It stands to reason that if nobody is buying, selling or building properties, public notaries are not taking much in the fees area.

In fact, between 2007 and 2014, in Andalucia, notarial services fell by a staggering 93%! These were the figures given by the Colegio Notorial de Andalucía.

According to this body, during the whole of last year, 1,128,467 Andalusians went to the notary’s office to legally certify more or less the same amount of transactions, so imagine what the figures were for 2007, if this number represents a 93% drop! OK, OK, so you only have to, more or less, double it, giving us about 2.2m transactions.

Andalucia has 490 public notaries or Notaries Public, if you prefer. Times have changed from when they were cobweb-covered, male octogenarians because just under half are under 50 years old and 32% are women.

So, spare a thought for these fine people who live out their lives to stamp a document and relieve you of some hard-earned cash after a wait of an hour or so in the main office. Let’s face it, if you didn’t have to endlessly wait in boredom before being ushered into the great man’s (or woman’s) office, you wouldn’t be getting your full money’s worth, would you?

(News: Andalucia)