In this article Welex, a Spanish law and accountancy firm, is going to explain everything you need to know about preventive charges and how it can affect your rights as an owner of a property, as well as a future buyer of a property in Spain.

 

 

What is a preventive charge in Spain?

A preventive charge in Spain is an act that is registered in the Land Registry in order to secure the payment of an outstanding debt, with the aim of preventing the owner from selling or mortgaging the property without first paying off the debt.

In this way, if the owner intends to sell the property or take out a mortgage loan, the financial entity or the buyer will be able to check the existence of a preventive annotation by requesting a certification at the Spanish Land Registry, and if so, ensure that the debt has been settled before proceeding with the purchase or mortgage loan.

For how long is the a preventive charge in Spain valid?

The duration of a preventive charge in Spain is in general terms four years, in the event that after this time, the debt has still not been paid off, you can request the renewal of the preventive annotation, which is why we have to be careful, as these are not automatically renewed.

Finally, we are going to check how this preventive charge affects the owner of a property, since as we have said, the owner cannot sell, mortgage or dispose of the property without having paid off the debt first, that is to say, he/she cannot freely dispose of the property.

For this reason, we recommend our clients to be informed about this type of annotations and to take appropriate advice in order to avoid future problems in Spain.

 

Is it possible to request extensions of the preventive charges in Spain so that they do not expire?

 The answer is yes. Extensions can be requested so that preventive charges do not expire in Spain.

If you wish to know more about preventive charges in Spain, please keep reading here.

Please do not hesitate to contact our law firm in Spain for any legal query or for any doubt related to preventive annotation on properties in Spain.

 

This blog is written by Dª Ana Sanchez, leading lawyer in Marbella. Ms. Ana Sanchez has a Master’s Degree in Law in Spain and is duly registered with the Bar Association in Malaga. Ana has a long career in the law firm Welex and is specialized in property law, providing conveyancing services in relation to real estate and advising from a legal and fiscal point of view on inheritance and successions in Spain.