands, have any water shares or entitlements offered with the land checked separately with the island authority and against their title documents.
How do I establish that the water will actually serve the house?
A legal review and a technical inspection answer different questions. Have a suitable specialist assess the well, pump and storage, its operating history and the evidence available for dry-season performance. Ask whether a pumping test is needed. Water running during a viewing does not establish a dependable sustained yield.
For domestic supply, commission a recent representative analysis and ask the laboratory and health authority what testing and treatment suit the actual use. Spain's drinking-water rules, RD 3/2023, contain specific provisions for small individual supplies. A water-register entry does not establish drinking-water safety, and an old sample does not establish the quality reaching today's taps.
Describe any planned accommodation business or other commercial activity explicitly. Do not assume an assessment for a private home settles the requirements for that project. Obtain quotations for any necessary treatment and include operation, metering and maintenance in the budget. If the well is uncertain, investigate an alternative supply before proceeding; the rural utilities guide covers the related connection and wastewater questions.
Does the water entitlement transfer automatically with the sale?
Work out the procedure before signing. For a concession transferred through an ordinary sale, the new holder must apply to register the transfer within three months of the ownership change. The application documents the transfer and declares whether the installation matches the registered characteristics and is operational (RDPH, article 146). The authority issues a decision approving the transfer and ordering registration. From that point, the new holder takes over the previous holder's rights and obligations (article 147.2). Obtain that decision and the updated certificate; filing the application does not complete the process. Discrepancies can lead to provisional registration and further proceedings; selling the property does not itself authorise altered works or uses.
For statutory use, an ownership change affecting the abstraction is communicated under RDPH article 85.3, identifying the existing entry. Do not apply the concession deadline automatically to this different route. Transfers involving a public service have specific prior-authorisation requirements (TRLA, article 63).
Agree who prepares the application, which originals the seller will deliver and how discrepancies will be resolved.
What should be resolved before paying the deposit?
Checks, responsibility, cost and timing
- Identify the entitlement, holder, intake and permitted usesIndependent lawyer and water authority · obtain the legal quote and any applicable certificate fee · documents before the deposit
- Establish groundwater restrictions and approvals for existing and proposed wells and pumpsRelevant authorities and technical adviser · quote for any required reports · documents before the deposit and feasibility before commissioning works
- Confirm irrigation rights, debts and rights to shared installationsCommunity or supplier and lawyer · charges, debts, works assessments and division of costs · confirmation before agreeing the final price
- Assess reliability and water quality for the intended useSpecialist and laboratory, consulting the health authority · quote for tests and any treatment · results before assuming the house has an adequate supply
- Prepare the transfer and contract conditionLawyer and seller · allocate costs for each task · contractual deadline matched to outstanding documents and decisions
Request costs and a timetable for your file. For an ordinary new concession, state law allows 18 months to decide and notify the applicant (TRLA, additional provision six). The period starts when the application reaches the electronic register of the administration or body responsible for processing it, subject to legally permitted pauses (Law 39/2015, articles 21.3.b and 22). This is not a guaranteed supply date. Administrative silence does not grant the requested right over public water (Law 39/2015, article 24.1). This decision period is also different from the three-month deadline to apply to register a transfer.
Arras is a Spanish property deposit agreement. If water checks remain outstanding, ask the lawyer to draft a condition identifying the property, intake, required uses and volume, evidence or approvals needed, and a deadline. It should address refusal, incompatible conditions and no answer by that date, seller cooperation and the agreed return of money. Refund is not automatic simply because the water disappoints: the contract must cover that outcome, including any earlier reservation payment. Read the arras and deposit guide.
Do not pay the deposit yet if…
- the title relates to another intake, other land or an unsuitable purpose;
- the seller has only an application and promises to regularise later;
- your project needs extra water or new works whose feasibility remains unanswered;
- irrigation rights, debts or rights to use and access someone else's installations remain unclear;
- domestic supply is advertised without checking quantity and quality;
- water is essential and the contract leaves the outstanding checks and their consequences unresolved.