2.3.3. Due diligence report

ENSURING YOUR NEW PROPERTY IN MALLORCA IS LEGAL AND CORRECTLY REGISTERED

Spain has seen foreign property buyers investing and relocating to the country for decades. Inexperienced property buyers and unscrupulous developers and estate agents have left some buyers with illegal properties, where the planning permission was not in place before the building work was done, or in bad quality constructions requiring costly repairs. 

In order to ensure you are buying a property that is everything it promises to be, your lawyer will ask for a due diligence report.

Copy of Title Deed - (Nota Simple)

Your lawyer will get a copy of the Nota Simple which will ascertain that the person selling the property is infact the legally registered owner of the property.

This is a full and comprehensive property report with an officially verified description of the property. You can obtain a copy from the local property title Registry Office (Registro de la Propiedad).

It is a vital document when purchasing a house in Spain, as it contains information on:

• The legal status of the property.
• States who the registered owner is and what the property’s registered description is.
• If there are any legal charges or restrictions against the property and any debts on the property that must be settled before ownership can be transferred.
• It gives you the purchase date on which the current owners bought the property,
• The property’s defined boundaries and total square metres of the land and the gross overall area of all built structures.
• It has all the basic information on the defined use of the property (residential, agricultural etc).
• Any rights of way other users have on the property and land (rights of way, roads, water etc).
• Any community costs the owner is liable for.
• In some cases, the Nota Simple will include the Cadastral reference too.

Your lawyer will check that the Title Deed is correct and up to date,  check the property is legal and complies with both the Town Hall and Regional Planning Regulations, has all the necessary planning permissions and licenses, and also important and often overlooked, whether the property is connected to mains water and electricity supplies.

Once you have bought a property and paid all the necessary taxes, your new home will be registered at the Land Registry (Registro de la Propriedad). Request a copy of the new Nota Simple and check that it has been updated correctly.