PRIMO

Hi Me and my wife are looking at property in spain as we speak, can anyone please let me know the basic cost of living in spain compered to the uk ? we are just a single couple with now kids and we are looking to have a basic 3 bedroomed house with a car, nothing flash just a every day lifestyle, i do see house prices are down very low at the moment. But what a bout prices of shopping - fuel bills - goverment tax - petrol - other daily cost e.t.c Any replys will be very helpful
Thank You

amideislas

Need more to compare with, but in generally it should be lower in Spain.

Comparing London with some rural area in Spain or comparing Madrid with chelmsford wouldn't be fair comparisons. Also others factors such as employment status/pension etc..
Then you have public vs. Private schools... a lot to it...

lynnxa

yep - if there are children in the equation it will be pretty much the same as the UK overall - even if they go to state school - factor in International & you could well end up spending more

even without children, in most circumstances, yes, a little cheaper here, but tbh if you reckon on it being much the same you won't go far wrong, and will probably have a bit extra for taking advantage of the 'eating out' culture

mikelincs

Petrol and diesel, cheaper, food.. about the same, or higher if you insist on brit foods all the time, VAT is higher, electricity, phone and internet and gas (rare to have mains gas in Spain), all higher, and your internet speed, unless you are very lucky, is likely to be much slower.

Do you need to work? very poor employment prospects, so you would almost certainly need private health care, if you are a pensioners, then you can gete Spanish NHS free, well almost as you will NOT get free prescriptions, you will have to pay part, you get the same healthcare as Spanish pensioners get.

HBG

I reckon that without housing costs you would need a disposable income of at least £15,000 a year to live comfortably in Spain. People still say it's cheaper than living in the UK, but I think it's about the same.

But there are many other factors to consider, things like health care if under pension age, and tax which is in a state of flux at the moment.

Why not give it a trial run? Leave everything back in the UK, don't sign any forms in Spain and see what you think after a 'gap' year, or two.

Rosemary

This is not a possibility, you have to comply with the law regarding forms and length of stay.

Rosemary

HBG

I'm sorry, Rosemary, but that simply isn't true. The Spanish authorities have never enforced the 183 day rule and even less so with the new 'residencia' which without a photograph is a useless piece of paper. You practically have to beg them to put you on the 'padron'.

A well-behaved expat couple, especially pensioners, will be more then welcome in Spain, tens of thousands are already here, living happily without having ever queued for hours for some daft forms they will never need.

For a trial run, you only need your passport, if you want to make it permanent a year or two down the line, then, yes, you will have to join the queues. At least, you should.

mikelincs

But they won't get the healthcare cover unless they fill in some forms if they don't want to go private.

amideislas

HBG is right in the "spirit" of what he's saying. Naturally, you can't be resident without signing forms, but as we all know, the system is very different here and often ridiculously ironic. It changes a lot, fraud is far less enforceable, and much of what you may be protected from in the UK, you're far less protected from here. It takes a little thicker skin to persevere some of it.

Considering those things, it makes a lot of sense to "try before you buy" to see if you can live with some of the silliness that takes place here. Not to mention the unpredictable silliness that keeps cropping up, which if you'd only knew, you may very well have taken a different decision.

Before banking the farm, it makes sense to discover how it all works, and if it's really right for you. Many people have found themselves in that unenviable position.

pwwm

We think it is cheaper here, our IBI or rates for example are less tan a quarter of in UK, our wáter is about 40€ a quarter and this includes running a pool. road tax much cheaper, but this is dtermined at your local Ayuntamiento, here our Discovery is 121€ a year, but have heard more elsewhere and less only 10kms away.

We do not need heating in Winter we get by with a Wood burner, but we are in a micro climate in our valley and rarely go as low as 10º in Winter at night, most of Spain gets very cold, yes as others have said internet is much more expensive, electric is more expensive, we have the butano bottles as d most people for our gas, we find they last quite while and half the UK Price.

Our rubbish collection and yes you pay for this, is 35€ a quarter, but the rubbish is taken every day.

As you see different parts of Spain the cost will change due to wether you need central heating for exampe (we obviously do not)

Spares for cars are dearer here but hourly rate for us at our local garaje is 26€ think Citroën are about 49€.

I think food shopping is slightly less than UK, we do not use UK stores, apart from closest is an hour away, live in Spain use their products. But we have friends that do use them.

Fuel at Al Campo in Motril for diesal is currently 127.4€ but locally 142.7€ we dont use him!

If you have pets veterinary prices are less.

Hope it goes well for you

pete_l

To address your sepecific points:
If you are looking for a like-for-like location (i.e. from rural to rural, from suburb to suburb), then the same sized property will cost you less to buy in Spain. But most people are looking for a change ... and hardly anyone in England has a swimming pool.
Property taxes are cheaper in Spain than Council tax is in the UK, but it pays for fewer things than C.T. does.

Second hand cars in Spain are more expensive, like-for-like. There is also less choice and fewer safeguards for buyers. I found that insuring a s/h car in Spain was more expensive (€550 c.f. £260), even when the included breakdown cover was taken into account. One factor though was the Spanish insurers wouldn't give me my full no-claims discount.

Fuel: Petrol is pretty similar in price, but diesel is cheaper in Spain. Car maintenance is cheaper if you can find a garage who can actually fix a problem. There are many, many utterly terrible mechanics about, who could well make things worse. They also seem to take forever (days or weeks) to get around to it.

Electricity is more expensive in Spain, water is cheaper (go figure!), gas is cheaper. For the last year I was in England (2012) my total energy costs were just less than £800. I estimate my energy costs for this year in Spain will be about €1300 (of which €900 is electricity). That's with no air-con, but with gas c/h in England and a larger house in Spain.

Food & clothing, depends greatly on where you live. In my local supermarkets, out in the countryside a week's food from local spanish supermarkets (smaller than english ones) costs me a little over €55, compared with maybe £30 in Sainsbury's in S.E. England. In large towns with a Carrefour, Alcampo or the like, it could be cheaper - and wth a wider range of choices. If you want convenience food & ready meals, Spain seems to be at the "frozen lasagne" stage (i.e. about 1975) and there doesn't appear to be much imported stuff. Clothes seem to follow the same pattern. I bought a cheap pair of walking shoes in Carrefour Granada recently for €12. I've seen the same sort of shoes in local shops for €30-40
Booze is much cheaper and (funnily) the Spanish don't seem to have judgemental newspapers whining about a binge-drinking problem.

Household furnishings seem to be more expensive and with less choice (and with a higher chipboard content) - though IKEA is starting to make inroads. There also seems to be a certain "style" to spanish furniture and their beds are too short. My local furniture store sells some double beds that are for adults which are only 170cm long!

HBG

Our normal food and drinks bill for a normal couple with two dogs is around £100 per week. We shop in normal Spanish supermarkets, often get our fruit and vegetables in Lidl, chicken and fish in Mercadona, drinks in Consum (soft and hard), and bread in a proper baker's.

We treat ourselves to at least one meal out a week and seldom have a menu del dia.

From what my children in the UK tell me, my utility bills are no higher than theirs. It always makes me laugh out loud when they tell me their council tax bills - how on earth did the authorities back home allow that to happen?

Neptuno

How come your water is 40e per quarter? more like 40 a month here.
As for IBI yes a lot cheaper, however people in the Campo are paying derisory amounts compared to those on urbanisations;some get away with paying none and are not chased up!
Despite some things being cheaper, allow for:
Health costs
Cost of visits to UK
Accountant's bills
Inheritance tax-the elephant in the room, but it has to be faced.

Fred James

Water charges are hugely variable depending on where you live and the origin of the supply.

Living in the Campo does not necessarily result in low IBI bills. We live in the Campo and our IBI is €450 a year.

Anyone living in the campo with a low or non existent IBI bill is probably in an illegal property.

pete_l

Just received the annual IBI bill for my 130m² campo house + 2000m² of land. it's all perfectly legal and the bill was €85.