How can you prove that a property is yours without the title deeds?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

The deed is not what makes you the owner, but the safest way of proving it. Without one, you can prove it with another title, such as a private purchase contract or the inheritance from the person who had it. It will help to show that you have been in possession of it as owner for years, although being recorded in the Cadastre (“Catastro”) or paying the IBI, the local property tax, does not by itself prove ownership. If you have no title at all, in Catalonia you may have acquired it by acquisitive prescription (“usucapión”), which means becoming the owner by having possessed it as owner for twenty years, openly, without violence and without interruption. To register it in your name at the “Registro de la Propiedad”, the Land Registry, you will then need a deed, proceedings before a notary or a judgment. You can be the owner without a deed In Catalonia you become the owner through a title, such as a sale followed by delivery of the asset or an inheritance, or through acquisitive prescription. A public deed proves the title against everyone and allows it to be registered at the Land Registry, but it is not what makes you the owner. A sale in a private document, followed by delivery of the property, may be enough. The exception is a gift, because the “Código Civil de Cataluña”, the Catalan Civil Code, only accepts as valid a gift of property made by public deed. If your parents gave you a house without a deed, there is no gift. If they are alive, they can make the gift now before a notary. If not, you will have to rely on the inheritance or on acquisitive prescription. How it is proved Whoever claims to be the owner has to prove it. It will be harder for you if the property is registered in someone else's name, because the law presumes that it belongs to the person recorded in the Land Registry. The following are especially useful: A title, even if it is not a deed. For example, the private purchase contract, the will or the declaration of heirs (on intestacy) of the person who had it, the division of the estate or a judgment. Against third parties, the date of a private document is difficult to prove. Possession as owner. The Catalan code presumes that whoever possesses an asset as owner is the owner, unless the asset is registered at the Land Registry. Evidence of that possession and of how long it has lasted, such as IBI and utility bills in your name, the building permits you applied for, old aerial photographs, a notarial record (“acta notarial”) or the neighbours' testimony. The Cadastre does not prove ownership. It is a government register designed for tax purposes. The fact that you are recorded in it as the holder or pay the IBI is an indication that you possess the property, but it is not a title. Missing title and how to register When the title has been lost or never existed, the usual way out is acquisitive prescription, which in Catalonia requires neither title nor good faith. You can add the time during which the property was possessed by those who transferred it to you, such as your parents. In most of the rest of Spain the Spanish Civil Code (“Código civil”) applies, with different periods depending on whether or not there is title and good faith. To register the property in your name, the route depends on your situation: If you bought it from the person recorded in the Land Registry, or from their heirs, the simplest course is for them to sign the deed for you. If they refuse, you can sue them so that the judge orders them to do so. If the property has never been registered, it has to undergo first registration (“inmatriculación”), that is, have its first entry opened in the Land Registry. If it is registered in someone else's name, for example a former owner from decades ago, the chain of owners has to be restored through proceedings before a notary, in which the registered owner or their heirs are summoned. If any of them fails to appear or objects, the notary closes the proceedings and the remaining option is to go to court. If you can only rely on acquisitive prescription, the safe course is a judgment declaring it. Before suing, you must, in general, attempt to reach an agreement, for example with a written proposal or mediation. Do not put it off, because while the property remains in someone else's name, that person or their heirs could sell or mortgage it to someone who relies on the Land Registry.