Empadronamiento (municipal census): registration, change of address or certificate

Legal basis and things to bear in mind

• The padrón IS free of charge in most Ayuntamientos, both the registration and the certificate. Our fee of €120.00 covers reviewing your documents, drafting the paperwork and handling the process.
• The electronic certificate with a CSV is fully legally valid: you can forward it by email to any organisation, bank, embassy, etc.
• The 'volante de empadronamiento' is informal (valid for internal procedures) and the 'certificado' is the official one signed by the municipal secretary. We process the official certificate for you.
• If you need the certificate for a mortgage or a consular procedure, they almost always ask for the official one with a CSV or stamp.
• On registrations we tell you the truth about timing: the Ayuntamiento's online assistant only accepts the interested party identifying with Cl@ve or a digital certificate, and someone who has just arrived in Spain has neither. That is why we file it as your representatives (art. 5 of Ley 39/2015 and the Resolution of 17 February 2020 on management of the Padrón), through the electronic register, and the Ayuntamiento has up to 3 months to decide.
• Nobody can guarantee you a date, and anyone promising one is misleading you: if the Ayuntamiento doubts that you will actually live there (for instance because many people are already registered at that home), the Resolution of 17 February 2020 requires it to halt the registration and check. What does depend on us is that your file is not rejected over badly presented paperwork.
• The most common reason for rejection is proof of your right to occupy the home: if you rent you need the contract AND the latest receipt, a utility bill is not enough, and if you rent a room you need the signed authorisation of an adult already registered there, with a copy of their DNI and of their contract or title deed. If you live in a hall of residence or student hall, the residence's authorisation on the hoja padronal is enough: the details and signature of a person in charge, or the residence's stamp. That is exactly what we prepare.
• You have to sign the hoja padronal (census form) yourself: the law lets us represent you when filing, but not sign for you (section 1.7 of the Resolution of 17 February 2020). We send it to you filled in so you can sign it from home, without going anywhere.
• If you are a non-EU foreigner without long-term residence, your registration expires after 2 years and must be renewed (art. 16 of Ley 7/1985): if you do not, the Ayuntamiento removes you from the padrón.