The cadastral reference is the official and obligatory identifier of real estate properties. If consists of a code allocated by the Cadastre in such a way that each property has a single cadastral reference.

The cadastral reference is made up of twenty characters including, in the case of urban property, the geographical coordinates of the parcel concerned

What is it for?

The cadastral reference allows location of properties in the cadastral cartography. The cadastral reference identifies precisely which property is affected in juridical transactions (sale and purchase, successions, donations, etc.), so as to avoid confusion between one property and another.

The cadastral reference provides greater legal security for citizens entering into contracts relating to real estate property, and at the same time constitutes an effective tool in the fight against fraud in the real estate sector

Is it obligatory?

Royal Legislative Decree 1/2004 provides that the cadastral reference must be noted obligatorily in the following documents relating to real estate property:

• Notarial Instruments, writs and court orders.
• Administrative Files and Resolutions.
• Contracts for lease of real estate property.
• Documents declaring any alteration of a physical, juridical or economic nature in real estate property (tax returns, technical projects, works completion certificates, etc.).
• Private documents relating to real estate property.

The cadastral reference must also be recorded in the Property Register.

In the following cases it is not obligatory:

• Documents recording cancellation of real security rights, such as mortgages.
• Administrative acts adopting or revoking measures tending to ensure payment of sums due under public law, such as taxes.
• Proceedings for postponement or fractioning of fiscal payments.
• Proceedings for verification, investigation and liquidation in fiscal matters.

Who are obliged?

The following are obliged to note the cadastral reference:

• In the case of documents executed before a Notary Public, any of the parties thereto. For example, both the purchaser and the seller are obliged in sale/purchase transactions.
• For inscription in the Property Register, those applying for registration.
• In private documents, the contracting parties.
• In judicial or administrative proceedings, the owners of the property/ies concerned.

When various persons are obliged to provide the cadastral reference, it is sufficient that one of them should do so, and the others will then be exempted from such obligation.

How to find out the cadastral reference

It can be discovered by way of the following documents:

• Electronic Cadastral Certificate obtained by telematic procedures through the Cadastral Virtual Office. If the judicial or administrative authority or the Notary or Registrar obtains the Electronic Cadastral Certificate directly, the interested party is not obliged to submit it.
• Cadastral Certificate issued by its Provincial and Local Offices.
• Last receipt corroborating payment of Rates.
• Certificate issued by the Local Council, provided it has determined to collaborate with the Cadastre for such purposes.
• In notarial instruments recording the cadastral reference or through information from the Property Register when it is recorded therein.

What happens if this obligation is not complied with?

Failure to comply with the obligation to provide the cadastral reference is classified as a minor fiscal infringement and may be penalised, after the corresponding sanction procedure has been followed, by a fine ranging between 60 and 6,000 ?.

Nevertheless, in the event that it can be shown that it is not possible to provide the cadastral reference because communication is pending from the Cadastre, the interested parties are freed and relieved from this obligation.

What benefits are provided by supplying the cadastral reference?

When an apartment, premises or any other real estate property is acquired, it must be recorded at the Cadastre. Nevertheless, the interested party is relieved of this obligation if he has appeared before a Notary to sign the deed or has applied for registration of the property at the Property Register, provided the following requirements are complied with:

• That the transaction concerns solely the transfer of title of urban property (sale/purchase, succession, donation, etc.).
• That said transfer is duly formalized in a notarial instrument and registration in the Property Register is applied for within two months of the date on which the transfer or sale/purchase transaction was carried out.
• That, when the deed is executed or application is made for inscription in the Register, the cadastral reference of the property affected is given to the Notary or Property Registrar.

In addition, the recording of the cadastral reference at the Property Register facilitates the physical identification of the property with respect to third parties, thus improving the agility and security of property transactions.

Collaboration of Notaries and Property Registrars.

When you present yourself before a Notary or Property Registrar, you will receive detailed information in those cases in which you are required to declare to the Cadastre the acquisition of title to urban real estate property, when the circumstances described above do not exist.