The padrón is a record of your residing at a given address. It allows you to vote in municipal elections and forms part of your town’s census. It differs slightly to the electoral roll in Great Britain insofar as you do not need to complete a census form every few years. You are not automatically registered to vote because you have a padrón but you must have it in order to register to vote.
Why should I register?
A town cannot allocate adequate services and facilities if it does not know how many people live there. The number of inhabitants affects the local council’s budget for providing health centres and their staff, police officers, firefighters, post offices and their employees, schools and number of teachers, and so on. For each inhabitant, the central government gives 193 euros a year to the town council to allow it to provide these services, improve on exisiting ones, and generally enhance quality of life of the townspeople.
This means that in a small municipality like Bédar, where 900 people are registered on the padrón and 200 are not, local people are losing out on a whopping 38,600 euros a year which could be spent on improving local services.
What's in it for me?
Proof of residence means reduced inheritance tax, and if you are aged 65 or more, you get a free municipal bus pass. Once you are empadronado, you will be on the register until you move house and advise the town hall accordingly. However, a number of transactions you will probably need to carry out require a copy of the certificate you are given when you first register, and these certificates are only valid for three months. It is only necessary to have an up-to-date certificate in your hand if you need it to show someone when you are dealing with such transactions. To get one, just pop along to your town hall and ask for another copy, which they will usually print off in seconds. It currently costs €3 in Bédar.
When would I need to show a copy?
There are several occasions when you have to show a certificate of Empadronado
- If you register with a doctor, you will need to provide your certificate of empadronamiento along with your social security number.
- Anything to do with your car – buying one, particularly if a loan is involved; re-registering your vehicle to put Spanish number-plates on, or changing the documents into your name – or your driving licence, such as changing it for a Spanish one or renewing it if ou already have a Spanish licence.
- You will need the certificate if you intend to take out a loan secured against your home, and may need one of your current address if you are buying a new property, particularly with a mortgage.
- In summary, you will probably need to take a copy of the certificate along anywhere that you might need to provide proof of your address.
Go along to BédarTown Hall. Take your passport and original NIE number, or a residence card if you have one; a copy of your escritura (deed to your house) or rental contract, and your last utility bill, eg. for water, electricity or IBI. In Bédar it currently free to register and costs €3 to get a new 3 month certificate.
The information you give when you register is confidential and strictly protected by law. If you are a permanent resident in Spain (ie you have decided to stay here for more than six months, or live here for a total of 183 days or more per year) you must declare the fact by registering on the padrón.
No comments:
Post a Comment