Where are my title deeds?

You’re selling your property in Spain, and your estate agent has just shared the good news—there’s a buyer! You’ve appointed a lawyer to handle the sale, and they’ve asked for a copy of the title deeds. Or perhaps your accountant needs the document to prepare some taxes. The problem? You have no idea where the title deeds are! Maybe you think the bank has them because you purchased the property with a mortgage…
Sound familiar? You’re not alone—this is a situation I encounter often!

If you find yourself in this situation, the first thing I can assure you is there’s no reason to panic. In Spain, title deeds are crucial documents, as they are generally the only valid way to change ownership of a property in the Land Registry. However, once your property has been registered in the Land Registry, you do not need to produce the original title deeds to sell your property.

While the original title deeds aren’t required to sell your property, a copy will still be necessary. To draft the private purchase contract, prepare the sale deeds, and calculate your taxes, we need the information contained in the title deeds—such as the purchase date and the original purchase price. The deeds also confirm who the registered owners are. Believe it or not, in many cases, a property is registered in the name of only one spouse, even when it was assumed to be in both names, or vice versa.

Now that we know it’s not the end of the world if you can’t locate the original title deeds and that a copy will suffice, the next question is: where can you find them?

There are three possible places to find a copy of your title deeds:

If you used a lawyer when you purchased the property, your search should begin there
If you bought the property with a mortgage, the bank may have kept a copy of the title deeds, sometimes even the original, though in Spain they have no legal right to retain it
Finally, remember that Notaries in Spain always retain the original document with the authentic signatures of all parties involved. They can issue a copy on request to any interested party. The challenge is that many property owners don’t recall the name of the Notary they used when they bought the property.
This information may sometimes be found on the “Nota Simple” (Land Registry extract), which you or your lawyer can obtain from the Land Registry. The “Nota Simple” provides a summary of the property’s legal status, including its description, the names of the owners, any charges, and sometimes details of the title deeds, such as the Notary’s name, the date of signing, and occasionally even the document number (“protocolo”). With this information, obtaining a copy of your title deeds is straightforward, even if they were signed many years ago and the Notary may have retired or passed away..

Finally, a piece of advice: Start searching for your title deeds as soon as you decide to put your property up for sale—don’t wait until your estate agent calls to say they’ve found a buyer who wants to complete the purchase quickly!

If you’d like to receive a no-obligation quote for our services related to the sale of your property in Spain, please fill out the form below. Provide us with details about your planned sale—such as the price, conditions, property location, and your resident/non-resident status—and we will get back to you promptly