The certification with continuous registry information is an essential element to provide security in real estate transactions in Spain. Its main purpose is to guarantee to the purchaser of a property or right registered in the corresponding land registry the status of charges, encumbrances, limitations and ownership of the same.
The continuous registry information must be sent by the registrar as soon as possible and always within the three working days following the receipt of the request. The circumstances that have to be expressed in the request of certification with continued information made by the notary to the land registry are:
- Request for the issuance of certification with continued information.
- Address for notifications.
- Means by which notifications are to be made, either by telefax or certified mail.
The request for a certification with continued information entails that the filing entries that affect the property in question and are practiced from the issuance of the certification until thirty calendar days after are informed by the land registrar to the petitioner (generally the notary) of the certification with continued information.
Within the nine calendar days following the remission of the information, the obligation of the registrar to inform the notary of the existence of a new charge or the request by another notary for a continued registry certification must be made as soon as possible and always within the same day in which the modification has taken place.
Having analyzed the above, we can see that there is the possibility and the risk that a notary may authorize the execution of a deed of sale of a property on a specific date and that on the same day, prior to the execution of the deed of sale, charges on the property being transferred are presented for registration in the land registry without the purchaser or the notary being aware of this circumstance.
This is due to the fact that the registrar is only obliged to communicate such modification on the same day on which it occurs.
In this sense, the request for certification with continuous registry information does not provide full protection to the purchasers of real estate, who may demand liability from the registrar in question or, depending on the specific case, from the authorizing notary.
In view of the foregoing, it is necessary to incorporate into the parent deed the continuing registration information received by the notary prior to the execution of the deed, as well as to keep the notifications received from the registrar stating the date and time of receipt.
It would also be advisable that the notary public, at the time of the authorization of the deed, should leave a record of the time at which the execution of the deed of sale took place, since any notification made by the registrar at a later date, of a deed presented in the journal prior to said time, will generate the civil liability of the registrar.
Finally, after the authorization of a deed of sale, the notary is obliged to send the authorized copy of the deed to the land registry as soon as possible on the same day of the authorization of the deed or, failing that, on the following working day. In the event that the notary does not do so immediately and, between the authorization and the forwarding to the land registry, some title or charge is filed in the registry that affects the property in question (and this is communicated by the registrar), the notary will be civilly liable, both for the damages caused to the purchaser of the property and for the non-compliance with the provisions of the Notarial Regulations, the delay in issuing the electronic copy and its telematic presentation.
