Proceeding for Rectifying the Area of Properties

Proceeding for rectifying the area of properties due to excess or defect in area following the 2015 reform of the Mortgage Law.

In cases where there is no agreement between the area registered in the Property Registry and the actual area of a property, that is when we can initiate a proceeding for rectifying the area of properties.

It will depend on the difference in meters between what is registered in the Property Registry and the reality, to make a rectification of the area of the property, that is, if the difference in meters exceeds 10% of the total area registered in the Registry, or conversely, the difference is less than 10% of the total area registered in the Property Registry, both for excess or defect in meters of a property, this is a PROCEEDING FOR RECTIFICATION OF AREA DUE TO EXCESS will be initiated whenever the REAL area of the property is GREATER than that registered in the Property Registry; conversely, a PROCEEDING FOR RECTIFICATION OF AREA DUE TO DEFECT. It should be noted that through the reform of the Mortgage Law Law 13/2015 of June 24, the procedure for carrying out PROCEEDINGS FOR RECTIFICATION OF AREA OF PROPERTIES was changed. With this reform, the two types or groups of PROCEEDINGS FOR RECTIFICATION OF AREA DUE TO EXCESS OR DEFECT are implemented, always linked to whether they exceed or do not exceed 10% difference between the real area of the property and the area registered in the Property Registry.

1.- Properties that do not exceed 10% of the area registered in the Property Registry.

These proceedings are indicated only in the case that we want to register a rectification of the area registered in the Property Registry that differs, by excess or by defect, as long as this difference does not exceed 5% or 10% with the real area of the property (whether by accreditation with a Cadastral Certificate, or by carrying out a technical report in which, once Visited and Validated, it does not match the area registered in the Property Registry).

This proceeding can be initiated both at the Notary where the property is located, and at the Property Registry where the property is registered. In the case of doing it at the Notary, we can take advantage of the moment of the transfer of the property, whether it is a sale, donation, or inheritance, for the rectification of said area, without having to notify the cadastral neighbors of the property. It will be the Registry that, ex officio, notifies the registered holders of the neighboring properties, all in accordance with the article 201.3 of the Mortgage Law. The property will be registered as long as the Property Registrar has no doubts about the reality of the modification requested by the Notary, so he will verify in the history of the property, accurately, the area registered in the Property Registry, checking the origin of said property and its antiquity, so the final registration of the property will always depend on the certainty that we can demonstrate to the Property Registrar of the reality of the area of the property.

2.- Properties that DO exceed 10% of the area registered in the Property Registry.

In these cases, IT IS POSSIBLE to register the rectifications of area of properties exceeding 10% (both for excess and for defect).

We can carry out this proceeding at the Notary according to the procedure regulated in the article 201.1, which in turn refers to the article 203, of the Mortgage Law.