Hello, (dreaded) Spanish bureaucracy

This morning we were dealt a major blow when we read an email from our property management company explaining that they would not provide documentation for the certficado de empadrónamiento (padrón), a mandatory requirement for any resident living in Spain for more than 183 days, to any tenant wishing to apply.

Registering for the padrón is necessary before we can get the Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjeros (TIE card), which serves as identification and proof of legal residency for non-EU citizens in Spain and is also a mandatory requirement for the visa.

After multiple emails to our property management company to ensure they would provide the proper materials (after all, this is why we chose to rent from them when we secured a lease in August), they assured us this rule did not apply to us, but now we were nervous.

What does this mean? Will we be able to fulfill the obligations of our visa? Will the city issue the padrón based on our lease agreement? Will we need to find another place to live? Will we need to leave the country in 90 days?

Our minds went into a tailspin, causing us to spend hours upon hours (upon hours!) researching the process - again.

Turns out, the local government passed a law just a few days after we signed our one-year lease saying that short-term leases are not legitimate documents for receiving the padrón and establishing residency in the city. However, because we already had a lease, our property management company was obliged to honor it.

Relieved, we set off to get copies of our lease and stamped payment documentation from our management company, and to MediaMarkt, an electronics store that sells thumb drives, so we could upload and print the application for the padrón from the copy shop, yet another errand we will need to complete before going to city office to apply for the padrón.

Whew!! We got this.