Complaint to the Spanish Ombudsman or a regional ombudsman (Spain)
€1.38Fill it in online free — pay only to download
14 questions · about 6 min
This document is in Spanish
The PDF you download is in Spanish — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
Fill out the form
Your answers stay on this device for 7 days, or until you clear them.
- Instant download after payment
- Backup link emailed to you
- No account needed
This can be done free of charge with the form on the Spanish Ombudsman's website (defensordelpueblo.es) and with those of the regional ombudsmen, such as the Síndic de Greuges or the Ararteko; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is the signed complaint against how a public body acted: it names you, the body, the facts, what you have already done and what you ask for. It is made within one year of learning the facts (art. 15 of Spanish Organic Law 3/1981), by post, in person or through a registry.
- Made for use in Spain
- Last updated October 20, 2026
Published byDocMuse
When to use this document
- A public body in Spain has ignored your letters for months and you want someone to step in.
- Your town hall did nothing after your complaint and you want to go to the ombudsman.
- You feel a public service is not respecting your rights and want a free way to complain.
- You want to complain to the Defensor del Pueblo or your regional ombudsman in Spain.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Applicant
- Applicant's DNI or NIE (Spanish identity number)
- Applicant's address
- Phone
- Public body you are complaining about
- What happened (what, when, at which office)
- What you have already done with the administration, and its answer
- Whether a court case is pending on these facts
- File or reference number (if you have one)
- What you ask to be done
- City
- Date
- Ombudsman you write to (national or regional)
Common questions
- What does a complaint to the Spanish Ombudsman need?
- It must be signed, with your name, surnames and address, in a letter that explains the facts, and be made within one year of learning of them (art. 15.1 of Spanish Organic Law 3/1981). It is free and needs no lawyer or court representative (art. 15.2). Anonymous complaints are not accepted, and the Ombudsman does not examine matters awaiting a court decision. It helps to have written to the body first and to enclose the letters and answers.
- Should you write to the Spanish Ombudsman or to your region's ombudsman?
- The Spanish Ombudsman may oversee every public administration, including regional and local ones. Regional ombudsmen — such as Catalonia's Síndic de Greuges, the Basque Ararteko, Galicia's Valedora do Pobo or the Andalusian Ombudsman — oversee their region's administration and its town halls. If your region has one, you can choose; a complaint against a State body goes to the Spanish Ombudsman. Regional ones must also accept it in the co-official language.
- What can the Spanish Ombudsman do with a complaint?
- It admits or rejects it, investigates and asks the administration for information, which must cooperate. At the end it may issue warnings, recommendations, reminders of legal duties and suggestions (art. 30 of Spanish Organic Law 3/1981). It does not annul acts or replace appeals or the courts: if you want to challenge a decision, file the appeal in time even if you have gone to the Ombudsman.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
Related documents
- Administrative appeal (alzada or reposición) against a decision (Spain)
You can file the appeal free of charge on the body's electronic office, with its own appeal form or general application form; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is for challenging an act of a Spanish ministry, regional government or town hall: the recurso de alzada to the higher body, if the act does not end the administrative route, or the recurso de reposición to the same body, if it does. The notification says which applies, to whom and the time limit: one month for an express act. It follows art. 115 of Spanish Law 39/2015; you write the grounds. Not for taxes or traffic fines. File it through a registry.
- Claim to the Transparency Council over refused information (Spain)
This can be done free of charge on the electronic office of Spain's Transparency and Good Governance Council, with its own form, or with your region's transparency body; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is for people who prefer to file through a registry: it challenges the full or partial refusal of a request for public information, or the lack of any answer, on your own grounds, within the month set by art. 24.2 of Spanish Law 19/2013. The Council has three months to decide.
- Request for access to public information (Spain)
This can be done free of charge on the Spanish State's Transparency Portal and on each body's electronic office, with their own form; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is for people who prefer to file through a registry: it asks a ministry, a regional government, a town hall or another public body for information it holds, under Spanish Law 19/2013 on transparency or the region's transparency law, without having to say why. The body has one month to decide.
- Personal invitation letter and accommodation undertaking (Spain)
The official invitation letter (carta de invitación) is applied for in person by the host at the police station where they live, paying the fee on form 790 code 012 (Spanish Order PRE/1283/2007); DocMuse does not sell it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, only accompanies it: the host's personal letter to the Spanish embassy or consulate, with the relationship, purpose and dates of the visit, the home and the costs the host covers. It does not replace the official letter. Sign it and send it to the guest, who files it with the visa application.
- General application to a public body (Spain)
This can be done free of charge on the electronic office and at the counters of each Spanish public body, with its own general application form (instancia general); you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is an application with the content article 66 of Spanish Law 39/2015 asks for — your details, how to notify you, facts, request, place, date, signature and the body addressed — for any request to a ministry, a regional government or a town hall that has no form of its own. File it through a registry or at a post office as administrative mail.
- Letter of complaint to a public body (Spain)
This can be done free of charge on the body's electronic office or at its counters, with its own complaints and suggestions form; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is the complaint about how a public service works — waiting times, treatment, unanswered letters, mistakes — sent to the body itself: it sets out the facts with dates and the office, and asks to be told what is done. In the Spanish State administration the unit answers within twenty working days. File it through a registry or at a post office.