Can you cancel your mortgage yourself once is fully paid?

Canceling a mortgage at the Land Registry when the debt has been fully paid may sound like a complicated legal issue to sort out but it is not. There are four simple steps to proceed:

Bank:

The bank should issue a certificate of no debt at no cost. That is the proof that the existing mortgage on the property has been fully paid. 

Notary:

The notary will prepare a cancellation of mortgage deed based on the mortgage deed signed when the mortgage was constituted and the certificate of no debt issued by the bank. An official from the bank with sufficient powers of attorney will go to the notary and sign, in the name of the bank, the cancellation mortgage.

Tax Office (Oficina Liquidadora):

The taxes (Actos Juridicos Documentados—AJD), although the cancellation of a mortgage is not subject to, are to be liquidated. That is done at the Tax Office (Oficina Liquidadora) where a form 600 has to be filled in with the appropriated information taken from the cancellation of mortgage deed, presented and stamped reflecting zero tax.

Land Registry:

Once all that documentation is in place, it has to be presented at the Land Registry for the cancellation of the mortgage. In some days, a notification will be issued by the Land Registry informing that the mortgage has been cancelled. That can be checked at the Nota Simple of the property where the mortgage should have disappeared.

** As an exceptional case, an old mortgage can be cancelled directly at the Land Registry, and therefore avoiding the bank and notary steps, when the period between the date of the last payment on the mortgage deed and the day of the cancellation of the mortgage is more than twenty years.

Since each particular case is different, it is fully recommended that you check your own details with your lawyer.