Cadastral value is the base for IBI and other local taxes. When the Catastro revises it, your bill can rise even if you did nothing: it is worth knowing whether your property is included and what you can do.
Cadastral value is an administrative value, not a market price. It comes from the municipality's valuation study (ponencia de valores), based on location, size, use and construction quality. It excludes furniture and the state of repair.
It is updated through general revisions, which in Spain usually come every few years, and through specific changes when the property changes (an extension, a split, a change of use).
The official source is the Catastro's electronic office: with the cadastral reference and your DNI/NIE you can see the current value and the date of the last revision. It also appears on the IBI bill and the Land Registry extract.
If the Catastro has approved a new valuation study, it is usually published in the provincial gazette and notified to owners. The revision does not change the sale price, but it does change the IBI base, municipal capital gains and some tax calculations.
IBI is the council tax rate applied to the cadastral value. Municipal capital gains tax (IIVTNU) uses the cadastral land value. For personal income tax, the cadastral value can be a reference in certain cases, and for rentals it is used to impute income on properties that are not let.
For a landlord, an upward revision raises IBI and can reduce net yield. For a buyer, a cadastral value far from market price does not invalidate the purchase, but it is worth checking before signing.
The cadastral valuation can be appealed through an administrative-economic claim. Deadlines are short and depend on the notified act; in practice it is one month from notification or publication.
Before appealing, get a copy of the cadastral record and compare size, use and specification. Many appeals succeed because of measurement errors or elements that do not exist. If the error is in the property record, it can be corrected through a correction procedure.
Ask for the cadastral reference, check that the area matches the deed and look for discrepancies between Catastro and the Land Registry. In older buildings the registered and cadastral areas often differ.
If you buy to rent, calculate IBI on the current value, not the one in the listing. And if the seller mentions a pending revision, ask for the official document: the effective date changes the number.
We review the cadastral record, the deed and the IBI bill before you sign.
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