Legal value of LR Information
What is the legal value of land registry information delivered by your national system?
– Certified information. Is the LR information partly or completely certified? If partly, could you please describe what specific information is certified?
– Non certified information
Portuguese Land Registry information, according to article 7º of the Land Registry Code, generates a legal presumption (iuris tantum) regarding the rights inscribed in the land books. It states that the right inscribed belongs to the specific owner in the exact terms stated in the land book. Concerning legal value of the information, it is also important to have in mind substantive rules about the value of the documents in the Portuguese Civil Code – articles 363º, 369º, 370º and 371º.
However, this presumption does not include the property description of the plot which includes the physical data (area in square meters, boundaries, address) and the economic identification of the property (if it is urban or rural; if it has a building, number of floors, main characteristics), and also the property taxnumber.
Thus, LR offices in Portugal deliver both certified and non-certified information.
- The certified information can be delivered through a paper certificate or online (electronic format), through a LR registry «Permanent Certificate», and includes (articles 104 e 110 of the Land Registry Code – LRC):
a. the reproduction of the description and registry entries in force relating to an immovable property (if demanded, the paper certificate can also be provided any other inscription regarding that property that have ceased its effects, having expired or having been cancelled);
b. a reference to the pending entries;
c. any eventual (not common) irregularity not yet corrected;
d. archived documents for which the register refers to, if requested (in the paper certificate).
LR registry «Permanent Certificate» (Online), in Portuguese «Certidão Permanente» – made available by the Order 1513/2008, is an online certificate that has its information continuously updated, during its term of validity. Therefore, all the new registries and all the new pending requests relating to that immovable property can be checked in the certificate. To access the permanent certificate you should enter www.predialonline.pt, fill in the request, pay the fee and the system will provide you an access code. This code allows the visualization of information through the Internet during the time period of the permanent certificate (6 moths). Although it appears as a pdf format, it is not a frozen image of the registry; it is continuously updated, as the pdf file is generated each time you access the information using the code.
2. The non-certified information can be delivered in paper, in pdf or online, through «Simplified land registry information».
Simplified land registry information (Online), in Portuguese «Informação Predial Simplificada», was created by the Order 54/2011. It is automatically obtained from the land registry information system. It shows the essential elements of the description of the immovable property, of the person entitled to theproperty’s rights, and indicates the existence of mortgages, attachments and any other encumbrances and burdens, as well as the pending registry requests.
The template of the information is the same of the certificate but it cannot be used for transaction purposes or as proof before court – article 105º nº 2 of the Land Registry Code – because it is not certified.
