The Directorate General for Legal Certainty and Public Faith has ruled on an appeal against a registrar's refusal to register the sale of social housing (VPO). The resolution establishes that if the transaction is effectively a deed in lieu of payment to discharge mortgages, authorisation from the relevant Department is not required for registration (Art. 13.3 Law 13/2005). The actual intention of the contracting parties is prioritised over the literal wording of the title to determine the nature of the legal transaction.
For financial institutions and asset management companies (SGA), the ruling facilitates the registration of social housing properties obtained through deeds in lieu of payment by exempting them from prior notification or authorisation from the Junta de Andalucía in these specific cases. For purchasers in such transactions, legal uncertainty regarding the validity of the transfer is reduced. Registrars must interpret the intention of the parties (Art. 1281 and 1285 of the Civil Code) rather than being limited to the literal form of the document.
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