Escritura pública

Notarial document that records an act or contract — in a property sale, the definitive agreement between seller and buyer — and gives it public faith: the notary verifies the identity and capacity of the parties, the ownership, the charges and the payments. A sale in a private contract is valid between the parties, but only the public deed allows the purchase to be registered at the Land Registry, protected against third parties and mortgaged; that is why every financed purchase goes through a notary. The buyer has the right to choose the notary. Costs are split by law (the original deed to the seller, the first copy to the buyer), although it is common to agree that the buyer bears them all.