I am not going to treat from a theoretical point of view, and I am afraid that for many people it is incomprehensible, the issue of the effects of registering a property in the Land Registry. I want to refer to a very specific case, which I imagine will already be before the courts, or will shortly have access, and of which we have been informed these days in my office.
The facts
In 1969 some gentlemen bought a flat in a town in the province of Lleida, made the corresponding deed, paid the taxes accrued for the transfer, and instead of taking the deed to be registered in the Property Registry, they kept it for themselves. in a drawer. These gentlemen enjoyed the house throughout their lives, they had possession of it, and nobody put the slightest obstacle to their use, and all this, because they were the true owners of the house. In addition, these gentlemen had the blessing of never having to go to the granting of a mortgage loan, because in such cases, the need to have had to register their property would have been revealed.
The gentlemen passed away and their children forgot once again to put the whole house in order, despite which they continued to enjoy it, but in the Property registry it was still in the name of those who were the sellers of their parents.
the exploited
Faced with this situation, a son of those sellers from 1969, probably a bit shamelessly, when observing that the farm that his parents had sold was still in their name, he had the brilliant idea, being their heir, to put his name that farm, all formally correct, for after a few months, sell the farm and keep money that did not correspond to him. He was lucky that the real owners of the house did not inhabit it at that time, despite which it was not empty. The current buyers of the house, neither short nor lazy, and most likely aware of all the fraudulent nature of the operation, changed the lock on the house and threw all its contents into a container.
What is done now?
The final buyers of the home, if they meet all the requirements of article 34 LH of the Mortgage Law, will be maintained in their acquisition. Personally, I doubt that they have them, since it is difficult for them to meet the requirement of good faith. On the other hand, the heirs of the real owners of the house are not totally helpless, since something belonging to them has been sold and a crime has probably been committed, but in any case they will be forced to initiate a judicial procedure aimed at the cancellation of the second sale and/or to be compensated for the damages that have been caused to them, which can entail considerable financial and personal costs.
How could all this have been avoided?
Well, very simple, having registered the deed of the year 1969 in the Property Registry. I say this, because when people go to the Notary, they often think that they are going to complete a cumbersome, expensive and useless procedure. Well, with the double deed of registration, security is purchased. Is this performance expensive? Well, it depends, but if we compare it with the costs that will have to be assumed for not having registered, they are absolutely insignificant.
