REGISTER AND LEVEL UP

The Municipal Register of Inhabitants is the administrative record listing all of the people who live in a municipality. This data is proof of residence in a specific municipality and of one’s habitual address.

It’s an easy way for the Town Council and other administrations to know how many people live within specific municipal boundaries without having to engage in investigations into people’s legal residency status or financial affairs. Plus, the information provided to this register is confidential and protected by data protection regulations. Having said this, it’s important to know that everyone living in Spain is required to register with the Municipal Register of Inhabitants in the municipality where they habitually reside.

Everyone living in Spain is required to register with the Municipal Register of Inhabitants in the municipality where they habitually reside (more than half the year).

If you live in several places at once, you must register with the Local Census in the place where you spend most of your time during the year.

Therefore, anyone who habitually resides in any of the municipalities in the Province of Malaga must register.

Registering with the Local Census provides you with proof you live in the municipality where you register.

The Municipal Register of Inhabitants gives you registered inhabitant status and, therefore, grants you a series of rights under the law.

All registered inhabitants in a municipality have the right to vote in elections and be elected if they run for office, for example, as the Municipal Register of Inhabitants data are used to create the electoral rolls and calculate the population in each town. Likewise, a registered inhabitant can use all municipal services such as enrolling their children in school, applying for a local library card, using the municipal swimming pool, receiving financial grants and aid, etc.

Plus, at some point you will probably be asked for a local census certificate to prove where you live. This proof is needed for procedures such as getting married, applying for social tariffs for electricity , registering your car or motorbike, applying for a National Identity Document or passport, getting  assigned to a Primary Care Centre and various other court and legal procedures.

The number of people registered also has an impact on the financial contribution a city receives from the central Spanish government. The higher the number of registered persons, the higher the amount of funds a Town Council receives for infrastructures and services benefitting the entire community.

It is also used as a reference for granting all sorts of public aid and grants.

The procedure for registering with the Municipal Register of Inhabitants in your municipality is quite simple. You only have to:

• Complete the local census registration sheet and submit it along with the other required documentation to any Citizen Services Office at your local Town Hall or any tax administration office. You can also get a local census registration sheet at these offices.
• Once the documentation has been reviewed and everything is correct, the data are processed administratively and entered on the Municipal Register of Inhabitants.

Along with the local census registration sheet, you must submit documentation for each person to be registered as well as proof of address.

DOCUMENTATION TO BE SUBMITTED FOR EACH PERSON TO BE REGISTERED

Foreigners (legal adults, minors born abroad and minors born in Spain who are more than 3 months old):
• Citizens of European Union Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland: An EU Registration Certificate showing your Foreigner’s ID Number (NIE) along with your identity document or passport issued by the authorities in your country.
• All others: Your foreigner’s ID card issued by the Spanish authorities showing your Foreigner’s ID Number (NIE) or, in lack thereof, your passport issued by the authorities in your country.
• Foreigners born in Spain who are under 3 months old: An Official Family Record Book or birth certificate issued by the Spanish authorities if the child has no identity document. All identity documents submitted must be valid.

PROOF OF ADDRESS
• If you are living or are going to live in a home you own, you must submit a document proving such circumstance (deed of sale, property register certificate, property tax receipt.). You must also submit a utilities contract (electricity, water or natural gas). If the contract is outdated, you must submit a recent bill.
• If you rent or are going to rent, you must submit your housing rental agreement. If proof of address is provided with a private rental agreement, you must attach a photocopy of the landlord’s identity document (tax identification number for legal entities…). For situations where you are granted authorization by a third party to register in their home: proof of actual possession of the home (under ownership, a rental agreement…) in their name. When authorizations are submitted, photocopies of the authorizing parties’ identity documents must be attached.

RENEWALS

Foreigners from the EU and other countries under similar agreements are subject to periodic «confirmation»  of an address in the municipality every 2 years in general or every 5 years for those registered with the Central Register of Foreigners . When an interested party personally submits a change of address or change of personal data with the Municipal Register of Inhabitants, the «confirmation» period begins on that same date.

Confirmation means the ratification of the data already on record with the Municipal Register of Inhabitants by signing a statement you continue to live in Spain and your will to confirm your registration with the corresponding Register.

Non-EU citizens without a permanent residence permit MUST renew their registration with the Municipal Register of Inhabitants every two years and every 5 years if they have permanent residence status or a residence permit.

If registration with the Municipal Register of Inhabitants is not confirmed within such periods, the Town Hall may delete the person from the register meaning the person will lose their cumulative period of registration as of that date. Such action may have negative consequences when applying for public aid as well as with a number of administrative procedures and processes related to public services.

(Before renewal, the Town Hall will send you a notification to your registered address.  If you do not receive it, notify the Town Hall).

For more details, please take a look at the regulations here.

Once you’re registered with the Municipal Register of Inhabitants, you can take advantage of things like:
• Better public services as the Government earmarks a portion of its budget to each municipality based on the number of people registered. So, if you’re not registered, your town hall will be losing money which could otherwise be used to improve street cleaning and maintenance services, public health centres, the police force, the firefighting brigade, schools…
• Those registered with the Municipal Register of Inhabitants can also take courses at discounted prices and participate in leisure and cultural activities run by the town council.
• The right to vote in local and European elections (depends on nationality).
• You’ll soon realize you need your Municipal Register of Inhabitants certificate in order to complete various administrative procedures such as registering for medical care, registering your car with Spanish number plates, enrolling your children in school, contracting civil marriage, registering civil partnerships, applying for grants, public aid…

At the Municipal Register of Inhabitants offices in each Town Hall.