Registering a property for the first time and correcting its surface area or boundaries

Registering for the first time (inmatricular) means the property enters the Land Registry for the first time: its registry page is opened and the first registration is made, which is always of ownership (arts. 7 and 198 and following of the Ley Hipotecaria, the Spanish Mortgage Law). Thousands of rural properties and old houses in Spain were never registered.

Without registration you can perfectly well be the owner (ownership does not depend on the Registry), but in practice you will not be able to mortgage the property, selling becomes complicated because the buyer has no registry guarantees and inheritances become stuck from generation to generation.

Since Ley 13/2015, every first registration requires providing the descriptive and graphic cadastral certification matching the title description and the georeferenced coordinates of the property (art. 9.b LH). If the Cadastre does not reflect the physical reality, the cartography must be fixed first: without it the Registry will not register.

Managora analyses your documentation, detects the applicable route for your case and prepares and submits the complete file. You can see the updated amount on the first registration procedure page.

It is the fast and economical route. It requires you to have a public transfer title (sale, inheritance or donation in a deed) granted by someone who proves having acquired the property, also by public title, at least 1 year before that granting.

The registrar must appreciate identity in the property description between both titles and, in any case, between the registering title and the descriptive and graphic cadastral certification, which is mandatory. Furthermore, they verify that the property is not already registered, totally or partially, and that it does not invade public domain: if they suspect invasion, they request a report from the affected Administration, which has 1 month to reply.

Once the registration is made, the registrar notifies the de facto possessor, the charge holders, the owners of the registry and cadastral adjoining properties and the Town Hall, and publishes an edict in the BOE which by law is free of charge.

The counterpart is in art. 207 LH: for 2 years from the first registration, the protection of art. 34 LH (registry public faith) does not operate in favour of whoever acquires from you. This limitation appears in the entry itself and in all registry publicity while it lasts, so selling or mortgaging in that period is possible but less attractive for the other party.

When you do have a title deed, but there is no double public title or the previous title does not reach the 1 year advance: for example, you bought in a private document or the property comes from an inheritance without previous deeds.

The title deed is an essential requirement to open the notarial file (art. 203.1, regla segunda, letra a). The mere possession for decades, without a material title of any kind, does not allow using this route: in those cases of absolute lack of title the only way out is the declaratory judgment before the courts (art. 204.5.º LH), according to the consolidated doctrine of the DGSJFP.

It is processed before an authorised notario (Spanish notary) in the district where the property is located or in an adjoining one. The required titling is simpler than in 205: a title deed is enough, even formalised in a private document according to the DGSJFP doctrine, together with the matching cadastral certification and the identification of adjoining owners, charge holders, possessors and, if the property is a rented dwelling, the tenant.

The registrar issues in 15 days the certification that the property is not registered and makes a preventive annotation, valid for 90 days extendable up to 180. The notario notifies all interested parties and publishes a free edict in the BOE: any interested party can appear, make written submissions (alegaciones) and oppose within a period of 1 month (art. 203.1, regla quinta).

If someone opposes, the notario concludes and archives the file (art. 203.1, regla sexta) and only the lawsuit in a declaratory judgment remains (art. 204.5.º LH). If no one opposes, it is registered with retroactive effects to the initial presentation entry and, unlike 205, without the 2 year limitation of art. 207: the registry protection is full from the first day.

Pay attention to the tax cost: the domain file is considered a patrimonial transfer for the purposes of ITP (art. 7.2.C of the texto refundido de la Ley del ITPAJD) unless the payment, exemption or non-subjection of the tax of the transfer it replaces is proven. And the statute of limitations is calculated from the date of the file itself, not from that old purchase, which surprises many promoters.

For small differences no file is needed (art. 201.3 LH): up to 5% of the registered capacity the alleged difference is enough (for example with a technician's measurement), and up to 10% is admitted by proving it with a descriptive and graphic cadastral certification that fully matches the registered property. In both cases the registrar must not harbour doubts and, after registering, notifies the adjoining owners.

For any difference, also above 10%, there is the procedure of art. 199 LH: the georeferenced graphic representation of the property is registered (the cadastral one or an alternative elaborated by a technician) and the registered capacity becomes the one resulting from that representation. The registrar notifies the holders and the adjoining owners, who have 20 days to make written submissions (alegaciones); the mere opposition of someone who does not prove to be a holder does not force a denial, the registrar decides in a reasoned manner.

The most formal route is the notarial rectification file of art. 201.1 LH, which is processed with the rules of 203 (notifications, edict in BOE and 1 month of opposition). The promoter must ensure under their responsibility that the difference is only due to a descriptive error of the Registry. It cannot be used for flats or premises in horizontal property nor for properties resulting from reparcelling, expropriation or demarcation (art. 201.1.e).

What no route allows: taking advantage of the rectification to incorporate the neighbour's land or cover up an undocumented purchase or segregation. If the registrar suspects that the excess capacity hides an unformalised business, they suspend the registration, and the DGSJFP constantly supports them. Changes that do not affect surface area or boundaries (street name, nature of the property) are made without a file under art. 201.2.

Managora determines the route that corresponds to your square metres and executes it from start to finish. You can see the updated amount on the description, surface area or boundaries rectification page.

Well-founded doubts of the registrar about the identity of the property: that it totally or partially matches another already registered one or public domain (paths, cattle routes, coasts). They are prevented by preparing solid cartography before starting: graphic validation report from the Cadastre and, if necessary, a technician's survey.

Lack of descriptive identity between the title and the Cadastre: it is the most frequent reason for suspension in art. 205, because the law requires matching with the cadastral certification. Sometimes the Cadastre must be corrected first (correction of discrepancies under art. 18 of the texto refundido de la Ley del Catastro) or provide an alternative graphic representation where the law admits it.

Absence of title deed: if you can only invoke possession, neither art. 205 nor the notarial file of art. 203 are viable, and the matter is resolved in a declaratory judgment. Detecting it in the initial diagnosis avoids paying for a notarial act that the notario could not close.

Opposition of adjoining owners: in notarial files (203 and 201) a single opposition archives the procedure. It is advisable to identify the adjoining owners well and, when possible, obtain their express conformity before starting the procedures.

Disproportionate or repeated rectifications: art. 201.3 allows the registrar to refuse if the capacity was already accurately verified, if rectifications are chained or if the property comes from a segregation, division or aggregation with a precisely determined surface area. In those cases the short route does not prosper and you have to go to 199 or 201.

Usual items: the notarial tariff of the act in the routes of arts. 203 and 201, the registry tariff of the registration, the technician's fees if you need an alternative graphic representation and, in the domain file, the possible ITP of art. 7.2.C. 2 things are free by law: the descriptive and graphic cadastral certification (Electronic Headquarters of the Cadastre) and the edict in the BOE.

For the first registration itself, a new AJD quota is not accrued: the titles on which it relies already paid taxes in their day for ITP, IVA or ISD. The verification of an excess capacity of an already registered property is not a transfer either, because it only corrects an erroneous data of the Registry.

Indicative deadlines: the route of art. 205 is usually resolved in 4 to 8 weeks; the notarial files of arts. 203 and 201 take 3 to 6 months, because they include the notifications, the edict and the 1 month of opposition; the procedure of art. 199 usually lasts 1 to 3 months; the rectifications of art. 201.3 are dispatched with the ordinary qualification of the Registry.

Managora studies your titles and your Cadastre, chooses the route with the most probabilities of being registered on the first try and prepares and submits the complete file for you, with the corresponding notario and Registry. The amount of our fees is always updated on the page of each procedure: start yours from the first registration page or the surface area or boundaries rectification page.