Moving to Spain

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2020 9:37pm

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Grant01

Posts: 4

4 helpful points

Location: Almería

Joined: 29 Jul 2020

So, my wife, daughter 8to, son 6to and I are considering leaving our reasonably well paid jobs to move to Spain. This has obviously brought up a number of questions. Firstly, we have a budget of around 130 thousand pounds. On top of this, we have a rental income of around 400 pounds each month. We want to buy a cheap house to move into 30-40 thousand and then use some of the rest to purchase one or 2 others to rent out to supplement our income. I am a maths teacher in the uk and plan to continue tutoring online.

My questions are....

Does this sound like a reasonable plan. (A broad question I know, but are we wide if the mark thinking we could survive initially.)

Residency after Brexit. I believe if you are in Spain by December 31st 2020, you have the right to stay and after 5 years claim residency. Does this sound correct?

We would only be able to land in Spain on December 26th, so is this too late to register your arrival?

Would it be better to rent before buying?

What I'd the schooling like in Almeria?

I know this is a lot of questions, but we can not carry on the way we are living in the UK. I barely see the children and the chance of a new life for them is one we feel we want to pursue.

Thank you in advance for any advice given.

Grant and Rachel

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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 10:01am

Andy56

Helpful member

Posts: 476

464 helpful points

Location: Oria

Joined: 18 Jan 2020

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 10:01am

I think arriving on 26th December may be a problem. In theory you are supposed to have lived in Spain for three months before applying for residency. Certainly the application should be in before the end of the year so my advice would be to find a solicitor in Spain and ask them. There are a few hoops you have to jump through in relation mostly to your financial position and health provision.

In terms of the life style I’m a massive fan! Life is far more relaxed. Your plan could work - there are so many run down fincas and town house in the need of renovation. If you are ‘handy’ it’s a opportunity.

Remember it’s not impossible to move next year. We don’t know if the Spain and the U.K. will agree any special concessions to help people move to Spain or other parts of Europe.

good luck. Andy

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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 11:54am

Grant01

Original Poster

Posts: 4

4 helpful points

Location: Almería

Joined: 29 Jul 2020

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 11:54am

Andy56 wrote on Thu Jul 30, 2020 10:01am:
I think arriving on 26th December may be a problem. In theory you are supposed to have lived in Spain for three months before applying for residency. Certainly the application should be in before the end of the year so my advice would be to find a solicitor in Spain and ask them. There are a few ...

Read more...

...hoops you have to jump through in relation mostly to your financial position and health provision.
In terms of the life style I’m a massive fan! Life is far more relaxed. Your plan could work - there are so many run down fincas and town house in the need of renovation. If you are ‘handy’ it’s a opportunity.

Remember it’s not impossible to move next year. We don’t know if the Spain and the U.K. will agree any special concessions to help people move to Spain or other parts of Europe.

good luck. Andy

Thank you for this advice. It is greatly appreciated. I will look into Spanish lawyers.

Grant

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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:15pm

DarioMartin

Legendary helpful member

Posts: 5378

6400 helpful points

Location: Vera

Joined: 16 Aug 2017

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:15pm

First off, I just need to correct Andy56 on a couple of things, the first is the very dangerous misconception that Spain and UK will make some sort of “special arrangement”. Spain has already said that there will NOT be any “special arrangement” and as of 1/1/21, British nationals are treated the same as any other third country national. This means Private health insurance before you even rent, and an income requirement roughly 4 times what the current one is. Plus the need to prove you have sufficient funds to cover each period of renewal of visa. Expensive. The money you have set aside for the house would just about cover it. Your rental income wouldn’t.

So .... secondly, arrival on 26th December - not HUGELY problematic if you have somewhere you can move into the moment you arrive. You don’t need to have your application in by 31/12, only be registered on the Padrón. There will be a couple of days between the day you arrive and 1st Jan when Ayuntamiento is open .... go in with rental contracts etc and register for Padrón. It doesn’t matter if you only pick it up AFTER 1/1/21 as long as the date registered is before 31/12 - then relax, because you now have until 30th June 2021 to sort your Residencia / TIE out under the old system.

The money you have will buy you a place for sure ... but two or three? Spain is not THAT cheap. I’m guessing you’ll want a three bedroom place; as an example I live at Valle del Este, not the cheapest but by no means the most expensive area. A two bedroom duplex goes for around 90.000€

I think you may be a little optimistic hoping to buy a place to suit your needs for 40.000€ - then again, you may find just the place - but down towards Almería city, property of course gets more expensive.

Schooling : at that age, they’ll pick up the language easily, which is good because in Spanish schools, no allowance is made for not speaking Spanish! They could go to an international school for a short while (couple of years?) until they learn Spanish - but at that age, they’ll be speaking Spanish in a couple of years.

DEFINITELY rent before buying; this allows you to get registered and also allows you the luxury of actually looking around to find the area you’d eventually like to settle

Buena suerte, Darío

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:41pm

Andy56

Helpful member

Posts: 476

464 helpful points

Location: Oria

Joined: 18 Jan 2020

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:41pm

DarioMartin wrote on Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:15pm:
First off, I just need to correct Andy56 on a couple of things, the first is the very dangerous misconception that Spain and UK will make some sort of “special arrangement”. Spain has already said that there will NOT be any “special arrangement” and as of 1/1/21, British nationals a...

Read more...

...re treated the same as any other third country national. This means Private health insurance before you even rent, and an income requirement roughly 4 times what the current one is. Plus the need to prove you have sufficient funds to cover each period of renewal of visa. Expensive. The money you have set aside for the house would just about cover it. Your rental income wouldn’t.
So .... secondly, arrival on 26th December - not HUGELY problematic if you have somewhere you can move into the moment you arrive. You don’t need to have your application in by 31/12, only be registered on the Padrón. There will be a couple of days between the day you arrive and 1st Jan when Ayuntamiento is open .... go in with rental contracts etc and register for Padrón. It doesn’t matter if you only pick it up AFTER 1/1/21 as long as the date registered is before 31/12 - then relax, because you now have until 30th June 2021 to sort your Residencia / TIE out under the old system.
The money you have will buy you a place for sure ... but two or three? Spain is not THAT cheap. I’m guessing you’ll want a three bedroom place; as an example I live at Valle del Este, not the cheapest but by no means the most expensive area. A two bedroom duplex goes for around 90.000€
I think you may be a little optimistic hoping to buy a place to suit your needs for 40.000€ - then again, you may find just the place - but down towards Almería city, property of course gets more expensive.
Schooling : at that age, they’ll pick up the language easily, which is good because in Spanish schools, no allowance is made for not speaking Spanish! They could go to an international school for a short while (couple of years?) until they learn Spanish - but at that age, they’ll be speaking Spanish in a couple of years.
DEFINITELY rent before buying; this allows you to get registered and also allows you the luxury of actually looking around to find the area you’d eventually like to settle
Buena suerte, Darío

You can take it as gospel from Dario - he knows far more than me! I’m just an amateur who’s learnt a bit as I’ve gone along! I certainly didn’t know you only needed a padron before the end of the year, I thought you needed to put your application in but I stand corrected! Andy

Posted: Sat Aug 1, 2020 1:41am

chrisso50

Super helpful member

Posts: 1111

1342 helpful points

Location: Roquetas de Mar

Joined: 23 Jul 2018

Posted: Sat Aug 1, 2020 1:41am

Andy56 wrote on Thu Jul 30, 2020 10:01am:
I think arriving on 26th December may be a problem. In theory you are supposed to have lived in Spain for three months before applying for residency. Certainly the application should be in before the end of the year so my advice would be to find a solicitor in Spain and ask them. There are a few ...

Read more...

...hoops you have to jump through in relation mostly to your financial position and health provision.
In terms of the life style I’m a massive fan! Life is far more relaxed. Your plan could work - there are so many run down fincas and town house in the need of renovation. If you are ‘handy’ it’s a opportunity.

Remember it’s not impossible to move next year. We don’t know if the Spain and the U.K. will agree any special concessions to help people move to Spain or other parts of Europe.

good luck. Andy

OK. First:
"In theory you are supposed to have lived in Spain for three months before applying for residency. Certainly the application should be in before the end of the year..."

No, you must apply within 90 days of starting to live in Spain. You can apply the day you arrive!

Second.
"Remember it’s not impossible to move next year. We don’t know if the Spain and the U.K. will agree any special concessions to help people move to Spain."

No. This is known as the 'Brexiteer's Lament'. We do know! The Withdrawal Agreement of 2019 settled all the terms of residency and citizens rights for EU country citizens living in the UK and the UK citizens living in EU countries. We left the EU in January. Brexit is done. There are no special deals to be signed. Get here and arrange a residency appointment by the end of Transition or immigration to Spain will become far too expensive for all but the wealthy.

Chris

Posted: Sat Aug 1, 2020 1:48am

chrisso50

Super helpful member

Posts: 1111

1342 helpful points

Location: Roquetas de Mar

Joined: 23 Jul 2018

Posted: Sat Aug 1, 2020 1:48am

DarioMartin wrote on Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:15pm:
First off, I just need to correct Andy56 on a couple of things, the first is the very dangerous misconception that Spain and UK will make some sort of “special arrangement”. Spain has already said that there will NOT be any “special arrangement” and as of 1/1/21, British nationals a...

Read more...

...re treated the same as any other third country national. This means Private health insurance before you even rent, and an income requirement roughly 4 times what the current one is. Plus the need to prove you have sufficient funds to cover each period of renewal of visa. Expensive. The money you have set aside for the house would just about cover it. Your rental income wouldn’t.
So .... secondly, arrival on 26th December - not HUGELY problematic if you have somewhere you can move into the moment you arrive. You don’t need to have your application in by 31/12, only be registered on the Padrón. There will be a couple of days between the day you arrive and 1st Jan when Ayuntamiento is open .... go in with rental contracts etc and register for Padrón. It doesn’t matter if you only pick it up AFTER 1/1/21 as long as the date registered is before 31/12 - then relax, because you now have until 30th June 2021 to sort your Residencia / TIE out under the old system.
The money you have will buy you a place for sure ... but two or three? Spain is not THAT cheap. I’m guessing you’ll want a three bedroom place; as an example I live at Valle del Este, not the cheapest but by no means the most expensive area. A two bedroom duplex goes for around 90.000€
I think you may be a little optimistic hoping to buy a place to suit your needs for 40.000€ - then again, you may find just the place - but down towards Almería city, property of course gets more expensive.
Schooling : at that age, they’ll pick up the language easily, which is good because in Spanish schools, no allowance is made for not speaking Spanish! They could go to an international school for a short while (couple of years?) until they learn Spanish - but at that age, they’ll be speaking Spanish in a couple of years.
DEFINITELY rent before buying; this allows you to get registered and also allows you the luxury of actually looking around to find the area you’d eventually like to settle
Buena suerte, Darío

"You don’t need to have your application in by 31/12, only be registered on the Padrón. There will be a couple of days between the day you arrive and 1st Jan when Ayuntamiento is open .... go in with rental contracts etc and register for Padrón. It doesn’t matter if you only pick it up AFTER 1/1/21 as long as the date registered is before 31/12 - then relax, because you now have until 30th June 2021 to sort your Residencia / TIE out under the old system."

Spain has adopted the Declaratory system, so while some countries allow you to apply anytime until 30 June 2021, Spain requires you to prove you first became resident here before 31 December. So, as Dario says, a Padron dated before that will help. But it's advisable to do all this well beforehand!

Chris

Posted: Sun Aug 2, 2020 2:37pm

Grant01

Original Poster

Posts: 4

4 helpful points

Location: Almería

Joined: 29 Jul 2020

Posted: Sun Aug 2, 2020 2:37pm

Thank you very much for all of the information. It really has been a big help. Next step for us is to find a local lawyer who can help us navigate the paper work and red tape. Any recommendations welcome.

Thank you again. Its groups like these and the kindness of its members which make the world of difference to people like myself.

Posted: Sun Aug 2, 2020 8:37pm

chrisso50

Super helpful member

Posts: 1111

1342 helpful points

Location: Roquetas de Mar

Joined: 23 Jul 2018

Posted: Sun Aug 2, 2020 8:37pm

Grant01 wrote on Sun Aug 2, 2020 2:37pm:
Thank you very much for all of the information. It really has been a big help. Next step for us is to find a local lawyer who can help us navigate the paper work and red tape. Any recommendations welcome.
Thank you again. Its groups like these and the kindness of its members which make the world of difference to people like myself....

Read more...

...

Glad to be of help. But Almeria is a huge province of 700,000 people so advising/suggesting a gestor to assist you really depends on whereabouts you plan to live! Almeria City? Roquetas? Mojacar? Vera? Or inland?

Chris

Posted: Sun Aug 2, 2020 9:56pm

Grant01

Original Poster

Posts: 4

4 helpful points

Location: Almería

Joined: 29 Jul 2020

Posted: Sun Aug 2, 2020 9:56pm

chrisso50 wrote on Sun Aug 2, 2020 8:37pm:
Glad to be of help. But Almeria is a huge province of 700,000 people so advising/suggesting a gestor to assist you really depends on whereabouts you plan to live! Almeria City? Roquetas? Mojacar? Vera? Or inland?
Chris

We are currently looking at properties in and near Santa cruz de marchena.