Spanish house property rights system
The Spanish property rights system is centered on the “property register “. Simply put, the government has set up a “property registry “, where information about a property and its owner is recorded. Roughly speaking, the owner of a property is the person whose name is on the registry.
For example, if you buy a house and the name of the seller is on the real estate registry, all you need to do is to submit the deed of sale signed by both parties at the notary and go to the real estate registry to change the name. At that time, the Real Estate Registry will stamp the deed of sale to prove that the house has been successfully renamed. The Registry Office will not issue a “real estate license” or a “deed of sale” or anything like that. The stamped sale and purchase agreement will actually prove that the buyer is the new owner of the house.
Note if the seller is the registered owner
Based on the above, when buying a house, you need to pay extra attention to whether the seller is the registrant of the house, because only the registrant (or the registrant’s authorized person) has the right to sell the house. If the seller is not the registrant, then you need to be careful.
It is possible to request a “nota simple” (nota simple in Spanish) from the Registry Office, which is a document issued by the Registry Office and contains information about the owner of the property, the size of the property, the location of the property, the debts of the property, etc. The nota simple can also be used for the registration of a property in Spain.
If you want to investigate a property before you buy it, you can apply for a nota simple.
If you plan to move to Spain, you can authorize a third party when going through the procedure of purchasing a house.
