Previous LR Information

1. In your system, before granting a deed for sale or mortgage, is it compulsory, necessary or convenient to get information from the Land Registry?

For mortgages or sales of properties, to get information from the Land Registry isn’t compulsory at all, but generally it is considered convenient for interest of parties.

2. What type of information is requested?

This LR information consist of the registered relevant circumstances about the status of the property as for ownership and encumbrances, in order to ascertain if this status coincides with the deeds or situation as the seller or mortgagor has told.

The main features of this information are further explained in Formal Publicity fact sheet.

Basically LR information will is comprised of description of property to sell, who is its owner, also his/her matrimonial regime if applicable (significant fact to bear in mind as for the authority of disposal on the property) and its mortgages, fiscal burdens or other encumbrances or judiciary charges if they existed, as well as pending documents if applicable. To sum up, that information which is relevant for a transaction.

3. Who usually (or legally) deals with requesting this LR information? Public notaries? Solicitors? Interested parties themselves? Banks?

In case of deeds about sales or mortgages usually Public Notaries deal with collecting LR information in relation with the Land Registries by means a specific procedure. Nevertheless, nothing prevents parties from dealing personally with getting LR information.

In matters of judiciary charges, Court Representatives or Attorneys do, on their own initiative or by means of a writ or judiciary order as the case.

In the case of Public Notaries one can expect that they explain to mortgagees and mortgagors or sellers and buyers the legal situation that results from the LR information.

Anyway, application for LR information doesn’t involve a reservation of priority for the contract in motion.

However, if other Public Notary (different from that who has requested LR information) applied for information relating to the same property, the Land Registry would communicate this circumstance to the first Public Notary. Obviously, it’s an attempt to avoid double sales and fraud.