SOBE Knowledge
The Nota Simple — Spain’s Title X-Ray
Nine euros and one working day buy the Land Registry’s summary of who owns a property and what hangs over it — the first document any serious purchase orders, and the last one to trust blindly.
What the nota simple is
The nota simple is the Land Registry’s official summary of a property: who owns it, what exactly it is, and what debts and limitations hang over it.
It costs around €9, arrives within a working day from the registry’s online service, and is informative rather than certified — the certified version (certificación registral) exists for court-grade purposes. For everything practical in a purchase, the nota simple is the instrument: it is what your lawyer reads first, what the bank demands for the mortgage, and what turns a listing’s claims into registry facts.
How to read it — the four sections that matter
Finca and description. The registry’s identity for the property — boundaries, surface, the cadastral reference — which should match what you think you are buying. Surprises here (a smaller surface, an unregistered extension) are findings, not typos.
Titularidad. The owners and their shares. The person selling must be everyone the registry names — a spouse’s missing signature or an unresolved inheritance surfaces exactly here.
Cargas. The mortgages, embargoes, easements and conditions attached to the property itself — debts that travel with the asset, not the person. This section decides how the completion is engineered: existing charges are typically cancelled at the notary’s table out of the purchase price.
Cautions and pending entries. Litigation annotations, pre-emptive rights, pending documents — the registry’s way of saying something is in motion. Anything here goes straight to your lawyer.
The freshness rule
A nota simple is a photograph, not a film. It shows the registry at the moment of issue — and nothing after.
An embargo can be entered the week after your copy was printed. Practice therefore orders it twice: once at the start of due diligence, and again days before the escritura — the notary pulls their own on completion day itself. A months-old nota attached to a listing is marketing, not diligence.
On every property we present
The registry file, before the viewing
Fresh nota simple, charges read, surfaces matched against cadastre — so what you visit is what the registry says exists.
What it cannot tell you
The registry records rights, not realities. The nota simple says nothing about community-fee debts (ask the administrator), unpaid IBI (town hall certificate), planning legality of works (licences and the LPO), or tenants in place. Full diligence reads the nota alongside those files — each answers a question the others cannot.
Three ways buyers misread it
1. Trusting the seller’s copy. Order your own — nine euros buys independence and a current date.
2. Reading only the owner line. The cargas section is where purchases are saved or sunk. Every entry there has a story; hear it before the arras.
3. Treating it as the whole file. Registry clean is necessary, not sufficient. Community debts, IBI and licences live elsewhere.
Frequently asked questions
How do I order a nota simple?
Online from the official Land Registry service (registradores.org), with the property's address, cadastral reference or finca number. It costs around nine euros and typically arrives within one working day.
What is the difference between a nota simple and a certificacion registral?
The nota simple is informative; the certificacion is the certified, signed version used for court-grade purposes. For purchase diligence and mortgages, the nota simple is standard.
Does the nota simple show debts?
It shows debts attached to the property itself - mortgages, embargoes, easements. It does not show community-fee arrears, unpaid IBI or utility debts, which require separate certificates.
How recent should it be?
Days, not months. Standard practice orders one at the start of diligence and a fresh one just before completion; the notary checks the registry again on the day itself.
The surface in the nota differs from the listing - which is right?
The registry records the legal surface; listings often quote built or estimated areas. Discrepancies are common and worth resolving before the arras - especially where extensions were built without registration.