What this letter is
The Catastro (Land Registry) keeps two different values for each property. The valor catastral (cadastral value) is mainly used for the IBI (property tax), and you are notified of it when your municipality goes through a valoración colectiva (collective revaluation). The valor de referencia (reference value) is calculated by the Catastro every year from actual sale prices in the area, and Hacienda uses it as a minimum base for the Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales (property transfer tax) and for Sucesiones y Donaciones (inheritance and gift tax). A Catastro letter is usually about the cadastral value; the reference value is published on the portal for everyone.
How to read it: the key parts
| What you see in the letter | What it means |
|---|---|
| Gerencia del Catastro (Catastro regional office) | The territorial office signing the notification |
| Titular catastral (registered owner) | The person listed as owner |
| Referencia catastral (cadastral reference) | The 20-character code identifying the property |
| Valor catastral (suelo / construcción) (cadastral value: land / building) | The new value and how it is split |
| Ponencia de valores (valuation report) | The rules from which your area’s calculation comes |
| Superficie, uso, año de construcción (floor area, use, year built) | The property data used: check them carefully |
| Fecha de efectos (effective date) | Usually 1 January of the following year |
| Clave concertada / pie de recursos (access code / appeals footer) | Code to view the notification on the portal and which appeal applies |
What deadline you have
Against a notified valor catastral you have one month from the day after notification, date to date. You can choose between a recurso de reposición (administrative appeal) to the Catastro or a reclamación económico-administrativa (tax tribunal claim). If you weren’t home when they tried to deliver it, the Catastro publishes a notice in the BOE (Official State Gazette) and you have ten days to appear; if you don’t, the notification is deemed made.
The valor de referencia is not appealed separately. You challenge it when requesting the rectificación de tu autoliquidación (correction of your self-assessment) for property transfer or inheritance tax (generally, within four years) or when appealing an assessment Hacienda issues to you.
What you can do
| Option | When it makes sense | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Do nothing | The data is correct | The new value applies from the next 1 January |
| Recurso de reposición to the Catastro | Floor area, use or age recorded wrongly | The Catastro reviews and confirms or corrects the value |
| Reclamación económico-administrativa | You disagree with how the valuation is done | Decided by a tax tribunal |
| Correct the self-assessment (reference value) | You paid transfer or inheritance tax on a value above the real one | Hacienda asks the Catastro for a binding report and decides |
| Cadastral declaration or correction | You did works, divisions or changes the Catastro doesn’t know about | The property description is updated |
What happens if you do nothing
After the month, the cadastral value becomes final and will be the base for the IBI in coming years, and for other taxes that use it, such as the plusvalía municipal (municipal capital gains tax). Appealing the IBI bill later doesn’t let you dispute the value: the town hall only applies what the Catastro sets. For the reference value, if you don’t request a correction, you pay the tax on that value even if your price was lower.
Common mistakes
- Appealing the cadastral value to the town hall: it is appealed to the Catastro.
- Not checking the floor area or use: these are the easiest errors to prove.
- Confusing the reference value with market price: it is not a valuation of your specific home.
- Thinking the reference value is appealed when published: for an individual, the route is the self-assessment or the assessment.
- Ignoring the letter because it “is just for information”: the notification opens the one-month deadline.
How to respond step by step
- Go to the Sede Electrónica del Catastro with Cl@ve, a digital certificate or the clave concertada (access code) in the letter.
- Look up the property data and its valor de referencia; download the certificate if you need it.
- Compare floor area, use and year with your deed or nota simple (Land Registry extract).
- If there is an error in the cadastral value, file the recurso de reposición on the portal, at a Gerencia del Catastro or at any registry, within the month.
- For the reference value, request the correction of the self-assessment from your regional government, with evidence of the real value (valuation, condition of the property).
Example text:
Expone: que en la notificación de valor catastral del inmueble con referencia catastral [] figura una superficie construida de [] m², cuando según la escritura de [fecha] y el plano que adjunto es de [___] m². Solicita: que se corrija la superficie y se recalcule el valor catastral.
Translation: States that the cadastral value notice for the property with cadastral reference [] shows a built area of [] m², whereas according to the deed dated [date] and the attached plan it is [___] m². Requests that the area be corrected and the cadastral value recalculated.
Cartamiga tip: before arguing about numbers, check the property’s physical data. An extra square metre or a wrong use is corrected with a floor plan; an argument about how the Catastro values your neighbourhood is much harder.