Property records · Spanish law explained in English
Who owns a Spanish property is public information and costs a few euros to obtain. Here is exactly how to get it, what the document tells you, and the three things it deliberately does not.
Short answer Request a nota simple from the Registro de la Propiedad. It is an official extract showing the current registered owner and any charges against the property, anyone can request one, and it costs a few euros. It is the first document in any Spanish property matter.
Spanish property ownership is public by design. Unlike some systems where title information is guarded, the Land Registry exists precisely so that anyone dealing with a property can establish who owns it and what is attached to it before committing.
You do not need to be the owner, a buyer or a lawyer to request one. You do need to identify the property correctly, and that is where people abroad come unstuck.
The charges section is the one that matters most and the one buyers skim. In Spain, debts frequently follow the property rather than the previous owner — an unpaid mortgage or a tax charge can become the new owner's problem after completion.
If you only have an address and no reference, the search is harder. Registries index by property, not by street name, and a foreign buyer working from a listing photograph often cannot say with certainty which registry entry corresponds to what they were shown.
Short answer Two different registers with two different purposes. The Registro de la Propiedad proves who legally owns a property. The Catastro describes the physical property for tax purposes. Confusing them is one of the most common and most expensive errors foreign buyers make.
The Catastro records surface area, boundaries, construction and rateable value. It is useful, it is public, and it does not prove ownership. A cadastral certificate naming someone is not evidence that they own anything.
Where the two disagree — and they disagree more often than you would expect, particularly in rural areas and where extensions have been built — that discrepancy is itself a finding. It can mean unregistered building work, a boundary that was never formalised, or a property that is not quite what it appears to be.
Short answer Three things, and each has cost people money. Whether building work was licensed. Whether community fees and utilities are outstanding. And whether the person presenting themselves as the owner is actually the person named on the register.
Licensing. The registry records what is registered, not what was permitted. An extension, a pool or an entire house can appear without anyone having authorised its construction, and regularising it afterwards ranges from expensive to impossible.
Debts that are not charges. Community fees, unpaid utilities and certain municipal amounts do not appear as registered charges but can still transfer with the property. Those are asked for separately.
Identity. This is the gap that surprises people most. The register names an owner; it does not confirm that the individual corresponding by email from abroad, or the one attending the notary, is that person. Where a sale runs remotely or under a poder notarial, verifying who is actually behind it is separate work — and one a licensed detective can carry out lawfully, with a signed report.
Have a nota simple but can't verify the people behind the sale from abroad? Identity and company checks are among the cheapest work we do, and the first conversation costs nothing.
Request a confidential callbackPeople also ask
Can I search by person instead of by property?
Not in the ordinary way — the registry is organised by property. Establishing what a named person owns across Spain is a different exercise, and it is what an asset search is for. Asset searches
What if the property isn't registered at all?
It happens, particularly with older rural property. It is not automatically fatal but it is a serious complication, and it needs specific legal advice before any money moves.
The owner is a company. Can I find out who's behind it?
For a Spanish company, yes — incorporation, directors and filed accounts are public at the Registro Mercantil. Where the company is foreign, the trail continues in that jurisdiction.
Is a nota simple the same as an escritura?
No. The escritura pública is the deed signed before a notary; the nota simple is an extract of what the registry currently holds. You need the registry position, because that is what is enforceable against third parties.
I'm inheriting and don't know what the deceased owned.
Common, and answerable. Estates stall on exactly this. It is asset search work rather than a single registry request. Inheritance investigations
The service
Establishing what exists, who owns it and who is really behind a transaction — documented in a signed report by a licensed detective. Cases start from €1,200 plus VAT.
This article explains Spanish property records in general terms for an English-speaking reader. It is not legal advice.