ULI & LISAMallorca Property Glossary All chapters uli-lisa.com →
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★ Overview1 · From Offer to Deed — The Buying Process & Contracts on Mallorca2 · Notary, Land Registry & Cadastre — the three registers your purchase rests on3 · Money Transfers, Banking & Legal Due Diligence When Buying on Mallorca4 · What the Tax Office Takes When You Buy5 · The Annual Running Costs of a Mallorca Property6 · What to Expect When You Resell — Taxes on Disposal7 · Wealth Tax & Solidarity Tax on Mallorca8 · Inheritance & Gifting on Mallorca: the Balearic Foral Law9 · Building Legality, the cédula & Retroactive Legalisation10 · Building on Mallorca: Land, Permits & New-Build Protection11 · ETV — Tourist Rental on Mallorca12 · Where People Buy on Mallorca — Thinking Municipality by Municipality13 · Tenanted Properties, Tenancy Law & the Okupas Risk14 · Your Passport Shapes the Deal: Military Permit, Visas & the Tax Chain15 · Financing & Mortgages in Mallorca16 · Estate Agents & Property Values When Buying17 · Property Types & Forms of Ownership — what the listing and the land register really tell you18 · Buying Through a Company or in Your Own Name? Legal Structures Explained19 · From Purchase to Centre of Life: NIE/TIE, Residency & Health Cover20 · Mobility & Authorities: Car, ITV, Driving Licence, Appointments21 · Buyer Pitfalls on Mallorca — and How to Avoid Them22 · The Authorities Map & Spanish Abbreviations at a Glance23 · Register of Court Rulings: the case law behind the chapters24 · Where Our Information Comes From — and How Reliable It Is25 · Building & Renovating in Mallorca — What Buyers Need to Know About Costs, Trades and the Law26 · Utilities on Mallorca: Electricity, Water, Gas & Solar27 · Agroturismo, Turismo Rural & Tourist Accommodation in the Countryside28 · Insurance Cover for Your Mallorca Property29 · What the Listing Really Says — Property-Ad & Viewing Vocabulary (ES/CAT → EN)30 · Living Here, Not Just Buying Here: Children, Pets and the Rhythm of Island Life31 · Selling Smart: What the ganancia patrimonial (Capital Gains Tax) Really Costs You32 · Boat Moorings on Mallorca (Amarre): What You Actually Buy — and What You Don't33 · Releasing Equity From Your Mallorca Home in Later Life34 · Separation & Divorce — Who Keeps the Mallorca Property35 · The Owners' Association in Mallorca: A Practical Guide to the Comunidad de Propietarios36 · The ULI & LISA Roadmap: From Search Profile to Handover of the Keys
Glossary › Chapter 17

17 · Property Types & Forms of Ownership — what the listing and the land register really tell you

*Whether it's an ático or a possessió, full ownership or the distinctly Mallorcan alou: on Mallorca you'll meet terms that sound harmless in a brochure but, in the land register, decide the value, the permitted use and the risk of your purchase. This chapter sorts them out from the buyer's point of view.*

The property types you'll encounter#

The type of a property already tells you a great deal about what is legally possible — and what isn't.

  • finca is the umbrella term for any landed property. The crucial distinction is between

finca rústica (rural land, with only limited building rights) and finca urbana (urban land). For you as a buyer this is one of the most important points of all: what you may build or extend on a rústica is restricted.

  • The finca registral is the unit as recorded in the land register. It need not match the

cadastral parcels exactly — a source of possible discrepancies.

  • In the residential segment you'll see casa de pueblo (village house), chalet,

villa, adosado (terraced house) and pareado (semi-detached house).

  • Among apartments, distinctions are drawn between ático (penthouse), dúplex,

estudio, apartamento/piso (flat), and planta baja/bajo con jardín (ground-floor unit, with garden).

  • In the upper rural segment, the possessió / finca señorial denotes a large Mallorcan

country estate, and the casa payesa a traditional farmhouse. Both are frequently heritage-listed (under monument protection) — a factor you should factor into any renovation or conversion idea from the very outset.

  • solar / parcela denote a building plot, with the solar referring specifically to a

build-ready urban parcel.

Forms of ownership — who owns what, and how securely#

Behind the word "ownership," Mallorca conceals a whole spectrum. Anyone who doesn't look closely here may, in case of doubt, be buying fewer rights than they think.

  • pleno dominio is full ownership, and is made up of nuda propiedad (bare ownership) +

usufructo (usufruct, the right to use and enjoy).

  • With nuda propiedad & usufructo (usufruct), a separate sale is common practice: the

nuda propiedad is sold subject to a reserved lifelong usufruct. This brings a price discount, but you only gain the use of the property once the usufruct expires. The Hacienda (Spanish tax authority) calculates the usufruct value using the formula 89 − age (in %). For you that means: a cheaper way in, but possibly years without any access of your own to the property.

  • proindiviso / copropiedad stands for co-ownership in undivided shares. The **`extinción de

condominio` (dissolution of this co-ownership) usually triggers only AJD ~1 %** (stamp duty) rather than ITP — a noticeable tax advantage that can become relevant when structuring a joint purchase.

  • multipropiedad / aprovechamiento por turno (timeshare, Ley 4/2012) is not genuine

ownership. The term "multipropiedad" is in fact prohibited by law. If something like this is being sold to you as "ownership," that is a clear warning sign.

  • VPO/VPP are social/subsidised housing units carrying price and disposal restrictions that

apply throughout the entire protection period.

  • servidumbre is an easement; the servidumbre de paso (right of way) is a central issue,

especially with fincas — without a secured right of way, a dream location can quickly become a problem.

  • derecho de tanteo y retracto is a right of first refusal that may belong to tenants,

neighbours or public authorities.

A Balearic peculiarity: censo / alou / lluïsme ✅#

In the Balearic Islands there exist historic forms of divided ownership (a kind of long lease / emphyteusis) that you won't find in this form on the mainland. With the alou/alodio, every transfer for value of the use-ownership triggers a laudemio (Cat. lluïsme) (a transfer levy). ✅ Following the reform, the rate stands at 0.5 % (Ley 7/2017, Compilación Art. 56; previously 1 %). This charge can be redeemed (redención). In practice this means: always check the land register before you buy.

Areas & the land register — where the figures diverge#

With square metres in particular, close scrutiny pays off, because several area figures exist side by side and rarely match exactly.

  • superficie útil (usable floor area) sits opposite the construida (built area, roughly

útil × 0.80–0.85), alongside the registral (registered area) and the catastral (cadastral area). 🟡 Discrepancies between these figures are common — reconcile them before you buy, or you may end up paying for floor area that doesn't actually exist.

  • The referencia catastral (cadastral reference) is 20 digits long. The **`coeficiente de

participación denotes the co-ownership share, while deslinde/linde/colindante`** refer to boundary and neighbour.

  • declaración de obra nueva (declaration of new construction) and división horizontal

(horizontal division into separate units) describe the legal recording and division into land register units.

Sources (selection)#

  • Compilación DLeg 79/1990, Art. 56 (alou), Ley 7/2017 · Ley 4/2012 (timeshare)
  • Código Civil (servidumbre, tanteo/retracto) · Ley 13/2015 (Registro/Catastro)
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