Beachcomber

I am a registered user of the on-line service of the Property Registrars and have used it on many occasions with no problems and they do not 'rip people off'. You should not expect to get a reply in English, it is up to you to have it translated if necessary. Would a Spaniard get information form the UK land registry in Spanish?

Many properties are incorrectly numbered but this is hardly their fault. If you give incorrect information you will get an inaccurate result. To be sure you get details of the correct property you need to at least give the finca registral and preferably the tomo and libro.

mitch mitchell

How do you know I gave incorrect info? I would expect a site that is worded in Spainish to at least explain to me that, I will only get a reply in english from the u.k. land registry if I was a spaniard. I would expect to be told that many properties in England are incorrectly numbered and any info I will get is likely to be useless to the layman.I thought I was paying my 10 euros because I do not know what a Finca Registral is or the Tomo and Libro! easy as taking sweets from a baby is it not? Someone out there, tell me, would you know the crack? Big deal being a registered user this costs 12 euros. I think your points are weak. We are supposed to be of help to each other,especially the greenhorns like me! A Spaniard would get information from the U.K land registry in spanish if the site allowed for this. But to not say or indicate that the reply will be in spanish and the site in question can not offer any translation, then perhaps he would not spend is 10 euros. Like I say, Taking sweets from a baby! Fact is, they took my euros quick enough, did not bother to even think about helping me, just another dumb brit! oh look! here comes another 10 euros.

Mitzyboy

To be honest Mitch, if you felt it was so important then maybe to have a gestoria do it for you would have been a good idea. I just automatically assume that any reply to anything like that will be in Spanish ... after all ... its Spain Why would it be in English mate?

As you say, many of us are greenhorns. There are things I would not attempt to do myself in Spain untill I had an excellent command of the language. Anything to do with legalities / property comes under that umbrella.

Beachcomber

It didn't actually cost me anything to become a registered user of the service. It's just easier because they debit my bank account each month instead of me having to give my credit card details each time.

The reason why a translation service is not offered is for the very reason that a notary, even if he has excellent command of the language, will insist on a translator being present when a transaction is being carried out with a foreigner because he does not wish to be responsible for the accuracy of the translation.

The registrars site processes hundreds of requests every hour and it would be totally impossible for them to translate these notas simples and, anyway, how would they know when a translation was required and into what language?

It is quite clearly shown on the site that a finca registral is required and that the other information may be given in free text. As Mitzyboy says, if you do not know how to use the service you should have asked someone who does to do it for you rather than start complaining when you didn't get the response you expected.

If you look at my posts on this and other sites you will see that I am the first to criticise the system for it shortcomings and failures but I do not think this is one of them.

EsuriJohn

Hi Beachcomber,

Advice required! I am going to do the Escritura bit myself since the Notario in Punta Umbria produces the documents in Spanish/English double column so I will understand what I am signing.

However reading this thread I realise that fraudsters can enter mortgages against the property at the last minute and you inherit the debt if you do not search at the last minute against the Property Register.

I have had a look at the website as posted above and noted the follow on discussion, my question is how do I do the search on a plot? The only identifier I have is the plot number as Costa Esuri Parcela R-6.7 as stated in the private contract for Parcela Residencial Privada. Is this enough information?

Is there a worked example of doing a real property search on the Register?

Is it worth being a registered user if it only cost €12 and how often can you use the site for your money?

Regards,

John.

Beachcomber

The only advantage of registration is that you are charged on a monthly basis from your bank account rather than having to give your credit card details each time.

There is no limit to the number of times you can use the service.

You will not be able to do a search with these details. As I said above you need the finca registral and preferably the libro and tomo. These details will be recorded in the escritura of the property you are purchasing of which you should be provided with a copy or, at least, the registration details.

In order to avoid last minute entries into the property registry the notary should follow the procedure I outlined earlier in this thread.

If the notary in Punta Umbría is María Gómez-Rudolfo García del Castro you should be fine but you must ensure that the procedure is not circumvented.

EsuriJohn

Hi Beachcomber,

The Costa Esuri development is several hundred hectares of virgin land sub-divided with 6000 units of accommodation and 900 plots. The original Finca that Fadesa bought was Finca Las Cabezulas but the only additional information is plot R-6.7 although using Google earth I can get the corner co-ordinates of the plot which is just about discernible.

Even though I used a high priced London Lawyer and am confident that the private contract is kosher I did not get a sight of the Finca Escritura and did not think I would need it.

Can I telephone the registration office in Ayamonte and would they give me advice on how to locate the plot rather than the Finca?

Don,t know the name of the Notario in Punta Umbria but am assured that he/she and all the staff there speak English and are very helpful.

Regards,

John.

Galli

Hi,there are some very good books' on Amazon regarding buying a property in Spain or letting or renting:they helped me immensely with knowing what to look for and probably saved me from making a very expensive mistake.The British council web site is also very helpful.Good luck and be careful with your hard earned cash.

Clary Sage

The land registry in the UK subscribe to language line and you can have any document in any language covered by this service - Spanish, Farsi, Greek, several dialects or Arabic are all covered!

Mitzyboy

Buyer Beware of Illegal Properties

Spain is a wonderful country. The sun shines most days and good food and drink is plentiful. It is a wonderful country to have a holiday home or to live.

More and more people are looking at properties further from the coast where prices are lower and plenty of bargains are still available. If this is you, then our advice is that you to keep this article. The reason for this is because a lot of these properties often have an illegal overbuild or they may not even be registered. As long as you follow some guidelines and you are aware of possible pitfalls, you'll be alright.

No one likes paying tax, this very much applies to the Spanish too. It is not unusual for land to have been owned by the same family for centuries. Because one needs to start paying property/land tax as soon as it's registered, this is put off until the land or property is sold. The tax is called IBI and it stands for Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles. When you decide to purchase land, with or without property on it, don't pay a deposit until a document called a Nota Simple is available. This is an extract of the deed. If the land is not registered there will not be one available. If there is a property on the land but the property is not specified on the Nota Simple, it is not registered.

Let's start with the land. If this is not registered, a catastral number needs to be arranged. This is arranged through the Ayuntamiento (town hall). As soon as it has got a catastral number IBI is applied, probably with some delay. However this is not enough, it also needs to be registered in the land registry - Registro de la Propiedad. The time this takes varies from place to place. Don't forget to agree with the vendor who is to pay for all these costs.

Then the property. Let's assume the land is registered but not the property. The property needs to be at least 4 years old in order to have it registered. This is the period of time the local council has to discover illegal builds and to ask to have them pulled down. To have it registered a qualified architect needs to go to the property and measure the build. He will draw a complete plan of the property. This is then submitted to the town hall where it will be stamped and authorised for registration. It is at the notary you will subsequently have the property registered. This is the way it works in Andalucia. The law changed earlier this year. Before, it was sufficient that the architect's report was stamped by the Colegio de Arquitectos in the area. This may still be the case in other parts of Spain.

When land or property has not been registered, there is always a risk there may be a charge by a private person or official body because of an unpaid debt, waiting to be added on once the property is registered. This is common in Spain to take a charge on a property to make sure the debt is eventually paid. When the land/property has been registered in the land registry there may be a note on the Nota Simple which refers to "La Ley de Hipoteca". This is a warning to banks to say that during a period of time, normally between 2-5 years, the bank should be very cautious in giving a mortgage on this property, since during this period a charge may be taken against it. Banks in Spain insist on always taking the first charge and seldom accept a second charge.

We hope this information has been and will be useful. If you are faced with any of the above issues there are solutions to all. Remember, it's when you have finance on a property most problems are discovered. Always make sure to use a professional broker who will at the end of the day be worth every penny.

Nige

Strange Because they only advertise the Welsh Language service on the website and if you are a Spaniard looking at this site there is no Spanish Translation to at least start you off. http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/

YMF

Thank you Mitzyboy for your post, despite reading many books and articles and talking to our agent, it is the first time I have seen such important information presented in such a clear and concise way.

We were about to go back to our agent to ask for more explanation about our properties legal status, with your info we can now ask far more pertinent questions. We think by Chiclana standards our property is almost legal, we have a legal electricity meter, but we still think there are some missing pieces of paper.

Thanks
Yvonne

Beachcomber

This is obviously a huge project so, presumably, the staff in the property registry will be aware of the situation.

You would certainly lose nothing by ringing them but unless you have a good command of the language it may be as well to have someone on hand who speaks Spanish in case you get into difficulty.

I assume you have the telephone number but here it is just in case: 959 321100

EsuriJohn

Hi Beachcomber,

Thanks for the Tele No I rang them and no one spoke English so that was a non starter (my fault I should be doing better at Spanish). I then rang the central enquiry No and someone spoke good English and talked me through filling in the Pay by Card - Search by other Data page.

Waiting for a result now, how long does it take?

Regards,

John.

mitch mitchell

Well thanks Clary, for a bit of support! and Nige the whole point is; that on this supposed website that this Spaniard is looking at, if there is nothing in spanish the guy ain,t gonna lose his 10 euros because he will not understand to much. This site I am on about gives you all the spiel in english but, and it is a big but, it does not say, A. the info you get is only in spanish. B. it does or don,t offer a service that Clary describes. If you are looking to buy and we are told all the time, get the Nota Simple first to affirm ownership, this site would be good for the price, as it means at that very early stage you know wether to go further and involve the legals. Just be aware, it will be in spanish and the Postal address of the property you are looking at could be different to the number the property is registered as. In my case, the house is no. 26 but it seems it is only known at the land registry as 119. Thanks you guys for allowing me to have a good moan. Normally I am quite sane! I think!!