QUESTION

I am negotiating the purchase of a property in a village. According to the vendor, the property is free of charges (mortgages, liens, etc). However in the abstract of title which I obtained from the Land Registry I can see that a lien has been registered in favour of the Social Security authorities for a similar amount to that requested by the vendor as the sale price. How can this be? What is the procedure for cancelling this type of registered charges?

ANSWER

Payments not made on time to the Social Security authorities in the voluntary period are dealt with via the enforced payments procedure.

Once this procedure has commenced, it may only be suspended by a resolution granting a deferral or by lodging an appeal and simultaneously presenting a guarantee for a sufficient amount to cover the debt.

If after the end of the period specified under the enforced payments procedure payment is still not made, a final demand and notice is served with an enforcement order against the registered assets owned by the debtor. The debtor is notified that if payment is not settled within the given time, his assets will be seized in the necessary amount to cover the principal amount of the debt, together with the penalty imposed, late-payment interest and if applicable the legal costs incurred during the enforcement procedure.

The corresponding collection department (Unidad de Recaudación Ejecutiva: URE) is then called on to proceed to register a lien on the assets owned by the debtor. This department can obtain information concerning assets owned by the debtor as recorded in public registers and other entities both private and public.

The collection department is then able to send the necessary information to the relevant Land Registry in order for a charge to be registered against the property.

This department will request the cancellation of the lien placed against the property when payment of the debt for all concepts indicated above has been settled in full by sending the corresponding request to the Land Registry.

Regards