In Spain, like in many countries, the documents for buying or selling a house, a last will or power of attorney are always signed at the notary. In Spain there are about 3000 public notary´s working all over Spain, many notary offices in the large cities but even in the smaller town you can find a notary ready to assist you. Find out more on the Spanish notary association website.

The notary is a independent public official designated by the state of Spain to assist citizens with legal matters. The notary works in a competitive way with other notary´s to favour the quality and in-dependency. The notary checks if all delivered documents are authentic and correct, that the whole process goes according to the Spanish law, protecting all parties including the state.

The official document signed at the notary is called an Escritura, a title deed. The notary keeps the title deed in his files, after signing the deeds you will receive a certified copy on notarial paper stamped and signed by the notary. When needed you can always get a simple copy or even a certified copy from the notary later.

Most foreigners will know the Spanish notary from buying a property and signing a power of attorney, last will or the title deeds for purchase. Important things to know when going to the notary; you can only sign when presenting original documents like, original passport or ID-card, original NIE number/Residency certificate, the other important thing is that you need to understand Spanish or to go accompanied by somebody that translates for you, your lawyer for example.