Are Spanish registry offices to be privatized and run by property registries?

SPAIN There is a persistent rumour that the country's registry offices (Registro Civil) are to be privatised in the near future (but see the very bottom of this article). One of the more sensible forums we look at occasionally (we try hard to stay away from them: they are mostly a source of dangerous misinformation), published an item that our colleagues over at TioJimeno picked up. It makes interesting reading of the consequences of privatizing what has been a free public service since 1870. We have made some amendments to the original text in the interest of clarity, though we cannot vouch for the veracity of any of the information contained therein, before or after our intervention (just covering our backs here, people).>>>

Property Registries fraud

SPAIN The College of Property Registrars has issued a warning of an Internet fraud using the name and image of the college. In the 'Subject' box appears 'Registro de la Propiedad' and -the giveaway- a sender address (registradores@reg.org). The email tells the receiver that it is imperative that they register their property, giving a false data base address and referring to a false new law. The College says that this e-mail is not, nor has anything similar even been issued by them and is best eliminated by the Spam or Delete button, but on NO ACCOUNT CLICK ON ANY LINKS. These ask for personal and banking details, and we know what can be done with these. If your Spanish is not up to much, please contact someone who understands enough to help.

Notaries charge up to six times the legal fee for cancelling a mortgage

SPAIN According to OCU (Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios), the consumers organization, Spanish consumers overpaid €93 million to notaries and property registrars in 2010, for the last bureacratic hurdle in cancelling a mortgage: its cancellation. 92% of bills examined by the organization showed some irregularity. As an average, notaries charged up to six times the fees established by new regulations that came into effect in 2007, which at the time was supposed to see a considerable decrease in the costs of cancelling a mortgage. In the case of property registrars, excesses in billing was over ten times the official tariffs. Extrapolating the data in OCU's report, the 372,042 mortgage cancellations that took place in 2010, it would seem that notaries and property registrars overcharged their clients by up to €93 million in a single year. According to OCU, since the changes in 2007, notaries should be charging only>>>