Article 126 of Decree of June 2, 1944 that definitively approves the Regulations for the organization and regime of Notaries It establishes that anyone who requests the exercise of the notarial public function has the right to choose the notary of their own choosing. Therefore, the free choice of notary prevails. In cases where the legal system does not establish a specific rule, the choice of a notary will be free choice between the parties. That is, they may by common agreement appoint the notary they deem appropriate. In the event that there is no agreement, the choice will correspond to the one who will mainly assume the notarial expenses. 

However, there are exceptions to the general rule:

Choice by the client in mortgage loans.

In onerous transfers made by natural or legal persons who habitually engage in it, or under general contracting conditions and bank contracting assumptions, the right of choice will correspond to the purchaser or client of those. The bank cannot choose a notary, nor can it organize a system that excludes one. Nor is the consumer's waiver of his right of choice valid. The Law 5/2019, of March 14, regulating real estate credit contracts, reiterates in various precepts the need for free choice of the client's notary in mortgage loans. For example, in its article 14.1.g) it refers to the obligation to receive personalized and free advice from the notary chosen by the borrower, and in its article 15.1a that the borrower has to appear before the notary chosen by him. 

In the page www.notariado.orgIn the specific portal for contracting mortgage loans, the borrower may choose a notary so that the operation is automatically assigned to him. For more information regarding the choice of a notary in mortgage loans Click here.

Cases of territorial jurisdiction.  

In these cases, the free choice of notary is limited to certain notaries who are within the notary district where the act must be authorized. Examples would be the acts of notoriety of declaration of intestate heirs, the certificates of registration of estates or of excess capacity in the Property Registry, the deed of separation or divorce, the act for the proof of the matrimonial economic regime in the Civil Registry, the minutes for the appointment of insolvency mediator ...

Cast shift.

This is the case of matters submitted to the document distribution shift in which the authorizing notary is appointed following a rigorous order. Examples would be the elevation to the public of judicial decisions, in which administrative authorities intervene or the extrajudicial sale of assets.