Before buying in Spain: how to check for charges, liens and community debts

When someone tells me 'Moisés, I love the house and the price is right, shall we sign?', my first question is never about the price. It's a different one: do we know what this property is carrying with it? Because in Spain you don't just buy four walls; you buy the plot together with everything attached to it: mortgages, liens, easements and, very often, debts to the residents' association that nobody has mentioned to you.

We call this 'cargas' (charges). And the difference between a calm purchase and an expensive headache almost always comes down to whether they were properly checked BEFORE signing. I'll explain it without jargon, step by step, the way I tell it to any client who walks into my office in Calp.

What a 'charge' is, and why the nota simple doesn't tell the whole story

A charge is anything that limits the property or that makes it answer for a debt. The most typical: a mortgage (the bank has a right over the property until it is paid off), a lien (someone has attached the property over a debt owed by the owner), an easement (a right of way, of light, or of pipework in favour of a neighbour), or a condición resolutoria (a resolutory condition — a clause under which the sale can be undone if something isn't fulfilled).

The basic tool for seeing these is the nota simple from the Land Registry (Registro de la Propiedad). It's an informational document that states who the owner is and which 'live' charges appear on the property. It's essential, but here comes the nuance almost nobody explains: the nota simple is very useful, but it does NOT tell you everything. There are risks that don't show up there, above all community debts. That's why a nota simple 'free of charges' does not automatically mean 'free of problems'.

The nota simple: what it shows and what it does not guarantee you

The nota simple gives you the Registry's snapshot of the property: owner, description and registered charges. For a purchase, my advice is clear: don't rely on an old nota simple shown to you by the agency or the seller. The situation can change between reservation and completion. That's why the law requires the notary to request up-to-date registry information right before authorising the deed, and the registrar must flag anything new that alters what was reported during a short window of days. Today this is all a digital process, regulated under the Reglamento Hipotecario following the modernisation brought by Ley 11/2023.

Practical message if you are buying from abroad: checking for charges is not a one-off step at the start of the negotiation — it is repeated at completion, through the notary. That way you avoid a lien or a claim appearing between reservation and signing that changes the whole picture.

And an important warning: the nota simple guides you, but it is not absolute truth. If, due to an error, the nota simple omits a charge that IS in fact registered in the Registry's books, that charge is still there. The Dirección General has repeated this: a nota simple issued incompletely does not erase what is actually registered. That's why it pays to read it with a professional and cross-check it against what the seller tells you.

Registral good faith (Art. 34 of the Ley Hipotecaria): your best shield

This is at the heart of Spanish legal certainty. Article 34 of the Ley Hipotecaria protects a buyer who relies on the Land Registry. In plain terms: if you buy from whoever appears in the Registry as the owner with power to sell, and three conditions are met, you remain protected even if a hidden problem later surfaces in the seller's title.

Memorise the three conditions, because they always go together:

• Buying for value: that is, paying a price, not receiving it for free (a gift or an inheritance does not give you this full shield).
• Acting in good faith: that you neither know, nor could reasonably know with normal diligence, that the Registry does not match reality.
• Registering your purchase in the Land Registry, and the sooner the better.

I stress the registering part, because many people believe that signing before the notary is enough. It isn't. Full protection is born when you register; if you delay and in the meantime something else is recorded against the property, you can lose that priority. Signing and thinking 'I'll get to the Registry when I can' is one of the most expensive mistakes I see.

And good faith is not naivety. It is presumed that you have it, but it can be broken if it's shown that you knew — or should have known with a minimum check — that something didn't add up. You are not required to run a detective-style investigation, but you are required to review the Registry and not accept obvious contradictions. If the seller says the mortgage is paid off but it's still registered, believing that without more is not good faith: it's letting your guard down.

Mortgages, liens and easements: how they appear and what they mean

A live mortgage, an attached lien or an enforceable easement must appear in the registry information. But understanding what you see is as important as seeing it. Let's go through the two misunderstandings that cost people the most.

'Paid off' is not the same as 'cancelled'

A mortgage exists validly only because it is set out in a public deed and registered in the Land Registry (Art. 145 of the Ley Hipotecaria). That's why, as long as it hasn't been cancelled in the Registry, it keeps appearing as a charge — even if the loan has been paid off to the last euro. Paying off the debt and cancelling the mortgage in the Registry are two different things, and many sellers confuse them in good faith.

There is very clear case law on this: when the deed states 'mortgage paid, registration cancellation pending', the buyer should not simply relax. Minimum diligence means demanding documentary proof of payment and, better still, arranging for the registry cancellation to happen simultaneously with the purchase, or withholding funds for it. If you're told 'it's paid, don't worry', that is precisely where you should worry a little and ask for the paperwork.

A lien: the property becomes encumbered, but the debt is not automatically yours

This is the second pair of concepts you need crystal clear: personal liability is not the same as the property's real encumbrance (afección real). A lien recorded against the property does not turn you into a personal debtor of the seller's debt simply because you bought while aware of it, provided your acquisition has registry priority. You do not 'inherit' their debt as a person.

That said, it's a very different matter for the property to remain encumbered. Buying with a registered lien without cancelling it or withholding money to lift it is very risky, because the property answers for that attachment. The distinction is this: one thing is that YOU owe money (personal liability, which you do not take on) and another is that the HOUSE is subject to a charge (real encumbrance, which does affect you as long as it remains). That's why a lien is resolved before signing, not afterwards.

Something similar happens with easements: for them to work against you, they must be registered. An unregistered easement does not affect you as a protected third party. But here's advice from someone who has seen many coastal properties: besides checking the Registry, walk the property in person. Access paths, a neighbour's windows, pipework crossing the land — the visible signs on the ground count too.

Community debts: the charge you won't see on the nota simple

If you're buying a flat, an apartment or a commercial unit in a building or urbanisation with a residents' association (comunidad de propietarios), this is probably the most important risk, and the one least understood. The law (Article 9.1.e of the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal) establishes that the property remains liable (afecto) for the debts the previous owner had with the association. And pay attention to the exact, citable figure: the property answers for the outstanding part of the CURRENT annual charge plus the THREE preceding calendar years.

I stress this figure because Ley 10/2022 extended that period (it used to be much shorter). It is a 'tacit mortgage' imposed by law: it doesn't need to be registered in the Land Registry to exist, precisely because it arises from the law itself. That's why a nota simple 'free of charges' does NOT guarantee there are no unpaid community fees. That debt may not appear as a registered charge and yet still pursue the property: you end up paying it with the house you just bought.

How do you protect yourself? The law itself gives you the tool. The seller must declare in the deed that they are up to date with community charges and provide a certificate from the administrator on the state of debts. Without that certificate, the notary cannot authorise the deed — unless you, the buyer, expressly release the seller from providing it.

One more distinction: community debts affect you even if unregistered, but the community's internal rules (the estatutos — for example, a ban on holiday letting) only work against you if they are registered in the Land Registry or if it's proven you knew about them. These are two different worlds, and it's worth not mixing them up.

Tax charge (afección fiscal): a grey area that calls for care

Here I have to be honest with you and avoid neat, sweeping statements. It is not true that 'you always inherit the debts to the tax authorities when you buy'. But it is also not true that a clean nota simple fully shields you on the tax side either. It's a grey area, and it depends on the case.

On one hand, the Ley Hipotecaria (Art. 194) grants the tax authorities (Hacienda) a priority to collect certain taxes on the property from the property itself, but a limited one (the current annual instalment and the last unpaid one of taxes such as IBI — the local property tax), even against a buyer who has already registered. On the other hand, there are rulings recognising that a buyer protected by registral good faith can be shielded from certain tax charges that were not on record. The prudent conclusion: depending on the case, there may be tax contingencies tied to the property that are worth reviewing, and not all of them disappear simply because the nota simple is clean. That's why this part is assessed case by case.

The Land Registry and the Cadastre are not the same thing (and your checklist before signing)

I'll close with a classic confusion for buyers from abroad: the Cadastre (Catastro) and the Land Registry (Registro) are not the same thing. The Cadastre falls under the tax authorities and describes the property (surface area, use) in order to collect taxes such as IBI; it does not prove ownership. For ownership and for charges, the document that 'carries legal weight' is the Land Registry. If you only check the Cadastre because it's easy to look up online, you're missing exactly what matters for buying safely.

If you're thinking of buying a house in Spain and want someone to check what the property carries with it before you put down a single euro, write to me and we'll look at it together. Buying with the right information in front of you costs far less than fixing a problem that could have been spotted in time. That's how I work: first understand your case, then check everything, and only then sign with peace of mind.