Stingychips

Unless you have loads of money I wouldn’t even bother with Spain.

Joppa

What you do have is exemption from Spanish capital gains tax if you reinvest the proceeds into a Spanish principal residence, complete exemption if you reinvest 100% and pro-rata for lesser proportion. This has to be done within 2 years of selling your UK property, which must have been your principal residence.

Notdunroamin

Tbe OP's question is probably moot as I seriously doubt that €100k in savings but no income will get them through a visa appication.

Lynn R

We did something similar when we moved here in 2006 but that, of course, was before Brexit and having to show proof of considerably more financial resources than we ever did. I believe that for the purposes of obtaining the non-lucrative visa which you would need, the amount you need to show is approx €34k per annum for a couple. The visa has to be renewed in year 2 for 2 years, and in year 4 for a further 2 years untill you achieve permanent residency after 5 years, which means you still have to have €68k in reserve at the start of the 4th year - which, if you have been running down the capital to live on, might prove a problem. Those amounts will increase each year because they are based on the Spanish income figure above which a person would not be able to claim benefits, ie not be a burden on the state and that figure goes up each year but it is impossible to predict how large those increases might be.

In terms of the feasibility of such a plan, we knew that 3 years after we arrived my husband would start to draw his Local Government pension, and 5 years after that he would start to receive his UK state pension as well. Then 2 years after that I would start to receive my final salary pension from a former employer and a small Civil Service pension as well, and finally 6 years after that (which will be next year) I would get my UK state pension too. I also have a small SIPP pension I don't take any income from because I don't need it, so I leave that invested to provide some capital growth. So we could be sure that our incomes would gradually increase and we would not have to draw so much on our capital. It was just as well, because I'm sure you know what happened just about a year after we moved - the global financial crash. We had been getting 5.5% pa interest on our capital even in instant access deposit accounts and that dwindled to almost nothing within quite a short space of time. The sterling to euro exchange rate was about €1.40 to the pound at the time we moved and dropped to almost parity at one time. With hindsight we would have been better off transferring all of our savings to Spain at the time we moved, but we hadn't wanted to do that. I am not saying that could happen again, but ten years is a long time and the political situation is so volatile in many ways that I feel it's impossible to plan with the same degree of confidence that we could 20 years ago.

We don't need to spend a great deal of money on day to day expenses (we don't have a car, for instance, as we live somewhere with excellent public transport links). But living a simple life just paying the bills and going out once a week would, for me, get pretty boring once the novelty of not having to go to work every day wore off. Before the pandemic I always travelled back to the UK twice a year to see family and friends, and we went away for holidays usually 3 times a year as well, sometimes just within Spain where there is so much to see, and sometimes further afield just for a change of scene. We also needed to move house because of health problems I developed, and that's an expensive process in Spain. Things do crop up which you would never expect, and you need a financial cushion to be able to cope with the unexpected if they are not to become huge problems. As others have said, things do go up in price (private health insurance and house insurance premiums certainly do increase every year, and this year a lot of people have experienced big increases in their electricity bills) so you cannot count on your budget staying the same year after year.

Lou71

I think your plan would be more viable in Portugal. The tax system is far less draconian (no asset declaration) and they do not tax inheritance derived from the UK. There is also the NHR scheme whereby your UK income would be taxed at 10% for ten years - it used to be zero.

As far as visas are concerned, the minimum income requirement is much lower in Portugal and I think you would qualify for their equivalent of a non lucrative visa.

Before the wretched Brexit, you could have scraped by in Spain on that income but I doubt you would qualify under the third country rules.

Do either of you qualify for an EU passport?

Another bonus I forgot to mention. All residents in Portugal are entitled to free state health care so no need to pay for private health insurance.

Moses2013

I'd say it really depends what the OP expects from Spain and which location they are considering. Going to a random place in Portugal won't magically make life better and even Portugal is far from cheap these days. Sure you can still by cheap ruins and townhouses but these can often be far inland and infrastructure not great with more weather extremes. Can also be a lonely place and language even harder to learn.

agree_to_disagree

Guys, if BOJO triggers article 16 then the EU will pull the plug on the withdrawal agreement...

Not sure how that will impact the OP but generally it will be bad news.

Itstherestofthem

Thanks everyone.
just for clarity we were looking at the Almeria region.
I think based on all the fab advice we will keep saving and see what the situation is like in 3 years.
maybe we will purchase somewhere then as a holiday home rather than a permanent move?

Lou71

Well it was only a suggestion and in the event that Spain is not an option for the OP.

We have a foot in both Spain and Portugal and although I like both our homes equally, I would say Portugal has a slight edge over Spain. It's just an opinion.

I do know one thing though, if I was stuck in the UK right now I would be desperate to get out and would look at other places if my first choice was not an option.

agree_to_disagree

Why?

Fred James

For all the reasons that Lou posted. Did you not read his post?

Moses2013

Of course but it all comes down to location anyway. The OP isn't stuck either and there's no point buying a property for 100K just for the sake of it. Buying the wrong property in the wrong area might mean you are really stuck and living in poverty is not the dream either. The OP replied anyway and I think it makes sense to save a bit more and see what happens in the next 3 years.

EuroTrash

Not the Withdrawal Agreement. The UK has already withdrawn under that agreement, it's ringfenced and can't be changed.
They will likely suspend parts of the Trade & Co-operation Agreement and if it keeps escalating they will suspend the entire thing, but that is separate from the WA.

Chipmonk

It will not affect the WA agreement. It only affects trade and would firstly mean no change for a year then another year of constant wraggling. It has got nothing to do with visas, residency rights etc

agree_to_disagree

The talks that are happening between EU and UK are getting nowhere. COP ends today, so it is being reported that once that is over BOJO might move on article 16. I could imagine the UK might suspends parts of the NI protocol, that it doesn't like. Sterling will tank.