In traditional Spanish society, one of the major figures is the Notary, the position of notaries in Spain continues to remain prestigious before society and the law.
The sources of income of notaries can include companies and private individuals. But as public officials, they do offer many services for overseeing different kinds of Spanish contracts. They work to ensure that both parties in a contract understand the terms and follow legal requirements related to a contract. They also see to it that they pay all the required taxes.
Talking about property sale in the UK, you only need to exchange contracts, pay, and the property is yours. You are then at liberty to register the land in your name. But in Spain, you can’t assume the legal ownership of the land until the deeds of sale are taken before a Spanish notary. So, the signature of a notary is needed to make a private contract a legal public deed. So it can be inscribed into the public land register.
Speaking of it, having your title inscribed in the Registro de la Propiedad is not always necessary. For instance, when clients and vendors come to a private contract and seal an agreement, they might not need legal inscription. Particularly for those in rural areas, it makes the process of securing a property easier and less costly, as it cuts off expenses like taxes, registry, and notary fees. It is surprising, though, how more property names inscribed in the register is even more than the Spanish properties themselves. However, British buyers are required to inscribe their titles in the property register to secure their property ownership in Spain. If a person makes an inscription on a property first, he/she can keep it. And that is the major reason you need it. Other advantages exist in the system. For instance, the creditors of the system are made secure. And, you also will be able to take out mortgages on your properties.
Are you buying an existing property for resale, or is the building still under construction? If the building is already completed, but up for resale, you can make any convenient time to sign the deeds. Usually, it works from 1-3 months of signing a private contract. However, when you patronize resale properties from foreign vendors with large mortgages, you have to be careful. On some unfortunate occasions, they might take your deposit and skip the country. Then the mortgage lender might sell the property, and you’ll get nothing. So in such case, you shouldn’t make deposits on private contracts; sign the public deed at once before the Notary.
If you are buying a newly-built property form a developer, you have to wait until it gets its certificate of completion form the head architect. Then, you can sign the escritura and pay. However, you might choose to buy an under-completed property. Then you’d have to wait for the developer to get the architect to sign the certificado de final de Obras. Afterward, you can sign the public deeds. But, it is not advisable for you to get a property under construction.
Your lawyer must have done all the final legal checks before you sign the escritura on any property. Debts, licenses, and title of the vendor must all be checked, just to mention a few.
You also need to agree with the vendor on the payment method you want. One excellent option is bank-guaranteed cheques that a branch in Spain issues. But you can also transfer the money to the escrow account of the Notary. If a banker’s draught is made outside of Spain, most Spanish vendors might see it as a suspicious act and might as well reject it. The best thing you can do is to come to a mutual agreement of payment methods with your vendor. 5then you can settle every other thing amicably at a notary’s office.
You also need to go along with all the necessary documents for signing. Mostly you only need your passport, although it depends on the Notary. Your lawyer should also confirm all the requirements of the Notary before you go there.
Your best option is to sign at the Notary yourself. But someone can sign in your place if you grant them a power of attorney. You can sign to grant someone a power of attorney before a Spanish notary. Or you and get it through the Spanish consulates in the UK, although it is costlier. Going through a British notary public and Hague Apostille also is expensive. All the people involved in the transaction should be present when the deeds are signed. Other people with powers of attorney can also represent them.
When you get to the venue, you’ll be taken into an office where you’ll find the o0thers involved/. Then you’ll have to wait for the Notary, for about half an hour. You might be meeting your vendor for the first time, so you can go into a small conversation. It’s usually boring to maintain silence for a long time. Afterward, the Notary will join you and commence the meeting.
After the Notary confirms the details of the vendors and clients present, the deeds will be announced. While most notaries read the deeds in Spanish, others use English partially. Spanish or English, you need to confirm the validation of the deed with a translator or your lawyer beside you. A notary might not even sign the deeds unless a translator or lawyer is present.
Depending on the region where a notary is, he might run a few legal checks. At least, they would request a property registry filing before appending their signature in confirmation of the vendor’s title and protection. Subsequently, some estate agents claim that buyers no longer need a lawyer since they have enough protection by the Notary. However, it doesn’t work that way. The Notary offers protection. But it’s not enough to cover both you and your entire property. So you still need the professional backing of a lawyer to sign the deeds.
If there are no objections to the details of the deeds, the Notary will pass them across everyone present. He will also confirm if you have settled all payments before giving the keys to you. Here, you give payments like bank drafts for any debts on the declared price. However, here comes an important point for you to note. Your agreement might have been to make a part payment, although it’s not advisable. Then you should never present the cash before the Notary. You should wait until the notary signs the deeds and leaves the room before taking out the envelope with cash. Afterward, you can present it to the vendor, who will count the money before you.
When you have made the payments, the property will belong to you. Then you would need to pay taxes, and then your title will be inscribed in the register.
A copy (copia simple) of the deeds will be given to you after it’s been signed. It costs around 30 Euros each, so you can say the number of copies you’d need in advance. The Copia simple is useful for many things, including tax payments and setting up utility contracts. After some days, your lawyer can then collect the original copy (Copia autorizada) of the deed that the Notary signed. You will need this copy to inscribe your title in the legal property register. Meanwhile, after purchase, the Notary would have sent the notification of your purchase via fax to the property registry. So, the register is blocked for ten days, so nobody can claim the property during this period.
The Spanish government is responsible for setting notary fees. So they look at the property’s declared value and the number of clauses in the deeds to determining the notary fees. Generally, they are set around 0.1-0.4% of the declared price of a property, depending on its price. And if you apply for a mortgage, you’d have to pay Notary fees too.