How is the extension of a rustic farm determined?
One of the main problems that rustic finca owners face is determining exactly how far their property extends. In many cases, the documentation in their possession is very old, incomplete, or there are discrepancies between the Registry and the Cadastre, which prevents the extension of the property from being correctly delimited. This creates a real problem when you want to sell, install a fence or enclosure, or simply, conflicts between neighbors, etc.
The boundaries can be physical (stones, fences, walls), or imaginary. In the event that the line that determines the limit of the farm is imaginary, that is when more conflicts of this type are generated.
Law 13/2015, of June 24, Reform of the Mortgage and Cadastre Law, seeks to promote coordination between the Cadastre and the Property Registry. This rule reflects the need to determine as accurately as possible the extension of the property on which to project its effects, both from the economic point of view, and to achieve greater legal certainty.
Law 13/2015 establishes the obligation to coordinate all newly created farms. For this, the cartographic information in the cadastre must be used and, if not, a topographic report must be made to determine the new boundaries.
The power of demarcation of the owners is provided for in article 384 of the Civil Code, and those who have real rights to the land in question are also entitled to initiate the procedure.
There are two ways to perform a boundary action:
- Firstly, by means of an agreement between the affected owners.
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- If the properties are not registered in the Property Registry, a voluntary jurisdiction procedure must be used, which is regulated in articles 104 and 107 of Jurisdiction Law 15/2015 Volunteer.
- If the properties are registered in the Property Registry, a Notarial procedure must be followed.
- In the event that the owners are not able to reach an amicable agreement for the delimitation of the land, it is necessary to resort to judicial proceedings in the exercise of a demarcation action.
The judicial demarcation will be made in accordance with the titles of each owner and, in the absence of sufficient titles, by what results from the possession in which the adjoining ones are located. In the event that the titles do not determine the limit that belongs to each owner, and the issue cannot be resolved by possession or other evidence, the demarcation will be made by distributing the disputed land in equal parts.
The process to determine the extension of a rustic farm consists of two phases: first, the demarcation, and then the demarcation.
In order to determine the boundary between two farms, the following requirements must be met:
- The farms must be adjacent, they must be together and there is no separation between them.
- There must be confusion between the limits of each of the adjoining farms.
Once the property limits have been determined by the competent judge, the demarcation must be carried out, which consists of determining the boundaries with markers.
As established by the Provincial Court of the Balearic Islands, Section 5 in the Judgment of May 26, 2014, “since it is a power inherent to the subjective right in which it is integrated, the Demarcation action is imprescriptible”. In this way, the owner who is not clear about the limits of his property, can initiate a demarcation action, even if years have passed.
It should be noted that the demarcation action only has the purpose of determining the exact limits of a property, not the recovery of property or possession.
Any questions you have, contact us, we will offer you the advice you need in this type of situation.
It may interest you: “Department specialized in Agrarian Law ”
