Four sellers of a property in Ibiza have been denied a claim for €60,000 that remained unpaid from a €455,000 sale after a dispute over the property's registered and cadastral surface area.

The Provincial Court of the Balearic Islands has confirmed the dismissal of their claim, finding that the contractual condition linked to the additional payment was not fulfilled.

A €455,000 property sale

The dispute began with an agreement signed on October 9, 2019, when four sellers entered into a deposit contract with two buyers for a property valued at €455,000.

The buyers paid €20,000 at that stage as part of the agreed purchase price.

The property sale was subsequently formalised, but €60,000 of the agreed price remained subject to a specific condition concerning the property's recorded surface area.

The 108-square-metre discrepancy

A document signed by the parties on November 24, 2020 recorded a difference between the property's surface area in the Property Registry and the Cadastre.

The Property Registry recorded 757 square metres, while the Cadastre recorded 649 square metres, a difference of 108 square metres.

The agreement established a system under which the sellers could receive some or all of the outstanding €60,000 if the additional surface area was successfully recognised.

If more than 54 of the disputed square metres were registered, the sellers could receive a proportional amount up to the full €60,000.

If between zero and 54 square metres were recognised, the payment would be €30,000.

If no additional surface area was registered, no further payment would be due.

The arrangement gave the sellers three years from the signing of the deed to achieve the required cadastral recognition.

The Cadastre rejected the correction

The sellers subsequently attempted to correct the property's cadastral surface area.

The Cadastre rejected the requested correction in a resolution dated March 15, 2021.

The authority later acknowledged that an error had occurred when the geometry associated with the cadastral reference had been altered. That technical error was corrected in a further resolution dated July 25, 2023.

However, the additional 108 square metres sought by the sellers were never registered as required under the agreement.

The sellers took the dispute to court

The four sellers argued that the conditions for receiving the outstanding €60,000 had been met and brought a claim against the buyers.

The Court of First Instance No. 1 of Ibiza rejected the claim on January 15, 2026 and ordered the claimants to pay the costs.

The sellers appealed the decision.

Provincial Court confirms the decision

The Third Section of the Provincial Court of the Balearic Islands has now rejected the appeal and confirmed the earlier judgment.

The court found that the contractual condition for receiving the €60,000 had not been fulfilled because the cadastral correction requested by the sellers had not resulted in the additional surface area being registered.

The court also rejected the argument that the way the rejection of the cadastral request was communicated demonstrated that the buyers had voluntarily prevented the condition from being fulfilled.

Under Article 1119 of Spain's Civil Code, a contractual condition can be considered fulfilled when the party obliged under it voluntarily prevents its fulfilment. The court did not find that circumstance established in this case.

Appeal costs imposed on the sellers

The Provincial Court has also ordered the sellers to pay the costs of the appeal and declared the loss of the deposit lodged for the appeal.

The judgment, numbered 580/2026 and dated September 1, 2026, is subject to a possible appeal in cassation before Spain's Supreme Court within the applicable 20-day period. The current report does not establish that the sellers intend to pursue such an appeal.

The €60,000 was conditional, not a court-imposed penalty

The case does not involve the court imposing a €60,000 penalty on the sellers.

Instead, the outstanding amount formed part of the original purchase-price arrangement and was made conditional on the cadastral situation being resolved in the manner specified in the agreement.

Because the court found that condition had not been fulfilled, the sellers were not entitled to recover the remaining €60,000.