helen52

Posts: 9

helen52 is an unknown quantity at this point

Advice Needed RE Moving!
Hi my name is Helen
I am 53 my husband 58
can anyone give me some genuine serious advice, In 3 weeks my husband and I are coming to Chiclana De la Frontera to view properties, with the intention of moving permanently, our property is up for sale in the UK, although had no proper interest yet, we intend to give up our jobs in the UK and take early retirement, our only income will be the profit from our house in UK we will have to live for approx 7 years till my husbands retirement age. we cannot afford a lavish property just a modest one, does anyone think in this economic climate both in UK and especially Spain is this a good idea, and is chiclana a good place to live, any advice appreciated anyone live in this area, what about the rustic properties with septic tank, etc

caroline c

Hi Helen,

We have lived in Chiclana for over eight years now. My best advice to you would be don´t believe anything you are told when buying property here. Most of the property in Chiclana is illegal and not yet urbanised. You can find many cheap properties here but be careful, quite a lot do not have a legal electric supply. The best thing to do when you do find a property you like would be to go to the town hall and visit the urbanisation offices and they will tell you if there are any serious problems with any property. We have major problems with our property and are now using a lawyer from Conil not from Chiclana as you can´t trust many of them here if any. The lawyer we are using is Juan Antonio you can find his details and a lot of information from the local expat site for Chiclana www.mycadiz.biz On the good side if you are looking for a quiet Spanish town then Chiclana is the place for you. I don´t want to put you off Chiclana it is a lovely place but please, please be very careful as we trusted people when we first came here and are now in danger of having our home demolished.

Lynn R

Hello Helen, welcome to the forum.

I can't tell you anything about Chiclana as I live a very long way from there, but my OH and I did exactly what you are thinking of in 2006.

We had bought a house East of Malaga in 2003 with the intention of retiring there eventually, but through a combination of circumstances found ourselves in a position to make the move rather sooner than we'd thought, so we went ahead. We haven't regretted it, but I would say the main things you need to be sure of are:-

1) Will the proceeds of your house sale in the UK really be enough for you to buy a Spanish property outright, including the taxes and legal fees you will have to pay, and provide all your living expenses (plus a contingency fund for unforeseen emergencies)? If you ask, how much would you need to live on, that's really a how long is a piece of string question as everything depends on what kind of lifestyle you want.
2) When the 7 years is up, will you have enough GUARANTEED pension income between you to continue to live comfortably? We felt able to take the step because most of our pension income will be from final salary pension schemes with index linked increases.
3) You can get up to 2 years' cover in the Spanish state health system by obtaining an S1 form from the DWP before you leave the UK, but after that runs out you would need to pay for private medical insurance until one of you starts receiving a British state pension, at which time you can get another S1 to enable you to be covered by the state system again as a pensioner. During this period you would also need to pay 100% of the cost of any medication you might be prescribed. The current Spanish government is planning the introduction of increased prescription charges and charging for other items as part of their raft of austerity measures, so costs are only going to increase.

Many people are saying that renting is a better option than buying in Spain in the current economic climate. Personally, we preferred to have the security of a mortgage-free guaranteed roof over our heads, but that's a choice only you can make. Do be very, very careful if you are looking at rustic properties though, as many people bought houses which they thought were fully legal only to have them declared illegal by the Junta de Andalucia.

helen52

thanks for your replies, hope to have £50,000 left over will this be enough, to live on, hope to get some inheritance in the future, and also some investment I have, in the next 5 years, can you tell me what the average cost of living is in chiclana or Spain for that matter, not living a lavish lifestyle someone wrote to me before that they can easily live on £5,500 not including hols and eating out etc. and they ran 2 cars. am worried about the legal side we are viewing with andaluz property, Cadiz casa, they warned us about these things and some of the properties I wanted to view they advised against, who did you buy with,? one offered to take us to the town hall or get us a solicitor but can they be trusted, don't think we can afford an urbanized property as they are far dearer,

helen52

anything specific I should read on the link to the website you gave me

helen52

viewing with cadiz casa, andaluz homes, sunshine group and skyline have you heard of them are they reputable, cadiz casa is a Scottish chap seemed the most honest

Rosemary

One way of looking at your finances is to decide whether you could live on the money in the manner that you would like to in the UK and if the answer is yes then it would also be sufficient for Spain.

Costs seem to vary from area to area but the majority of people say that the cost of living is a little less in Spain now whereas in the past it was a lot lower in Spain.

Rosemary

jojojojojo

I've not heard of any of these companies, but be very wary of those who fly you over and insist you bring a credit card!! We used those a couple of times, they lied, they exaggerated and tried "too hard" to make us part with a deposit....... Most of those types of companies have gone now, but there are still one or two trying it on. There's no substitute for finding out about house buying in Spain on your own and doing your own research - independently!!

Jo xxx

jo-ann

I have heard of the first 3 but not of Skyline, have a look at mycadiz.biz as there are some properties for sale on there, also have a look at properties in and around Conil as a lot of the problem properties are in the Chiclana area and I haven't heard so much of it around Conil. Best advice is to rent for a period first to experience what living is really like here. I love it but it doesn't suit everybody.

caroline c

Personally I would not touch a lawyer from Chiclana with a barge pole and please do not use a lawyer the estate agent may recommend.

If you go on My Cadiz Biz and ask for recommendations for estate agents you may get recommendations but be aware that they may be from people who get work from a particular agent they are recommending so be aware of this.

Like I said before if you do find a house you like please go along to the urbanisation offices and ask there if there are any major problems with the property e.g. there may be a new road going to be built through it, it may be on protected land, it may never be legalised etc., etc. If you don´t speak Spanish you could ask for an inindependent translator on My Cadiz Biz.

Please don´t believe everything you are told by agents, lawyers in Chiclana, bank managers etc. I am speaking from experience here we believed these people and they all lied to us.

The only people who told us the truth which was after we had bought our property and moved in were the Urbanisation dept. and they told us they are going to demolish our house. We have been fighting for our property for years now. I wish someone had told us what I am telling you. You really don´t expect lawyers etc. to lie to you.

We didn´t speak Spanish at the time and trusted the people we should have been able to trust but now we and many others know better.

Some agents will still tell you anything to sell you a house. A friend of mine came over from the UK recently and was interested in a property. We know for a fact that there is going to be a major new road running next to this property which will totally spoil it, we know this because we had been to the urbanisation dept. to see the plans. The agent insisted this was not true. I know who I believed so did our friend who who rightly so didn´t buy the property. The agent was one of the ones you are going with so be very careful.

Like I said use an independant lawyer e.g. Juan Antonio and go visit the Urbanisation offices and then you should get some truthful advice.

Also don´t be rushed into buying a property many of them have been on the market for years.

I am sure a lot of people e.g. agents, people trying to sell property wont like what I have written here but I am speaking from experience.

Please don´t let me put you off Chiclana you will find a cheap property and it is a nice place to live you just need to be careful.

Lynn R

We live in a townhouse (not on an urbanisation) and our bills are very low. We don't eat out a lot (unless we're on holiday) or have a car (by choice, public transport is excellent where we live and we don't need one). However, we are currently spending a lot more than £5,500 a year - more like 3 times that. We do have to pay for private medical insurance (as you would for 5 years out of the 7 you mentioned). We also go away for short breaks within Spain probably 4 times a year and in addition I go back to the UK for visits twice a year. Even if you took the cost of trips away out of the equation, I don't think we could manage long term on less than 1,000€ per month. You might do it for a year, but living at real subsistence level for longer than that would be pretty miserable - and unexpected things do have a habit of cropping up that cost money. That can cause problems if you haven't got anything set aside. For example, a month after we moved my father had a stroke in the UK and I had to spend a lot more than I'd anticipated flying backwards and forwards over the next six months.

Chiclanagir

My advice is don´t do it. Yes come over but don´t sell your home in the UK. Rent it out for at least a year, possibly two. Rent in Chiclana you will have plenty of choice. As my old Spanish teacher said, "This is bandit country". At the time when we first moved I thought he was mad to say this, I know better now. What if you don´t like it and you have sold up bought a house which then becomes unsellable and you cannot move back? You will need at least 1000 euros a month to live on especially if you have to pay health insurance. However, you should get the first two years from the UK providing you have paid enough N.I. stamps. You also need to take in to account whether there is legal electricity on the property plus a good supply of water. Some areas do have problems with the latter. We were given warnings when we first arrived but ignored them, luckily for us in the end it has turned out okay but for others including Caroline it hasn´t. Our lawyer when we expressed our worries told us that everything was fine until the day we signed all our paperwork and then found that our electric had been cut off. On returning to her office she told us "Oh yes, it is a problem in Chiclana".

On the good side it is a beautiful place to live in and I always look forward to coming back from my UK trips. But it is better that you take any blinkers off.

rammy100

Coincidentally, we are thinking of doing something similar to you and appear (in our late 40s) to be in a similar age-group to you Helen. We are researching the best way to make a move but have entirely disregarded the option of selling our house.

Economically, we feel Spain is a very risky place to buy somewhere now compounded by a potential Euro collapse in Spain and (in your area at least from what other posters say) illegal properties. Instead, look at renting out your UK home and renting somewhere else in Spain where I understand (from this forum) you can get a decent place for €400-€500 per month.

If you need some of your house proceeds to live on, again I think you should consider a less-risky approach. Sell up, stick the capital in a safe UK bank at as high an interest rate you can muster and gradually draw down on the income, watching Spanish and UK housing markets as you go.

This way you are not putting all your eggs into one basket and if it does go heads up (hopefully it won't but you never know) you have not risked everything. You can test the water, work out where you spend your money and if it does all work then you can re-evaluate and adapt your plans.

Dave

helen52

Thanks for everyone's advice think we will put it on hold for the time being your advice is very good.

Fredbargate

When I am dealing with any company I like to see a physical address with a landline telephone number and preferably a photo of the person.
Those with a contact form and a mobile phone I avoid like the plague.