The Importance of Canceling Your Mortgage at the Property Registry

Paying a mortgage, religiously facing each monthly payment, can be a titanic task, requiring constancy, patience and adequate financial planning. But when you finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and the time comes to finish it, there is one last step that is far from trivial: cancel your mortgage at the Property Registry.

It is important to keep this in mind, because it is possible that you think that paying your mortgage is enough to pay off the debt. but it is certainly not like that. It is not an automatic process, so to speak.

What is the Property Registry and why is it important to cancel it?

If you have a mortgage, the natural thing is that at the beginning of it you were forced to sign the Property Registry. The problem is that, after all the time it usually takes to finish the commitment, it is quite common for you to forget having done it, and therefore end it.

What exactly is the Property Registry? Well basically, This is the document that you must sign before a notary and that, to understand us, attests that you have a debt in the form of a mortgage to pay. Once you have finished paying it, you need to delete it so as not to suffer any inconvenience later.

What is the problem if you do not cancel the Property Registry after having paid your mortgage? On the one hand, You run the risk that if you want to sell the house in the future, you will not be able to do so. Or that if you want to access a new mortgage, it will not be granted to you. The explanation is very simple: for legal purposes, it still appears that you have a debt.

In the same way, it must be made clear that when you still have a mortgage and for whatever reason you want to sell your house, you must not only manage the operation with the bank, but also carry out the corresponding cancellation in the Property Registry.

How can you cancel your mortgage at the Property Registry?

Canceling your mortgage at the Property Registry is not a particularly difficult task, but it is It requires paperwork and a series of procedures.

For that reason, the most common thing is that you leave it in the hands of a professional, an agency that is in charge of the task or the bank itself. In any case, to do so you must carry out the following steps:

• First, talk to the bank so that grant you a zero debt certificate.
• Next, you have to go to the notary to request a public deed of cancellation.
• Likewise, it is also required pay the Tax on Documented Legal Acts at the Tax Agency (AEAT).
• When you have carried out all these actions, Go with the documents you have obtained to the Property Registry and present them.

You should also keep in mind that, although you can do it yourself, or through an agent, there is a possibility that the bank will cancel your mortgage at the Property Registry. Either by carrying out the entire operation themselves, or only partially, in the end being you who present all the necessary paperwork.

In any case, the cancellation of a mortgage registry is not mandatory, according to the Bank of Spain, but it is recommended. Having a home free of charges can greatly speed up a future operation, both when applying for a new mortgage and when selling the house. In addition to providing you with a better sales price.