Update the land registry description of your property. ACTA DE NOTORIEDAD. EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO

Dear Sirs, I own a 2.200 square meters urban plot in Benidorm that appears registered at the Land Registry with an area of 1.150 square meters. As in this area of Benidorm the minimum square meters required for a plot is 1000, I would like to update the details in the Land Registry in order to be able to obtain 2 plots for building purposes. Can you help me?

Dear Sir,

Thank for you for your E-mail.

As you state in your E-mail, it is very important for all of us to make sure that the measurements of the surface or area of our plot coincides and matches the records that appear at the Land Registry ( Property Registry) and also at Catastro; this can be checked quite easily.

In your case since the difference between the real size of the plot and the size recorded in the Land Registry (as on your deeds) exceeds 20%; the normal way to proceed would be to update the details at the registry by means of an ACTA DE NOTORIEDAD signed in front of a Spanish Notary or a court case called in Spanish Law EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO. This procedure could not be necessary if the registrar can state without doubt that the pretended extension is correct and does not affect any adjacent plot. If the difference were less than 20% the process of up dating the Land Registry information would be a lot more simpler.

In general we could say that the (undisputable affidavit) ACTA DE NOTORIEDAD is a proceeding done through a Notary to whom we will need to provide a geographical and descriptive certificate from Catastro as well as a certificate from the Land Registry. The Notary will normally require that all the adjoining neighbours be present and in agreement with the enlargement of the plot. This is supposedly the easiest course but it requires for all the neighbours to be present and in agreement.

Another possibility is to notify all the parties who are interested (holders of rights over the adjacent properties) who can make a statement on whether they are in agreement or not.

In any case, it is the Notary who must implement the necessary measures and request the evidences required by Law or any other that he may deem necessary, to understand beyond any doubt that the proposed land extension is undisputable, correct and reflects the reality. The Notary will not approve it if he is not 100% sure.

If finally the ACTA is granted by the notary, depending on the way is carried out it will either be sent to be ratified by the Court or directly to the Land Registry.

Should this not be possible due to a neighbour´s opposition or not being in agreement or should the Notary not consider undisputable that your plot has the meters you claim, then a court proceeding ((EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO) should be started.

The EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO is regulated by Spanish Law ( Ley and Reglamento Hipotecario) and as previously stated it is a court proceeding in which a claim is made to the Court to re establish correlation between reality and Land Registry information.

The competent Court will be the Court that rules over the area where the property is located, in your case it is the Benidorm Court.

As per the Spanish Real Estate Law, all the holders of rights over the property to be extended and also the owners of rights over the adjacent properties should be summoned.

For additional information in regards to updating your property records please do not hesitate to contact us.

The information provided on this article is not intended to be legal advice, but merely conveys general information related to legal issues.

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