Short answer: with the address of a property and around €11 you can find out, in less than a day, who really owns it, whether it is mortgaged, whether it carries court charges and how many square metres are registered. It takes two documents: the nota simple from the Land Registry and the cadastral information obtained from the cadastral reference. Neither requires a lawyer. What does require judgement is interpreting them and, above all, knowing what they do not tell you.
This is, literally, the first check we run at the office when a client brings us a property they are interested in. It is not a professional secret or a complex procedure: it is a twenty-minute task costing a few euros that anyone can do. We explain how to do it yourself, how to read what you receive, and exactly where these two documents stop being able to help you.
Contents
- Two documents, two authorities, two functions
- How to request the nota simple (and how to request it in English)
- How to read the nota simple, block by block
- Glossary of the nota simple
- How to obtain cadastral information from the cadastral reference
- How to connect both documents: the comparison that matters
- Five things these documents do not tell you
- Red flags when reading a nota simple
- Frequently asked questions
- Official sources
Two documents, two authorities, two functions
The nota simple is issued by the Land Registry, under the Ministry of Justice. It publishes rights: who holds title, what rights in rem exist over the property and what charges burden it. It is informative in value — the means of formally evidencing the content of the Registry is the certificación, signed by the registrar — but for preparing a purchase it is more than sufficient.
The cadastral information is provided by the Directorate General of the Cadastre, under the Ministry of Finance. It describes the property primarily for tax purposes: surface areas, use, year of construction, graphic delimitation of the plot and cadastral value.
They are independent of one another and do not have to agree. That is precisely why you request both: the value lies not in either document on its own, but in the comparison.
How to request the nota simple (and how to request it in English)
Online. At the electronic office of the Association of Registrars, registradores.org. You can identify the property by cadastral reference, by unique registry code (IDUFIR/CRU), by registry details (registry, volume, book, folio, property number) or by exact address. The official fee is €9.02 per property, plus tax. The nota arrives by email, frequently in under two hours.
In person. At the Land Registry of the district where the property is located. The fee is lower — €3.64 — but it requires travelling there, and the whole process is conducted in Spanish.
In English. This is the point almost nobody knows and the one our British and Nordic clients find most useful: when requesting the nota online you can tick the option for an English translation. The cost is €9.02 for the nota plus €30 for the translation. The translation is carried out by translators familiar with registry terminology.
It is worth understanding what that translation is and what it is not. It is a linguistic translation, not a legal interpretation. Several concepts in Spanish registry law have no exact equivalent in common law: usufructo, afección fiscal, condición resolutoria or nuda propiedad are rendered by approximations that a British reader may understand differently from what they actually mean. A buyer who reads “charges: none” and concludes the property is clean has understood the document correctly and misread the transaction, for reasons we set out below.
A requirement that surprises people: article 222 of the Mortgage Law requires anyone requesting registry information to have a legitimate interest in knowing it, and the form will ask you to state the reason for your enquiry. Considering the purchase of the property is a perfectly legitimate interest and saying so is enough. Searching by owner’s name, by contrast, requires identification with an electronic certificate.
A practical note: entries made before 1992 may not record the owner’s ID number, so provide as much data as you have to avoid your request being rejected. The cadastral reference is usually the most reliable search criterion, and you will normally find it in the agency’s own listing or on the IBI receipt.
How to read the nota simple, block by block
A nota simple always follows the same structure. Read it in this order.
1. Identification of the property. Registry, property number, IDUFIR/CRU and the literary description: nature (dwelling, commercial unit, garage), address, surface area, boundaries and, under horizontal property, participation quota and annexes. Check the address matches the property you visited. It sounds obvious; it is not, particularly in developments built in phases.
2. Ownership. Who holds title, in what capacity (full ownership, bare ownership, usufruct), in what proportion and under what marital character (private or community property). Verify that the person selling to you is exactly who appears here, and in full. If there are two owners at 50% each, both must sell.
3. Charges. The decisive block. Mortgages, seizures, tax charges, easements, resolutory conditions, restrictions on disposal. Read the dates: a preventive annotation of seizure has an expiry period, and a mortgage repaid in economic terms may still be registered.
4. Marginal notes. They tend to go unnoticed and are sometimes the most important thing in the document: coastal deslinde proceedings, planning restriction notes, references to administrative files.
5. Entry book or pending filings. Shows whether documents have been filed and are awaiting processing. In other words: something that is not yet a charge but is on its way.
6. Date and time of issue. The nota simple is a snapshot. It does not formally expire, but it reflects the position at that precise moment. A nota from three months ago is no use for signing.
Glossary of the nota simple
These are the terms that appear most frequently and cause most confusion among foreign buyers.
Finca registral. The legal unit that opens a folio at the Registry. One finca registral may correspond to several cadastral parcels, and vice versa.
IDUFIR / CRU. Fourteen-digit unique registry code identifying the property throughout Spain. The most reliable reference for requesting further notas.
Referencia catastral. Twenty-character code identifying the property at the Cadastre. Not the same as the finca registral.
Pleno dominio. Full ownership: the right to use, enjoy and dispose.
Nuda propiedad. Bare ownership, without the right of use and enjoyment, which belongs to the usufructuary. A buyer of bare ownership cannot occupy the property while the usufructuary lives.
Usufructo. The right to use and enjoy the property and receive its income without owning it. Very common in properties inherited by a surviving spouse. If a life usufruct is registered, the usufructuary must also appear at the sale.
Proindiviso / cuota indivisa. Co-ownership in undivided shares over the whole property. It does not mean each owner has a specific physical part.
Carácter privativo. The asset belongs exclusively to one spouse.
Carácter ganancial. The asset belongs to the marital community. Both spouses must consent to a sale.
Family home. Even if privately owned, its disposal requires the other spouse’s consent (article 1320 of the Civil Code).
Cuota de participación. The percentage attributed to the unit within the owners’ community. It determines the share of common expenses and voting weight.
Elemento común. Part of the building belonging to all owners: entrance hall, stairwell, roof, façade, communal pool.
Anejo. Garage or storeroom inseparably linked to the dwelling. If the garage is neither an annex nor a separate registered property, it may not form part of what you are buying.
Hipoteca. Mortgage registered in favour of a lender. Its presence does not prevent a purchase; it is redeemed out of part of the price at the deed.
Responsabilidad hipotecaria. The figure shown in the nota simple. It is not the outstanding debt: it is the maximum amount for which the property answers, including principal, interest and costs. Only the lender’s debt certificate evidences the actual balance.
Embargo (preventive annotation of). Judicial or administrative seizure over the property for a debt of the owner. It must be lifted before or simultaneously with the sale.
Afección fiscal. A note warning that the property answers for any supplementary tax assessment the authorities may raise in respect of an earlier transfer. It usually lapses after five years.
Condición resolutoria. A registered clause allowing a previous seller to recover the property if deferred price instalments are not paid. Check whether it has been paid and cancelled.
Servidumbre. An easement in favour of another property or of an authority: right of way, light and views, power lines, coast, roads.
Derecho de tanteo y retracto. A third party’s right — tenant, authority, community — to acquire in preference or to step into the purchase.
Limitación de disponer. Temporary prohibition on selling, common in subsidised housing or in gifts subject to conditions.
Arrendamiento inscrito. A tenancy recorded at the Registry and therefore enforceable against the buyer. Its absence does not mean there is no tenant.
Declaración de obra nueva. The deed by which a building enters the Registry. If it does not appear, the property may be registered as a plot even though a house stands on it.
Obra nueva por antigüedad. Registration of a building against which planning legality can no longer be restored. It is not equivalent to planning legalisation.
División horizontal. The act by which a building is divided into independent properties with their quotas and common elements.
Segregación, agrupación, agregación. Operations that divide or merge properties. Where they appear, check that the resulting description is coherent.
Exceso de cabida. Rectification of the registered surface area to match reality.
Nota marginal. A note in the margin of an entry flagging a relevant fact: deslinde proceedings, planning file, administrative restriction.
Asiento de presentación. Record that a document has been filed pending registration. It has limited validity and priority over anything filed later.
Libre de cargas. Means free of registered charges, at the moment the nota was issued. It does not mean free of community debts, IBI, statutory easements or planning restrictions.
Superficie construida. Built area, including walls and a proportional share of common elements. Always larger than the usable area.
Superficie útil. The usable floor area inside the dwelling.
Graphically coordinated with the Cadastre. Indicates that the registry and cadastral graphic delimitations coincide. A very good sign, and one most older properties do not have.
How to obtain cadastral information from the cadastral reference
Here the good news is twofold: it is free and it is immediate.
Go to the Cadastre’s electronic office, sedecatastro.gob.es, and search for the property by cadastral reference, by address, by polygon and parcel, or directly on the map. Consultation of non-protected data is freely accessible: you need no digital certificate and no identification.
You will obtain built surface area, plot area, principal use, year of construction, a breakdown by element — dwelling, porch, pool, garage — and the graphic delimitation of the plot over aerial imagery. From there you can download the descriptive and graphic consultation as a PDF: in practice, this is the document you will place alongside the nota simple.
One distinction confuses many people. The descriptive and graphic consultation is informative and has no evidential validity. The descriptive and graphic cadastral certificate is an official document — the one notaries attach to deeds — and is also obtained free of charge through the electronic office, but requires identification with an electronic certificate, DNIe or Cl@ve.
And one important limitation: the cadastral owner’s name and the cadastral value are protected data. Only the owner, anyone holding their express written consent, owners of adjoining plots, holders of rights in rem or of a tenancy over the property, and heirs may access them, under article 53 of the consolidated Cadastral Law. As a buyer who has not yet bought, you will not access them freely. But for present purposes you do not need to: ownership comes from the nota simple, and surface areas are non-protected data.
How to connect both documents: the comparison that matters
Place the two PDFs side by side and check five things.
1. That they refer to the same property. The cadastral reference shown in the nota simple must match the one you consulted. If the nota simple contains no cadastral reference — as happens with older properties — compare address, surface area and boundaries.
2. Built surface area. Compare the Registry figure with the Cadastre figure. If the Cadastre shows more, there is probably an unregistered extension. If it shows less, it may be a difference in measurement criteria or an undeclared partial demolition.
3. Plot area. Same exercise. And remember the threshold: below a 10% difference, evidenced by a cadastral certificate, registry rectification is relatively straightforward; above it, a notarial procedure involving neighbouring owners is required.
4. Built elements. This is the star check and the one almost nobody performs. The cadastral breakdown will tell you whether there is a pool, porch, garage or basement, with its surface area and year. Check whether those elements also appear in the registered description. A pool in the Cadastre that is absent from the Registry is the most frequent issue in Costa Blanca villas.
5. The aerial image against reality. Look at the aerial photograph of the plot and compare it with what you saw on the visit. If the image shows a structure that appears in neither document, you are looking at works declared nowhere at all.
If a discrepancy emerges, it does not mean the property has a serious problem: it means there is something to analyse. What each type of mismatch actually implies is explained in Land Registry vs Cadastre in Spain, with the fourteen typical scenarios and a decision tree.
Five things these documents do not tell you
Here is the real limit of what you can do on your own, and it is worth knowing before any money changes hands.
1. Whether the buildings have a licence. Neither the Registry nor the Cadastre evidences planning legality. The Cadastre records what exists in order to tax it, licensed or not. This is checked at the town hall, through planning information and, where appropriate, a certificate of absence of enforcement proceedings. We develop this in building or renovating without a licence.
2. Whether there is debt with the owners’ community. It does not appear in the nota simple, and yet the acquired property answers for sums owed by previous owners up to the limit of the current annual period and the three preceding calendar years, under article 9.1.e) of the Horizontal Property Law. It is checked with the certificate issued by the community secretary. Nor do approved but not-yet-charged special levies appear.
3. Whether there are tenants or occupants. A tenancy appears only if registered, which is uncommon. An unregistered lease exists all the same, and occupation without title leaves no registry trace at all.
4. Whether there are unrecorded Coastal Law restrictions. Coastal easements are statutory: they arise by operation of law and exist even if nobody has noted them on the property’s folio. Absence of any mention in the nota simple evidences nothing. It is the point that causes most losses on the front line, and we address it in buying a property affected by the Spanish Coastal Law.
5. What your contract should say. Spotting a mortgage, a seizure or an unregistered pool is the easy part. The hard part is translating that finding into a clause that protects you: price retention, condition precedent, deadline, who bears the cost and what happens on breach. That is the subject of the arras contract: 15 clauses to check before you sign.
Red flags when reading a nota simple
- The registered owner does not exactly match the person selling to you.
- A life usufruct appears and only the bare owner comes to the sale.
- There are two or more owners and only one is involved in the negotiation.
- A preventive annotation of seizure appears, particularly from the tax authority or Social Security.
- A resolutory condition is recorded with no cancellation note.
- There are filings pending processing.
- A marginal note refers to a deslinde procedure or a planning file.
- The property is registered as a plot, or the description does not mention the building you visited.
- The registered surface area differs from the cadastral one by more than 10%.
- The Cadastre records a pool, an enclosed porch or an extension that the Registry does not mention.
- The nota the agency hands you is more than a month old.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a nota simple cost?
The official fee of the Association of Registrars is €9.02 per property plus tax if requested online, and €3.64 if requested in person at the Registry. The version translated into English costs €9.02 for the nota plus €30 for the translation.
Can I request the nota simple in English?
Yes. When requesting it at the electronic office of the Association of Registrars you can tick the option for an English translation, at an additional cost of €30. The translation is done by translators familiar with registry terminology. It is a linguistic translation, not a legal interpretation: several concepts in Spanish law have no exact equivalent in common law.
Can I request the nota simple for a property that is not mine?
Yes. The Land Registry is public in the sense of article 222 of the Mortgage Law, although a legitimate interest in knowing the information is required and the form will ask you to state the reason. Considering the purchase of the property is a legitimate interest. Searching by owner’s name, however, requires identification with an electronic certificate.
Does a nota simple expire?
Not formally, but it reflects the registry position at the exact moment of issue. To prepare a signing you want a recent nota, and in higher-risk transactions an updated one can be requested the day before the deed.
Is cadastral information free?
Consultation of non-protected data — surface area, use, year of construction, mapping — is freely and openly accessible at the Cadastre’s electronic office, with no need to identify yourself. The descriptive and graphic cadastral certificate is also free electronically, but requires identification with an electronic certificate, DNIe or Cl@ve.
Can I find out the owner’s name through the Cadastre?
Not as a general rule. The cadastral owner’s name and the cadastral value are protected data under article 53 of the consolidated Cadastral Law, reserved to the owner and certain interested parties. Ownership is obtained from the nota simple.
What is the difference between the descriptive and graphic consultation and the cadastral certificate?
The consultation is informative and has no evidential validity. The certificate is an official document and is the one attached to notarial deeds. For comparing surface areas against the nota simple, the consultation is sufficient.
If I do these checks myself, do I still need a lawyer?
To obtain and interpret these two documents, no. For what comes next, usually yes: checking the planning position at the town hall, verifying community debt, analysing the seller’s title, drafting or adapting the arras contract and organising the deed and the cancellation of charges. In our experience, a client who arrives having already read the nota simple gets far more out of the first meeting.
Official sources
- Decree of 8 February 1946, Spanish Mortgage Law: articles 9, 34, 38, 222 and related provisions (BOE).
- Royal Legislative Decree 1/2004, consolidated Cadastral Law: articles 3, 51 and 53 (BOE).
- Law 49/1960 of 21 July on horizontal property: article 9.1.e) (BOE).
- Spanish Civil Code: article 1320 (BOE).
- Association of Registrars of Spain, electronic office: registry information requests and fees in force.
- Directorate General of the Cadastre, Cadastre Electronic Office: open-access services, consultation and cadastral certification.
If the comparison throws up something that does not add up
This is as far as you can go on your own, and it is not little: with two documents and around €11 you will know whether a property is worth pursuing. If the comparison reveals a discrepancy, an unexpected charge or simply a doubt, that is the moment to have someone look at it. We review reservation and arras contracts before signature, with registry, cadastral and planning verification. We work in English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Spanish.
Read more about our property purchase service or run your figures with our free tools: buying costs and plusvalía municipal.
Colás Abogados / Advokater — Hugo Gutiérrez Colás, Lawyer no. 6.539 ICALI
Calle Mozart 9, 03581 Alfaz del Pi (Alicante)
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +34 629 549 430
Web: www.colas-abogados.com
Author: Hugo Gutiérrez Colás, Lawyer no. 6.539 of the Alicante Bar Association. Published 20 August 2026. Last legal review: 20 August 2026.
This article is informative in nature and does not constitute legal advice on a specific case. The fees quoted are those in force at the date of review and may change.