Can You Sell Inherited Property in Spain Before Registering the Inheritance? 2016 DGRN Ruling

Legal review: Gabriel Padilla Franco, ICAE membership no. 1265 · 4 October 2026

Can an heir sell a Spanish home before the inheritance is recorded in the Land Registry? The absence of prior registration does not necessarily prevent signing a sale deed. But a signed deed and a registrable transfer are not the same thing. The key questions are the chain of title (*tracto sucesivo*), taxes and whether the relevant registry presentation entries remain valid.

The [DGRN resolution of 17 October 2016, BOE-A-2016-10395](https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2016-10395) addressed a particularly difficult sequence: a court application to annotate a claim challenging the will was presented between the sale and the renewed presentation of the inheritance deed. This is a registrar appeals ruling, not a Supreme Court judgment or a blanket assurance that disputed inherited homes can be sold safely.

Short answer: yes, subject to checks

An heir may sign an inheritance and distribution deed followed by a sale without waiting for the former to be registered. To register the buyer’s acquisition, however, the Land Registry must be able to trace title from the deceased registered owner through the heir to the buyer (Article 20 of the Mortgage Act). Article 105 of the Mortgage Regulations allows missing prior registration of the seller’s acquisition to be treated as a remediable defect where the seller is the registered owner’s successor. It does not waive proof of inheritance, taxes or the need to check litigation and competing rights.

What happened in the Fuengirola case?

1. On 5 October 2015, an heir signed deeds distributing two inherited properties and then selling them. Both deeds were presented on 6 October.
2. The original presentation entry for the inheritance deed lapsed after defects, including tax-related requirements, went unresolved. The sale deed had its own presentation entry, which remained in force and was extended.
3. After the sale was presented, a court order seeking a preventive annotation of a claim to invalidate the will was presented.
4. The corrected inheritance deed was presented again. The registrar refused to register the sale, reasoning that the intervening claim prevented repair of the missing chain of title.
5. The DGRN upheld the appeal and reversed that refusal: the later inheritance deed could repair the sale’s defect and benefit from the priority of the earlier, still-valid sale entry under Article 105.

Importantly, the old inheritance entry had expired and had no continuing priority. Priority derived from the valid sale entry, not from resurrecting the expired inheritance entry. The ruling expressly reserved separate examination of the inheritance deed and any claims against the buyer. It did not determine whether the will was valid.

How can a later inheritance deed protect an earlier sale?

Usually a sale cannot be registered if the seller is not yet the registered owner. If the deed identifies the seller as an heir of that owner, however, the missing link can be suspended and remedied by presenting the inheritance title. In the specific circumstances of this ruling, the later deed necessary to repair the sale could share the earlier sale entry’s priority even against a contradictory instrument presented between them — provided the sale entry was still effective and the statutory conditions were met. The ruling also notes that a preventive annotation for a remediable defect can extend protection but was not essential where the repair was lodged while the sale entry remained effective.

This is about registry ranking, not a final judgment on the inheritance or on the buyer’s good-faith protection. A contested will may still generate litigation. The DGRN expressly declined to prejudge whether the purchaser qualified as a protected third party under the Mortgage Act.

Due diligence for inherited property on the Costa Blanca