oilman4345

Hi;
I am a Scot who has been living /working in the Far East for the last couple of years.
It is my firm intention to retire at end of December and live (not work) near to Marbella. I would probably be away from Spain at least 4 months of every year as I love to travel.
I plan to travel to Spain in early January 2015; stay for a short while in a hotel until I can find a nice RENTAL apartment in or near Elviria. This I would rent for the first year during which time I would investigate the potential of purchasing.
I am fortunate in that I would not require any loans etc to buy a place.

What , if anything, is wrong with my logic as above.? Is there some bureaucracy I am not aware of? Can I open a bank account and if so what do I need?
Can I buy a car or do I need to be formally resident? Worst case could I buy a UK registered LHD car and keep it in Spain?
Does anyone know a trustworthy real estate agent they can recommend re leasing?

Thanks.

mikelincs

Nothing wrong with your logic, however you would have to become resident as that will be your main residence, and that means paying taxes on your worldwide income in Spain. You would be better to buy a Spanish registered car, as, if you bought a UK one, then you would have to matriculate it onto Spanish plates in any case as any UK registered car has to be street legal in it's country of registration, i.e. taxed and MOT'd. It's not really any cheaper to re register a LHD UK registered car that a RHD UK reg car as the lights etc would have to be changed as they would have been changed in the UK. Simpler to buy in Spain.

jonnyx

It is nothing wrong with your logic.
You just ned a NIE number to buy a car and you will also need a spanish bank account.
If you are interested of living close to Elviria I suggest that you chose somthing in Calahonda instead. Elviria belongs to Marbella and Calahonda to Mijas - the prices and fees in Marbella are higher than in Mijas.
To give you an Idea about prices for apartments in Calahonda:
Apartment for sale in Calahonda

oilman4345

Thanks for further information. I will investigate how to achieve an NIE and open a bank account.

Moses2013

Just to understand, what fees do you mean?

mikelincs

If you live in an apartment, or on an urbanisation there are annual fees to pay for the upkeep of the urbanisation, gardening, pool work, lighting, cleaning the outside parts, and these may well cover some of the council fees like rubbish collection. What fees are required are very much dependent on the urbanisation, the facilities etc. An urbanisation in one of the upmarket areas will be a lot more than in one of the less expensive ones. I've seen them from €300 a year to €3000.

oilman4345

Me again.
On looking into how to obtain a "NIE", it suggests I have to show some solid reason why I need one (such as proof of property purchase).
As I will initially rent for at least 6 months, what do I then need to show? Will a rental agreement suffice?

snikpoh

You will also need to be on the padron - this then enables the authorities (local town hall) to tax your vehicle. In Spain, car tax is a local, town hall, tax.

To get an NIE, as you say, you need a reason. I would suggest you simply put that you are buying a car.

oilman4345

Thanks!

cliff b

Leaning loads on this site, just found out what an NIE number is and what it is for

stevesainty

We got our NIE via Spanish consulate in Edinburgh, very friendly, very cheap, very quick. Got our car in Spain as soon as we got here from a very well known car hire company, well maintained, low mileage, all paperwork done for us and cheaper than equivalent vehicle on Autotrader UK.

Good luck with your move.

cliff b

How did you buy the car off the car hire company? Just contact them and ask if they had any for sale? which company was is?

stevesainty

Yep, pretty much. We went into the Goldcar showroom and asked. They had a spreadsheet with vehicles from all over Spain with make, model, age, mileage, price etc.
Chose one, took a test drive, then a week later drove it away with the temporary paperwork.
Three weeks later returned to collect the actual paperwork; piece of cake.

We know nothing about cars, always had someone in UK to do it for us, so we thought this was the least painful and most reliable option. So far so good.

cliff b

Well there's a coincidence, hired a car off Goldcar yesterday for my 10 day trip in October. Thanks Steve

pwwm

Make sure if over 2 years old it has an ITV, A friend, well in fact two different set of friends we know hired from Málaga this year, both stopped by GC for no ITV on the car,
( just a friendly warning from me), they didn't get the fine to be fair the company did, but do you want the hassle?