Property Taxes in Almeria - Page 2

Hi Nigel,

Just been reading the posts. Very interesting.  I’ve had a property out there for 12 years but live in the UK.  It is very confusing for us, so many types of taxes.  I  am looking to sell my property but in the meantime would like to rent my apartment for A long let.  If I can help with somewhere for you to stay whilst you are looking. I have  2 bed 2 bath apt ground floor sea views gated secure small complex on the edge of the village of Palomares with sea views across farmland, 5 mins from the beach. I can email photos of the apt and the area of you wish.

Pam

Hi Pam

It sounds great, if it was just me and my wife, but we have a cat who loves to go out and would need plenty of outside space.  We are looking to rent a house with a garden.

Thank you.

Kind Regards

Nigel

Hello Noel

Thank you, you have been very helpful, I have made a note of Izabell Lopez's details.

Kind Regards

Nigel

Ok. Pretty cat.

Hope you find what you need. Hope the garden is secure.

Pam

Lots of info here and perhaps a bit confusing. In short the non residents tax is based on 19% of 1% of the Cadastral value, which is generally somewhat lower than the market value. For example we paid €149k for our place, yet the Cadastral value is c€65k. Hence our non-residents tax doesn’t amount to much. For non-EU residents that would be 25% of the 1%. This is the smallest tax that we pay. There is the ‘bin tax’ (Basura) to pay, which for us is about €180 per annum, payable quarterly. Then the annual local tax (can’t recall how much that is, payable annually - not a massive amount. One month council tax in UK is more). Our biggest fee is our community charge, which is €72 per month for our community. On purchase  you need to allow for one off costs of up to 10% of the purchase price, of which 8% is stamp duty. Hope that helps...

Hi Steve

Thanks, this is most helpful!!  I wonder if you could clarify something for us; we have read on line that once you have lived in Spain for 6 months you are classed as a resident for tax purposes, so if we were to rent for 6 months (once we move out there it will be permanent) and then buy a house, we assume we would not have to pay the non-residents tax on the house we purchase?

Thanks

Nigel

As I am not resident in Spain I can’t answer your question. My knowledge is based on owning as a non-resident. We visit roughly 8-10 weeks of the year. For what it’s worth our total property related costs (all taxes, community fees, water and electricity) come to roughly €2k (£1,800).

Hi Steve

Thanks, your posts have given us some good information to help us budget for purchasing a property in Spain.

As for our last question, no worries, we will contact a lawyer on our next visit.

Cheers

Nigel

Hi NIgel

I see you have had numerous replies to your question but as my wife and I are in the same situation as you will be once you have purchased a house here, I thought I would add my two penneth in the hope it might be of some help.

We purchased a house in Turre three years ago after renting in a few areas to discover where we might want to buy (I would strongly encourage you to do the same as it gives plenty of time to choose your area and your property and then deal with all the paperwork). 

The upfront costs have been covered pretty well as there is the purchase tax and legal fees to deal with but I think you are more looking for information about the on-going costs.

We are currently non-residents so we don't live in our house all the year around but we are now thinking of applying for residency this year. All non-residence still requite to have an NIE Number (bit like your NI Number) but this is a small cost to obtain. You will also need to register on the padron at your local town hall - again a small cost.

During the three years since we purchased in Turre we have gained a decent grasp on the annual costs;

The property tax which is the IBE is based on the catastral value of the property.  For year one ours was 60 euros, split equally between my wife and I. In year two it increased very slightly. If you use a local company to pay this on your behalf (it can be quite tricky) the charge for us was 90 euros but I have seen other adverts from people who charge less. Given that we used to pay £150 per month (Council Tax) in the UK this cost has never bothered me.

Electricity -  most of our house is run on this and the charges have ranged between 80 Euros per month - 140 Euros depending on the time of year. If you allow an average of around 100 Euros per month you should not be far out.

Gas - we just have the cooker and a mobile gas fire for the winter months and we purchase the bottles (bit like Calor) for around 18 Euros per bottle and during the winter period we use between 4 - 5 bottles a month for about 4 months of the year.

Internet - we use a company called Next based in Turre and pay 33 Euros a month.

Basura - the fee for using all the many large bins scattered around the area and this is charged quarterly at around 36 Euros per quarter.

The water supply for us comes from a company called Galasa and the charge is around 36 Euros for two monthly periods.

Annual car tax - we drive a 7 seater Volkswagen Touran and the charge this year was 81 Euros. If you bring an English car you can drive it for a while but you would need to allow for it to be matriculated for the Spanish roads and this can vary in cost but I have been told by a number of friends that it can cost around 15 Euros. We purchased a Spanish car so did not have to have this done. Each year the car has to have an ITV test (like the MOT in the UK) and the fixed fee for doing the test is around 50 Euros...it it fails then any work would need to be done and the test can then be re-taken.

I use an English mobile phone on a set plan but my wife purchased a Spanish phone for 50 Euros and we top this up for around 10 Euros per two months.

All of above costs amount to approx. 2000 Euros p.a. which at the current exchange rate (1.13) equals £1773 so an annual allowance of around £2k should cover all the fixed running costs for an average property. Although you might choose to live in a different part of Almeria, you will still be in the province of Andalucia and taxes seem to be governed by the province.

I think the other key financial consideration for us is the monthly cost of living. We enjoy a glass of wine and the saving there is huge. Wine can be as little as 1.50 Euros a bottle and this can be compared favourably to a £5-6 bottle in the UK. We tend to stick to a range of Spanish wines that vary between 2.50 - 3.50 Euros per bottle and I think they compare pretty well against £7 - £10 bottles in the UK. The average menu of the day in most local restaurants is between 10 -13 Euros and is 3 courses usually including a glass of wine. We also have frequent tapa lunches at a local bar where 9 Euros will buy a bottle of wine plus 4 x tapas dishes plus bread.

My wife claims that her weekly food shopping bill her is around half of what she paid in the UK (excluding the wine).  Some things are more expensive here but you learn quite quickly what they are.

There are some negatives, mainly around bureaucracy usually, but over time we have adjusted to this.  There are many British Ex-Pats in this part of the world and most of them are helpful and friendly...we have certainly made some good friends in our short time here.

I hope this has been a little bit helpful for you....I know it would be have been helpful for us before we made the move had we thought to ask the questions.

If you have anymore questions that you think I might be able to help with please just ask.

Kind Regards

Dennis Martin

Hi Dennis

Thank you for the breakdown of the cost of living in Spain, we now have a good idea what to budget for and we will rent first before purchasing a house like you say.

Cheers for all your help.

Kind Regards

Nigel