Irish passport holder moving to Almeria

Hi Linda,

The financial conditions still apply although in the near future you'll be a card carrying Paddy and the envy of some of your compatriots (just had to get that one in!).

You will be in a good position to spend much time in Spain. I would advise that (in your 60's I feel you are a bit long in the tooth to purchase property in Spain - just my unlearned opinion and before the "ageist" brigade get on my case. Furthermore, you can avoid the plethora of Spanish taxes including taxes you never dreamt of.

My advice (if you are still reading) is to rent for several months at a time in Spain and do not sell your property in the UK. You're onto a "winner" and I reckon you can do without tying up a load of money on Spanish property. Rent, rent, rent and if you want to finance your rental in Spain just rent out your property in the UK and you can live like a queen for many months in Spain. You can get a good low rise apartment including utilities for around €750.00 per month; you wouldn't get a shed for that in the UK.

i agree with Matthew if we were coming now we would not buy anything in Spain and would retain a property in the UK.  as he says you can rent a place easily and rent out the one in the UK.     you avoid all the tax problems but you would need decent health cover for the times that you spend in Spain.  plus you can move on if you get fed up with the area you are in without the need to sell a property first.

Hi Matthew 

Thank you for your reply but there is no way that we wish to retain our property in the UK. We are intending to move to Spain for our retirement and I really don’t think that being in our early 60’s is too late. There is nothing in the UK except high Council Tax, even higher utilities because the weather is awful for 9 months of the year, and we are down South!
We are both fit and love being outdoors, which is why the Spanish lifestyle and weather appeals to us. We fully intend to rent until we are sure of the area that we wish to settle in.
I appreciate that taxes will apply and we have already looked into the cost of private health insurance. 

Kind regards

Linda 

Hi Alicia 

Thank you for your reply but we are intending to retire to Spain and want a permanent home there. We will of course rent for several months, or as long as it takes to find the area that is right for us. 
We are both fit and healthy and love an outdoor lifestyle which is difficult to enjoy in the UK due to the awful weather. We pay really high council tax and utility bills because you have to heat your home for virtually 9 months of the year. 

kind regards 
Linda 

Listen to Matthew, he is right,
you say you do not need or want your home in the UK because of rates etc,BUT if you are renting it out you do not pay that,

Take a look 5/10/15 years down the line,if you become seriously ill or a partner dies,are you going to stay in Spain?,if you have cut your ties with the UK it will be very hard for you to come back.

So you buy a place,the water heater breaks down as they do,you pay,a water pipe bursts,you pay,God forbid it floods,you pay,yes you can get insurance but how much is that.
The fact that you are in your 60s would say better to rent,you have apx 20/30 years of life. So you buy,you then have the extra complications of Spanish inheritance law and taxes,you rent no problems for your children,sorry to sound brutal but that is the way it goes

hi Linda we came here 16 years ago in our 50s and thought the same but now we have both had ill health and still haven't mastered the language which made it very difficult especially in an emergency.  we are having colder winters now and we are by the coast so we have to use the air con to heat which isn't cheap.   we are fully expecting everything to go up in cost this year we have had to pay for facilities that we haven't been able to use like the indoor pool and no refunds.  we have had no neighbours for the whole year due to the virus and fully expect that they will all stay away for some time and then rent out their flats to regain the costs.  if you think about the red tape now to come to Spain as a resident it will be far easier to come as a renter and have that foot hold back in the UK.  Sometimes you don't know what you've got until it's out of reach.  but i wish you good luck whatever you decide to do.  

All contributors to this forum can do is offer advice. Some of this advice is hard earned and many a pitfall is visible to us that might not be visible to the person looking to set out on an adventure of living the dream. But, you want to cut ties with the UK and spend on a new property in Spain. You are entitled to your views and I wish you all the best. I want you to prove me to be wrong. 

You may be thinking why are people who bought property in Spain advising you not to buy -. A fair point. I reckon I'm the only person who bought Spanish property as a pure investment for some sort of guaranteed income into my eventual retirement. Many will tell you they bought for fun. If I could have travelled to Kempton Park over the holiday period and gambled the same money on horses, I reckon I'd have made less loss and with less ongoing hassle. 

I know people  in their 70's who upped sticks in the UK and purchased property in Spain. Largely, they don't regret their decision; some of them are single and female. I've got to take my non Panama hat off to them. Come hell or high water they were always going to live the dream.

Unfortunately, I have to say I know people who cut their ties with the UK and 15/20 years on want to return. They can't sell their property in Spain because of the huge drop in the price of property. If they're lucky they will be able to buy a shed in the UK. You can live the dream when all is going well, but when things go pear-shape you're starring in an unending nightmare. 

It's unusual to see CJ Hart and me agreeing on anything. But, when it comes to hard cash and lifestyle we're inseparable in our beliefs. For the Record:-  Mrs Matthew and I don't intend selling our apartment in Spain. As soon as we can safely travel without fear of infecting or being infected of Covid we'll travel there and within the official guidelines. 

Hi Linda,

I fully agree with Matthew, Alicia, and Hartcjhart, we came here 12 years ago, we bought a property and sold properties several times in Spain, wasting a lots of money in taxes, until we finally found this house. But we always kept our UK property rented it out and that subsides our living here. 5/6 years ago, living in Spain was easy, now its bloody hard work, the Spanish love to change rules, just when you think you have every piece of paper imaginable to be legal, they require you to have yet another one, costing you more money, the red tape here is a joke, it ties you up in knots. Like Alicia I struggle with the language, and end up taking a translator for anything important, O how I long to go to the GP on my own like a grown up!!!! 

If you sell your UK property and come here then you have no 'bolt hole' to return to should anything towards happen, there are 1000's of people here, who are desperate to return to the UK but cant because they have to sell their Spanish property first, which isn;t easy.

I know this is not what you wanted to hear, I have a house in Cornwall, it rains 9 months of the year, so the idea of sun sun sun, is very appealing. But please think long and hard about selling yours. As for the financial situation here, I dont know the exact figures, but I know it is very high, there is a guy on here called Dario he is very 'up' on all things legal, perhaps send him a private message re the financial requirements.

Anyway I wish you well with what ever you decide.

Jenni

We bought our first apartment in a resort known to many Irish because of its high rise buildings as Ballymun-in-the-Sun. We bought for an unbelievable low price and later sold at another unbelievable price and bought in Mojacar Playa. Our lifestyle in both resorts could not have been more different. We paid much more for the apartment in Mojacar although we had suffered a loss in our first Spanish buy. We knew the ropes though; well most of them.

If anybody is thinking of buying in Spain and don't want to know why not,  ensure when you buy you're buying once only. Do all your homework e.g. live in the area during the off season. Check out the neighbours too. There is nothing worse than swapping a dream for a nightmare. Local transport is an issue. The distance to the supermarket is a concern. The airport can be a concern if you intend visiting your mother country. Do you need a car? Health Insurance is a major spend. Is a Rainy Day Fund a necessity?

The dice may fall in your favour but then again you have to take some chances in life.