Some interesting numbers on the Padron released today by INE, the Spanish statistics institute. The total number registered on the Padron decreased by nearly 10% during 2013. For expats the fall was 13% with the British registering a staggering decrease of 22% in one year, the Germans 23%. Valencia had the biggest percentage fall and the British have the highest average age of resident foreigners at 52.5 years.

Could it be that expats have responded to the Declaration of Assets by voting with their feet? You can read it all here in Spanish

http://www.ine.es/prensa/np838.pdf

No it didnt, the total fell by less than 1%, not 10%

However, the 22% decrease in British people is correct

I wonder - have they actually left Spain or just deregistered from the padron because they are worried about declaring their assets? Are there really less than 300,000 Brits living in Spain?

Quite right 1%. I don´t doubt that there are more than 300,000 Brits living in Spain, but the fact that so many took the proactive step of de-registering during 2013 must have had a significant cause. Of course leaving the Padron does not necessarily mean they have left Spain.

Was just reading much the same here, http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/04/22/...68_875568.html

I can't supply any quotes or opinions from newspapers, but I've witnessed many people leaving of late. De-registering never happened before when people left to go home, but it's an established art from now.

There's no point in speculating why, we all know.

I am sure if you were to camp out at Malaga Airport Departures you would see them leaving in their droves.
And some of them come back

ahh - but did they actually de-register during this last year, or had they left over the past few years, not de-registered, & local authorities have been checking up to see who's still around, as required by Madrid


I know my ayto & many others have been very pro-active in checking - even to the extent of sending police to addresses to see if anyone lives there

mostly they just sent out letters asking the occupier of the home to confirm their continued presence (or otherwise)

So it could be that 80,000 British people have ignored that strange letter from the ayuntamiento, and havent left the country at all

I think some are just very naughty boys and are lying low. I hope they realise that the energy companies supply the Hacienda with details of energy consumption for residential houses. If they are declaring as non residents and are not reporting rental income from their Spanish property, the Hacienda may want to know who is living at the property.

Jeezuz, sounds like the gestapo

the ayto isn't legally allowed to remove them without checking for certain that they aren't actually there - hence police actually going round the homes

just not turning up to confirm your presence doesn't count as proof of your absence

iyswim

they had to - for the reasons in my post above

it can mean a lot of money to a town - in my town it's estimated that the coffers are down by about 2 million a year, due to residents who should be on the padrón, not registering

They don't make it easy for people.

what's not easy about it?

all you have to do is roll up with proof of address & your passport


& it's free, too

I was asked a question a few days ago.

A friend of mine has a small seasonal business in Spain, it was an all year round shop but since last year only òpen from around May to September, she has not opened yet for this year.

She has been working for quite a few years paying as a self employed person.

The question is, that she wants to get in the 15 years pension in for a Spanish one, and would like to know if she could be in Spain for 5 to six months, but keeping under the 183 days, and be self employed for that time.

The rest of the year she will be working in the UK.

That way will she qualify for the Spanish pension when the time comes?

As she owns quite a valuable property in the UK, where her son lives, and to be honest she does not want to risk being a Spanish resident, in case the worst should happen.