Tag Archives: legal servitude

New comprehensive Advisory Service for Property Owners

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Owning a real estate property is a big responsibility. To protect your rights as an owner, your property must meet all current legal and technical requirements. To give you the peace of mind that your real estate property does meet these requirements and is fully protected legally — both now and in the event of any change in the law — Tarraco Iuris law firm would like to offer you its comprehensive advisory service for property owners.

Based in Tarragona, our specialist team of lawyers and technical experts are ready to handle all your properly-related legal and administrative needs, including the handling of any mediation process and other procedures and the drafting and lodging of documents for the Spanish authorities (local councils, provincial and regional governments, the cadastral register, the Land Registry, notaries public, the courts, etc.) or any third parties (adjoining property owners, neighbour associations, the community of owners, entities involved in expropriation processes, etc.).
To legally protect your property in Spain, we offer a complete range of technical and legal services that includes:

1. Helping you obtain a NIE (foreigner ID number required for tax purposes in Spain).
2. Drafting all property-related contracts, including preliminary, option-to-buy, purchase and sale, and lease agreements.
3. Verifying property charges with the Land Registry.
4. Verifying property zoning with the local council.
5. Verifying any debts owed by the seller to the Community of Owners.
6. Verifying that all tax due on a property has been paid (municipal property tax, tax on income from real estate property, etc.) and drafting and presenting any corresponding tax declarations.
7. Providing an estimate of taxes and expenses so you can budget for the cost of transferring a real estate property.
8. Verifying the applicable marital or inheritance law and advising you on the legal conditions for purchasing or transferring a property.
9. Drafting title deeds for executing property transactions.
10. Accompanying you to sign title deeds and any other notarial instruments, acting as advisers and/or translators.
11. Assisting your negotiations with the bank for using the property as loan security.
12. Registering title deeds with the Land Registry.
13. Informing the local council of a change of ownership for the purposes of local taxes and fees.
14. For sales by non-residents, preparing and presenting declarations on tax withheld for Spanish income tax and handling the collection of any refund.
15. Preparing/lodging applications for:
    a. Certificate of occupancy and energy efficiency certificate.
    b. Building technical assessment report.
    c. Certificate of structural soundness and certification of construction age.
16. Plans and topographical surveys.
17. Undertaking boundary demarcation and mediating in conflicts with neighbours.
18. Undertaking historical investigations on properties and updating the cadastral record for divided or joined plots.
19. Advising you on:
    a. Utility connection and the possible use of wells and springs.
    b. New construction, reform or landscaping projects.
    c. Business projects.
    d. Road and path refurbishment.
    e. Land and building assessment.

Are you sure that your property does not run any legal risk?

Do not hesitate to contact us for further information. Please contact us for any service you require that is not listed.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Your legal adviser in Spain

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A legal change improves the position of buyers of inherited real estate

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On this blog, we have commented in the past on the risks of purchasing from a seller who acquired a property by inheritance from a non-immediate family member. Buyers were often not aware of this situation, which entailed legal risks that fortunately have been removed.

The most typical example of this type of inheritance is a single person or widow with no children who, via a will or by law, ends up leaving their estate to a non-immediate family member (under Spanish law: a sibling, nephew/niece, cousin, etc.) or even someone with no family ties. When these heirs accept the inheritance and become the owners of the property of the deceased they, logically, often want to sell it. To sell the property, they first have to register their ownership of it in the real estate register. Until now, this registration recorded with it a charge in the form of a restriction on the owner’s power to sell the property for two years. This restriction existed to protect the rights of any heir with a preferential right to inherit who appears later on (e.g., a child that had not previously been acknowledged).

The buyer, who was unaware of how the seller acquired the property, may have committed to purchasing it via an earnest money agreement, only to later find out that the banks will not finance the purchase owing to the restriction on the property. The legal provision providing for this restriction has recently been repealed with retroactive effect. This means that property buyers can rest a little easier from now on.

However, we still recommend seeking the assistance of a lawyer when purchasing a property to obtain the proper legal advice and avoid the other risks that buying real estate entails.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Your legal adviser in Spain

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Legal restrictions affecting the purchase of inherited real estate

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Buying a property is always a risky proposition. Especially when the seller inherited the property. This entails additional risks for the buyer, depending on the relationship the seller had with the former owner.

In a previous post, we spoke about the risks of buying real estate inherited by an immediate family member. These risks have to do with tax as the inheritor is entitled to fiscal benefits that place restrictions on the sale of the property. If these restrictions are not met, the tax office will make any claim against the current owner of the property.

In this post, we look at another type of risk that arises from a slightly different situation — when the seller acquires the property by inheritance from someone who is not an immediate family member. The most typical example is a single person or widow without children who, via a will or by law, ends up leaving their estate to a non-immediate family member (under Spanish law: a sibling, nephew/niece, cousin, etc.) or even someone with no family ties.

When the seller registers the inherited real estate in the land registry, a restriction is placed on their power to sell the property for a given period. This restriction exists so that if an heir with a preferential right to inherit appears (e.g., a child that had not previously been acknowledged), their rights are protected.

This restriction, which is often not taken into account, can lead to surprises as the banks may decline financing the property purchase in such cases. As always, we recommend seeking the assistance of a lawyer when you purchase a property to obtain the proper legal advice.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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Tourist rentals and homeowner associations

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We’ve written before about the administrative requirements for renting properties to holidaymakers: http://blog.tarracoiuris.com/en/?p=380
Today we look at the legal issues that can arise with homeowner associations.

As we stated in our previous post, the government has established social, economic and tax controls in the tourist rental market. It did this because holiday letting can affect housing prices, the make-up of districts and the good relations between neighbours. Politically, these are highly sensitive issues. Recently, there have even been very divisive campaigns by neighbourhood and social groups against tourism, a phenomenon referred to as “tourism-phobia” by some in the media. These groups say that the boom in holiday letting has caused social problems, especially in the historic centres of cities and in communities in tourist areas.

Thus, the government now requires various things if you want to rent a property to tourists. First, the property must have a special registration number. This number, issued by the Tourism Register of Catalonia (Registre de Turisme de Catalunya, RTC), starts with the prefix HUT, which basically stands for “property for tourist use” in Catalan. Second, you must register the property with the regional police so you can register the details of the people who stay overnight in your property. Lastly, you need to pay the Catalan tourist tax (the IEET tax) on an ongoing basis.

As well as having to comply with these administrative requirements, you also need to take into account whether the property you want to let out is affected by a homeowner association. If you have an apartment in a building with common areas or a house or duplex on an estate with common services (pool, sport facilities, etc.), you and your property may be affected by the decisions of a homeowner association on what your property may be used for. Homeowner associations are increasingly voting to prohibit certain uses of properties. This often includes prohibiting owners from renting their properties to holidaymakers.

What can you do to protect your property rights in such cases? You need to seek professional advice to analyse exactly what options you have. We would be more than happy to provide you with this advice. Please contact us if you find yourself in this situation or have any questions.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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Why you should check that the details on your property in the Land Registry and the Cadaster match

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As we have commented previously on this blog http://blog.tarracoiuris.com/en/?p=118, there are two systems for registering and guaranteeing titles on real property in Spain: the Land Registry and the Cadaster. Having two systems means inconsistencies in the data registered can arise.

The details registered can differ from one system to another because both the information source and purpose differ in each system. The Cadaster provides property details to the Spanish Tax Office for collecting tax. This information comes from tax declarations and inspections. In contrast, the purpose of the Land Registry is to guarantee and protect property titles. Titles can only be registered by submitting public instruments. The information in the Land Registry is therefore more rigorous than that contained in the Cadaster as the information source is subject to stiffer requirements.

To help make the data stored in each system consistent and so this data better reflects reality, the Spanish government introduced in 2015 a straightforward procedure for coordinating the data in both systems. This procedure has been further extended. You can now update the data registered to make it consistent in both systems and ensure it reflects reality. The procedure is quite automatic and gives rise to numerous advantages. If the data registered is coherent and faithfully reflects reality, selling your property or transferring it in any other way (by mortgage, gift, etc.) becomes far more straightforward. These advantages affect the property’s market value.

So I encourage you to check that the details on your property in the Cadaster and the Land Registry are the same and do reflect reality. If you find otherwise, get in touch. We can help you rectify the problem. By fixing the problem, you will have peace of mind that your property rights are fully protected by the Land Registry and that you are only paying the tax you lawfully owe.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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New Comprehensive Advisory Service for Property Owners

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Owning a real estate property is a big responsibility. To protect your rights as an owner, your property must meet all current legal and technical requirements. To give you the peace of mind that your real estate property does meet these requirements and is fully protected legally — both now and in the event of any change in the law — Tarraco Iuris law firm would like to offer you its comprehensive advisory service for property owners.

Based in Tarragona, our specialist team of lawyers and technical experts are ready to handle all your properly-related legal and administrative needs, including the handling of any mediation process and other procedures and the drafting and lodging of documents for the Spanish authorities (local councils, provincial and regional governments, the cadastral register, the Land Registry, notaries public, the courts, etc.) or any third parties (adjoining property owners, neighbour associations, the community of owners, entities involved in expropriation processes, etc.).

To legally protect your property in Spain, we offer a complete range of technical and legal services that includes:

1. Helping you obtain a NIE (foreigner ID number required for tax purposes in Spain)
2. Drafting all property-related contracts, including preliminary, option-to-buy, purchase and sale, and lease agreements
3. Verifying property charges with the Land Registry
4. Verifying property zoning with the local council
5. Verifying any debts owed by the seller to the Community of Owners
6. Verifying that all tax due on a property has been paid (municipal property tax, tax on income from real estate property, etc.) and drafting and presenting any corresponding tax declarations
7. Providing an estimate of taxes and expenses so you can budget for the cost of transferring a real estate property
8. Verifying the applicable marital or inheritance law and advising you on the legal conditions for purchasing or transferring a property
9. Drafting title deeds for executing property transactions
10. Accompanying you to sign title deeds and any other notarial instruments, acting as advisers and/or translators
11. Assisting your negotiations with the bank for using the property as loan security
12. Registering title deeds with the Land Registry
13. Informing the local council of a change of ownership for the purposes of local taxes and fees
14. For sales by non-residents, preparing and presenting declarations on tax withheld for Spanish income tax and handling the collection of any refund
15. Preparing/lodging applications for:

a. Certificate of occupancy and energy efficiency certificate
b. Building technical assessment report
c. Certificate of structural soundness and certification of construction age

16. Plans and topographical surveys
17. Undertaking boundary demarcation and mediating in conflicts with neighbours
18. Undertaking historical investigations on properties and updating the cadastral record for divided or joined plots
19. Advising you on:

a. Utility connection and the possible use of wells and springs
b. New construction, reform or landscaping projects
c. Business projects
d. Road and path refurbishment
e. Land and building assessment

Are you sure your property is fully protected legally?

Do not hesitate to contact us for further information. Please contact us for any service you require that is not listed

Tarraco Iuris global management

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More detailed information about the new Spanish law on the coasts

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Last month we discussed about the main features of the new Spanish Coastal Law and its impact on the environment and the legal status of real estate close to the sea. This month we continue our analysis of the issues related to the details of this Directive.

Restrictions of the right of ownership in the case of real estate land adjacent to the public domain or being a part of it: regarding the use of beaches, it is decided that future regulations of the government should establish a different legal regime for the urban beaches (adjacent to an urbanization), and for areas of natural beach (adjacent to protected areas or rural areas). For the natural beaches applies a high level of protection, limiting any activity. It is important to maintain in a natural state the beaches located far away from urban centers and, on the other hand, to keep the city beaches accessible to the public.

Owners of real estate that legally occupies land in the area of ​​special protection (subjected to the legal servitude or easement) will be allowed to carry out works to improve, modernize and strengthen the real estate, but only if they are not associated with an increase in height, volume or area of ​​the building. This is not new, but now the permission of the regional administration is replaced by a responsible statement, which should include evidence that these buildings meet the legal requirements of energy efficiency and water savings. This is to avoid the license of regional autonomous powers being juxtaposed to municipal licenses. In any case, the Spanish government may suspend the administrative acts and agreements adopted by local governments affecting the integrity of public coastal protected area or its easement. The law introduces a fast and effective precautionary measure to prevent the execution of illegal activities, despite the fact that within ten days, the local decision must be challenged by the State in the courts of administrative disputes.

Changes in the regulation of concessions and permits related to coastal public property: The prorogation or extension of existing concessions is subject to an economic report, which is to determine the impact that the use of the area has on the environment. Thus, the duration will depend on the concession environmental sustainability.
The law also changes the maximum term of public concessions to 75 years and also allows to transfer and to sale them. In the case of transfer through inheritance, the period given to the heirs so that they can declare that they agree with the subrogation of the rights of the concession is increased from one year to four years. This prevents the risk of losing the property of the concession if the decision is not taken in a short term of up to one year, given the difficulties that may be especially faced by foreigners. In the case of transfer of rights between living persons, the validity period shall require the prior approval of the Administration.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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Impact of the new Spanish Coastal Law in existing buildings and coastal preservation

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The last revision to Coastal Law pretends to achieve an economic use of the coasts sustainable over time and respectful with the environmental protection. The changes introduced give more legal certainty and clarity and solve some short-term problems created by the previous legislation, but in practice, they reduce the chances of preserving the coastal strip.

The Coastal Law was adopted in 1988 and assumed significant changes in relation to the former regime. Nevertheless, the legislator was very cautious and therefore decided that the legal changes should not immediately entry into force but be delayed over the time. This has led to a conflicting application of the rule and even to its retreat: the law of 1988 failed to defeat the established social realities and that is actually why the government decided that it should be corrected. On the other hand, this law of 1988 created significant legal uncertainty that caused the resolution of the European Parliament in 2009, asking the Spanish authorities to “urgently review and, if necessary, modify the action of the Coastal Act to protect the legal rights of dwelling property owners and those who own small plots in the coastal areas, which do not adversely impact on the coastal environment … “.

Let’s analyze the key amendments of the reform:

1 – Clarification and specification of the concept of marine and coastal public property and improvement of the procedure of demarcation of boundaries:

The littoral is legally defined as the strip where the sea meets the land. The Spanish Constitution establishes that the littoral (including the coastal zone, the territorial sea and the beaches) will always be in any case public domain. Thus, it is important to recognize how far this common property extends, especially when we consider that the Spanish coast is the most densely populated area in the country and it concentrates the most strategic economic activities of the nation, such as tourism and fishing.

The law states that the coastal protection zone will be the land strip within reach of the biggest waves recorded during strong storms. This recording depends on technical criteria that should be created to give more confidence, reliability and stability at the borders.

The main innovation introduced in relation to the protected coastal zone is to reduce the width of the legal easement from one hundred to twenty meters, but only in settlements which were not classified in 1988 as an urban area although they had the characteristics of such. This reduction also applies exceptionally   in the upper shores of the rivers, sensitive to the ebb and flow, in order to avoid that at sites far away from the river mouth, this easement of100 metershas to be respected.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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Incoherent land information systems in Spain

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In Spain, it is often the case that entries recorded in the cadastre and the land register (register of deeds) are not identical and the two registries can often contradict the actual plots on the ground.

The reason for this is that the sources of the information differ: in the land register, only information contained in official documents is recorded (e.g. notary certified contracts or judicial decisions); however, the information in the cadastre is submitted and recorded by municipality officials or the tax office.

The function of the information also varies: in the land register, a private individual enters the information which he wishes to defend with the guarantee of the official register; in the cadastre, the administration prepares the information necessary for the calculation of taxes and the enforcement of its own demands.

This potential contradiction is not the only difference between the Spanish and other foreign land registers: another and very important difference in the Spanish land register is the mandatory recording of a building’s description, including details of the construction areas, with a notary certificate, while in other foreign land registers (like in Germany, for example), only the explicit size of the plot (without any description of the buildings) is recorded.  Significantly, this means that if alterations are made to the building, its altered condition must also be updated in the land register with a retrospective notary “New Works Declaration”. However, this is often not done, either through ignorance, a reluctance to pay the notary, tax and registry costs, or more usually because (new) building has not been granted.

Nearly all contracts of sale for property are dependent on the funding of the buyer.  This funding is usually granted by a bank, but always with the guarantee that it is recorded in the land register as a mortgage on the purchased property.  It is therefore very important that the information recorded in the land register does not conflict with reality because any information missing from the land register can mean that the financing bank will not cover the purchase price agreed for the property (this price is agreed irrespective of what is actually stated in the land register). Therefore, if you are intending to put a property on the market as a seller, it is advisable to find out all entries in the land register and cadastre and compare them with the actual plots.

Providing that the correct measurements are recorded in the cadastre, it is relatively simple to amend the land register.  With existing (or older) valid building permission and construction final approval documented by the municipality, things can move forward quickly.  It becomes difficult however when a building or part of a building exists which has not been recorded and for which there is no official approval.  Then only the lengthy and expensive route of gaining planning and building permission through an architect remains.

The situation is different when not only the factual information, but also the legal information recorded is incorrect: this often occurs in the case of inheritances which have not been formalised or when the buyer has not notarized the signed contract of sale.  Because only information contained in official documentation can be recorded in the land register, private contracts of sale cannot be registered.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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Legalization of buildings outside the law

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Traditionally it has been possible in our country to legalize buildings outside the law through the mere passage of time. However, the Law 8/2011 has added new requirements when recording new buildings in the register of deeds, giving more legal security to the system.

When selling a property, the buyer usually requires financing. To obtain financing is not only very difficult nowadays, due to the current banking situation, but also virtually impossible if the buyer can not offer a mortgage to the bank that lends him the money. To make it possible for the bank to register the necessary property mortgage, the real value of the estate to be charged should be reflected in the register of deeds. This is only achieved when the elements that provide greater value to the property, that is, the existing buildings on it, are properly registered. To register these edifications, a notarial declaration of the new building is always been necessary and this document must be submitted to the register in order to be recorded, accompanied by many documents to control its urbanistic legality.

Despite this, there was always a back door to buildings that violated the law, which could end up sneaking in urban registration of the property, with the economic and financial consequences discussed above. The mere passage of time with no reaction of the relevant planning authorities, the municipalities, leads to the possibility of regularization of these illegal edifications. As the deadlines for the sanctioning procedures passed and the planning authorities could no longer prosecute these buildings, they could end regularized, if certain conditions were met. But in the present days, the last reform of the Land Act we mentioned above, has added a key requirement, prior to the possibility of recording the irregular building in the register of deeds: we should show a municipal certification defining the content of the situation outside the law of the building we intend to record.

Article 20.4 of the Act indicates that
“4 …. in the case of constructions, buildings and facilities for which no appropriate measures to restore legality involving urban demolition can be taken, because the relevant limitation period has passed, the registration record of the completion of the work shall be controlled by the following procedure:

  • a) the notary deeds with the statement of a new building can be recorded in the Land Registry if they are accompanied by a certificate issued by the City Council or by a competent technician, or a descriptive notarized certification of the property or a cadastral descriptive and graphic certification of the property, when these documents confirm the completion of the work in a specified date and the description coincides with the title. For this purpose, the Registrar shall verify if there is a notation in the Register of Deeds because of the initiation of an urban discipline procedure for the property subject of the construction, building and installation in question and that the site is non demanial or affected by easements for public use.
  • b) The registration entry will record the outside-the-law position of all or part of the construction, building and installation, in accordance with applicable urban management. It will be necessary to provide the administrative act by which the situation is declared outside management, with the proper delimitation of its contents.
  • c) The Registrar shall report to the City the respective entries in the cases included in previous issues, and such notification will be recorded in the inscription”

This new regulation, in force throughout the state, which requires prior to registration the provision of a municipal certificate on the content of urban illegality is coherent with the goal to be reached with the law of passing “registration measures designed to ensure and strengthen certainty in the real estate contracts and business, through the Land Registry” and “emphasizing on register protection measures which aim to prevent and prosecute in the future situations that occur today and that are impacting very negatively on investment in real estate, both domestically and internationally“.

Let us hope that eventually these legal measures have the desired effect and strengthen the security image as necessary to encourage property investment, especially by foreigners.

Carlos Prieto Cid, Lawyer

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