THE NOTARY PUBLIC

WHAT DOES THE NOTARY PUBLIC DO?

Notary Public is a professional who performs a triple function: 

• He/she advises the most convenient legal means to achieve the lawful objectives to be obtained.
• He/she establishes the nature of the document required, and redacts it according to instructions from client. These documents become public once they have been authorised.
• He/she witness people who sign the document are those effectevely written personal details of in the document.

WHICH ARE THE MOST FREQUENT DOCUMENTS?

Notary Public can draw up all kinds of documents. The most frequent ones are:

• Civil contracts
• Acts related to Family Law
• Acts of succession
• Commercial contracts
• Powers of Attorney
• Affidavits, in which he/she checks the reliability of the facts he/she sees, hears or comprehends. Those facts may be anything from a poll, to checking humidity or possible damage in a flat, to notice or duly attested summons to a third party to take whatever actions are required.

FOR WHAT CAN THE WORK OF THE NOTARY PUBLIC BE USED?

The intervention of the Notary Public fundamentally confers a reliability derived from: 

• A wide judicial education as well as practical experience which guarantee that all the contracts drawn up by him/her are in accordance with the law and protected from suits or debate.
• The so-called fe pública (notarisation) that assures that the date and the facts collected by the Notary Public in the documents have the right consideration, privileged evidence in suits that may arise.
• The executive strength of the notarial documents that ranks them equally with the judicial judgements when demanding payment of the amount of money included in the documents.
• The demand to record in the Property or Mercantile Register –with the security it concedes– that all the documents must be redacted by the Notary Public.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

The Notary Public’s charges are in accordance with the fee fixed by the State, which is the same for every Notary Public in Spain. That fee distinguishes: 

• Those documents with no fees: among others, wills, records, or powers of attorney, for which fixed amount is charged. This depends on the extension of the document, but is quite moderate.
• Those documents with fees: sales, companies, or legacies, for which he also charges an amount regressively proportional to the value of the object which is referred to in the legal document.

FOR WHAT CAN YOU ASK THE NOTARY PUBLIC?

The Notary Public is entirely at your service and will be pleased to help you.

Firstly, you may even ask the Notary Public for advice. You must never sign any document without fully understanding all its articles, nor its effects, nor in ignorance of other possible means to achieve the desired goal. The Notary Public offers you advise for free because, except for special occasions, it is included in the fee.

Secondly, you may ask the Notary Public for help to find information from the Property Register on the property you are to buy, or if it has a mortgage or any other encumbrances. You may also ask for advise in complying with all the requirements previous to signing the deed, such as authorizations, or establishments in the case of foreign investments, titles to succession, certificates from the Register for last will, or companies, etc.

The Notary Public will also help you with all the necessary procedures after the signing of the documents, such as payment of taxes, registration in the corresponding Registers and all the obligatory communications that have to be carried out as a consequence of the document itself. 

WHO DECIDES?

You have the right to decide which Notary Public to go to.

If there are several people in consultation with the Notary Public, he/she will have the right to decide who has to pay the fees, except in the case of a contrary deal.

Finally, you must also bear in mind that even when the other party has chosen the Notary Public, the Notary Public himself has to be impartial and must advise both parties, not only the party who has appointed him.

IN SUMMARY it is important that you understand that Notary Public work, and Solicitors work are totally complementary each other. There are certain checks that Notary Public will not do, and that your Solicitor will do (i.e. visiting the house, and ensuring that it is not affected by any illegal alterations, checking Company House are up-dated with accountancy information from the Company in process to purchase, ..)

Our Firm will assist you through the process to get all documents settled through the Notary Public when needed in order to guarantee its registration.