Spanish Notaries
Information you should know about the Notaries in Spain.
In Spain, whatever your nationality, you must involve the Notary in any major transaction such as buying a property or making a will. In this post we explain you the importance of this for you.
The Spanish government set the Notary fees and these are payable according to the declared value of the property and also the number of clauses contained in the deeds. The fees may be from 0.1% to 0.4%t of the declared value, which is something that your solicitor can assist you with. If you are obtaining a mortgage here in Spain, there will be also Notary fee´s for this.
How much does a will it cost?
Usually, the Notary is one of the less costly aspects of property purchase in Spain. Their fees for wills are roughly €75 if they are uncomplicated. Notaries will give you good advice on a range of matters, but you should not consider them as an alternative to your own lawyer. Complete Spanish Property strongly recommend using a solicitor to assist with your purchase of property here in Spain and for other legal aspects. There are Notaries in England, but they do not fulfil the same function as the Spanish variety. The Notaries office here are at the heart of both the local government system and their area.
Seemingly, every newspaper seems to bring tidings of yet another Mayor or council official who has been jailed for corruption, but the Notary is universally trusted and respected. While he must undertake several years of further training after attaining the obligatory law degree before setting up office, the rewards and prestige attached to the office and person of the Notary are well worth the hard work involved in qualifying.
When I will see the Notary?
The first occasion you are likely to meet a Notary is when you sign for your purchase Spanish property at his office. He will then send on the Title Deeds to the Property Registry for inscription. The original property contract “escritura" (Title Deeds) remains with the Notary and you can request an authorised copy at any time. He also retains the original copy of any will made at his office. A Notary will also write an official letter if you wish to inform a tenant of your property that you intend terminating the rental when the lease ends or for other official notifications.
What about the day you are signing the “escritura"?
When you are in his office to sign the Escritura (Title Deeds), the Notary must confirm the personal details and identities of all concerned within the sales contract and he will then as said above read the contract aloud, usually in Spanish, so you will need someone like your solicitor or a translator to be present as you must be sure the title deeds are correct. In fact, some Notaries will insist that there is an English speaking lawyer or translator with you before they agree to sign the deeds.He or she will have to make some legal checks, but these differ from region to region.
Generally though, they will have asked for information on the property before the signing of the Escritura (Title Deeds) to confirm that the vendor is indeed the owner of the property and that the property has no debts or tenants or other unexpected problems. In itself, this doesn't give you full protection so it is very important that you engage your own solicitor to represent you, just as you would in the UK.
