Why take the time to register in Marbella?

So you’ve bought your dream property and made sunny Marbella your home for all or part of the year. But have you registered as a citizen of Marbella yet?

According to the padrón, the Spanish equivalent of a census or population register, the town had just 148,000 inhabitants when figures were released at the beginning of 2018. However, the real figure is believed by the town hall to be more like 250,000. Of the remaining around 100,000 people, it’s estimated that around 60 per cent are foreigners.

Why register on the padrón?

The main reason is that the greater the number of people registered as owning property in the municipality, the greater the sum the Junta de Andalucía (Autonomous Community of Andalucía) provides to improve your local services such as safety, health and street cleaning.

The council has therefore started a multi-lingual campaign to encourage people to register on the padrón. Although it is directed at everybody in Marbella, there is a special emphasis on the foreign population that is particularly concentrated in Nueva Andalucía and Las Chapas. “Many services depend on that, because the funding from the state and the regional government is allocated according to the number of people registered,” says Marbella’s mayor, María Ángeles Muñoz.

The current campaign to get us all to enrol unveils some interesting facts: if 1,000 more people registered on the padrón would mean that Marbella could employ one more fire fighter; 2,500 more registrations would mean four more local police officers plus a new rubbish collection lorry; and 3,200 more people would give Marbella two new police vehicles, four more officers and more materials.

So what are you waiting for?

How to register on the padrón

Go to Marbella’s Town Hall in the old town’s Plaza de los Naranjos (Orange Square). Take a ticket at the padrón dispenser on the ground floor as you enter and wait for your number to be displayed.

Documents required:

  • Your passport
  • Your NIE & residency certificate
  • If you own the property, a recent utility bill and the deeds to the property. If you rent, a rental contract and a recent utility bill.

The clerk will process your information and give you a confirmation slip to prove your registration – it really is that simple!

More info, click here

Hop on Marbella’s FREE buses!

So now you have registered on the padrón hop on free municipal buses!

Part of a multi-lingual campaign addressing Marbella’s foreign population as well as local Spaniards, the aim is to get people registered on the census. It includes the provision of free buses for all registered people from 2019, in addition to bringing wider environmental benefits, making this a highly worthwhile campaign on more than one level.

The card entitles you to two years’ free travel on Marbella’s municipal buses for a one-off payment of just 10 euros. In return, the town hall is to invest around three million euros per year; a plan to be formalised during the first weeks of November.

The mayor, María Ángeles Muñoz, sees this as a good opportunity to improve the public transport system, at the same time as encouraging people to register on the census, the main object being to increase the funds released to Marbella from the Junta de Andalucía.

The government hopes to introduce the scheme fully by the end of 2018, in parallel with the release of the new and improved urban buses transport system, which will receive over 4.5 million Euros annually, rolled out over the next 10 years.