Nota simple: the registry extract

Every property in Spain has a page in the Registro de la Propiedad. The nota simple is a printout of that page: a short summary, in plain language, of what the register says today about one flat, one house or one plot.

What the nota simple is

The register is a public record kept by the state and organised by property rather than by owner. Each property has its own entry, called a finca, and every event that affects it is written into that entry in sequence: a sale, an inheritance, a mortgage, the division of a building into separate flats. The nota simple is an informative extract of that entry, issued on request for a small fee, and anyone who can identify the property may order one.

Informative is the operative word. Where a transaction needs the registrar to certify the contents formally, for instance a bank lending against the flat, a certificación is used instead and the registrar signs it. For reading a property before you commit yourself, the simple extract is what buyers and their advisers work from.

What the extract shows, and what it does not

The first part of the extract describes the property: its registry reference, the address, the floor and door, the built area as registered, the boundaries or the building it forms part of, and the share of common elements attached to it. The second part names the present owner or owners, the proportion each of them holds, and how they acquired it. A married owner may appear with a note on the matrimonial regime, because that affects who has to sign a sale.

The third part is the one that changes a decision. It lists the burdens on the property: mortgages, seizures, rights of way and other easements, usufructs, rights of first refusal, the restrictions written into the deed of division of the building, and notes that a court case or an administrative file concerning the property is pending.

What the register leaves out matters as much. It does not show unpaid service charges, unpaid local property tax, a tenant in occupation, a planning breach, or the condition of the kitchen. Those are checked elsewhere: with the community administrator, at the town hall, and by walking through the property.

Cargas: what a charge means in practice

Cargas is the register word for anything that burdens the property. A charge attaches to the property itself, not to the person who created it, which is why it survives a sale. Buy a flat with a mortgage still registered against it and the lender can still look to the flat, whatever the seller promised in private.

Not every charge is a reason to stop. A seller's mortgage is normally cancelled at the notary out of the purchase price, and the cancellation is filed the same day. An easement that lets a neighbour's drainage pipe cross the plot usually stays and is simply part of what you are buying. A seizure, or a note that litigation is under way, belongs to a different category and calls for an explanation in writing before anything is paid.

An extract may say libre de cargas, free of charges. Read it with the person who will draft your deed rather than on your own, and ask them what each line means for your purchase. Ask your notary or a local lawyer to confirm the position in writing; that is the register being used properly.

How recent the extract has to be

The register changes the moment a document is filed, so an extract describes the register only as it stood when it was issued. A document that was lodged yesterday and has not yet been processed can still appear later and take priority by its lodging date. An extract from last month therefore proves very little.

Common practice is to order one early, while you are still deciding, and again immediately before every payment that cannot be reversed: the reservation, the private contract, completion. The notary also consults the register electronically before signing, and the registrar records that consultation, which gives the transaction a short period of priority. Your notary will explain how that works in their province.

The extract on a new-build purchase

On an off-plan purchase the entry you are shown is often the plot rather than the flat, because the flat does not yet exist as a separate property. That extract is still worth reading: it shows who owns the land, whether a development loan is registered against it, and whether any easement crosses the site.

Once the building is finished, the declaration of new work and the deed of division are filed, and each flat receives its own finca with its own extract. SAVO hands the buyer the registry extract for the plot with the contract documents and a fresh extract for the finished unit before completion, so the description in the deed can be read against the register line by line.

This article describes how the document is used. It is not legal advice on a particular purchase.