Due to corona measures, travelling to Spain at short notice is not obvious. But what if you urgently need to appear in person before a Spanish notary? Not an obvious option in these strange times. Therefore, this article discusses two alternatives.
1. A notarised power of attorney
Signing by notarised power of attorney is the classic method. With this, you give power of attorney to your representative, for example your counselor or family member, to sign a notarised deed in your name and on your behalf.
This power of attorney is therefore compulsorily notarised. This means that you must appear before a notary public to draw up a valid power of attorney.
Read more about the benefits of a notarised power of attorney.
2. A presumption of power of attorney
The second option is a presumption of power of attorney ("Mandato Verbal"). This allows your counsel to sign an authentic deed for you without a notarised power of attorney. You must then ratify the signed deed afterwards. You can do this through a notarised power of attorney or by signing a deed of ratification in person at a Spanish notary.
An example. Suppose you need to travel to Spain soon to sign the deed of sale in person. Due to circumstances, the trip turns out not to be possible. There is also no time left to have a notarised power of attorney drawn up. After all, this usually takes two weeks.
In this scenario, you can appoint your counsel to sign the deed through a mandato verbal. Afterwards, you can then ratify the sale. To ratify, you also have two options. Either by having a notarised power of attorney drawn up. Or by appearing in person before a Spanish notary. The deed of ratification costs around 150 euros.
Your property titles will only be registered in the Registration office after the deed of ratification. But note that you have to pay the purchase price in full at the time of the deed of sale.
Do you have questions about buying in Spain? Here are 5 tips on what to look out for when buying a property in Spain.
