Sunnytimes

Hi, I am keen to hear how people made a permanent move to Spain?

Did you sell your car(s), fly over with your suitcases and personal effects and have your furniture and or boxes transported?

We thought about taking one of our cars with us, it would get us there along with our private/personal items and use it until we find it too expensive to have to have all the changes made so sell/scrap it at that point as the car would have little value as it would be 10 years old.

Any advice of renting out our UK home? We would, we presume, pay income tax on the income in the UK but worried that Spain will tax us on it as well?

Loads of questions arising so won't throw out too many questions yet. We are planning on moving out permanently in 16 months time.

Thanks all.

mikelincs

Welcome to BE.

Spain will tax you on your total worldwide income, no matter what the source, so you should either register to pay no tax in the UK, or you can claim any UK tax paid against tax owed in Spain.

when we moved to Spain we took suitcases with enough to last a few days until the furniture was delivered, we already had bought a house there (not something I would recommend), We had to stay a few days more in the Aparthotel as the movers were running a few days late, however they did pay for the extra accommodation costs.

tebo53

Hi, we made the permanent move to Spain two and half years ago. We planned the move over several years and did loads of research (this site was a god send) we visited the area loads of times to see wether it would be suitable or indeed viable.

We made a final decision and sold everything we had apart from very personal items and as you said in your post "we came over with just our suitcases". We did however, have several boxes delivered a few weeks later with some extra bits. We had boxes delivered door to door for £300. We sold up completely, house, car, motorbike, furniture etc,etc. We didn't want to keep our house in the UK or rent it out to create income as in our own opinion, it's to much hassle at our age and we didn't want to ever move back to that area of the UK.

We rent here and don't want to buy anywhere in Spain. We are happy to pay our rent and other bills and have a stress free life.

Think about everything carefully and do plenty of research. Life here is not a bed of roses but it's far healthier and stress free.

Follow your dream.

Steve

Rosemary

Hi and a warm welcome to the Spanish forum on BE. Myself and Fred James are the moderators for the Spanish forums whilst BEVS moderates Europe. Moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. This is so that members gain the information that they are looking for and find their experiences on the forums to be friendly and worthwhile.

Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderator who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are usually friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge about the issues of living in Spain. I hope that you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

Mark604

It took us about five or six years of frequent visits to determine what, where and when and arrived with suitcases and a load of important paperwork like birth certificates, qualifications etc etc. We used IKEA for the main bulk of furniture like beds and bits and bobs for the kitchen and sourced the rest whenever we saw something. Everything else was sold or given away or left behind.

Sunnytimes

Thank you for your responses on how you made the move to Spain. The main reason we want to rent out our house is to boost our income as only one of us will be state pension age. Renting out our house is daunting but we plan to buy a mobile home to start with whilst still having a foothold in the UK. Has anybody had experience of renting out their properties whilst living abroad?

mikelincs

Remember to get your S1 from the DWP, as long as one of you is if pension age, then you BOTH will be entitled to 'Free' Spanish healthcare, it's not quite free, but almost. Brexit will not have been completed, so the current EU rules should still apply.

teuchterpete

We spent 2 years looking around and researching before finding our home over here and deciding to buy it and throw all into living over here. Our house was completely empty and we relied on IKEA for most of the basics. Looking into the cost of removals, we decided to dispose of all of our furniture, and start again over here. If it did not fit into out fiesta it did not come, and that consisted of two trips on summer holidays before our permanant move. On the point of cars, we initially brought our ( nearly new ) uk car with us, with the idea of matriculating it. On a trip to Ikea in Malaga, we got it broken into, and we were told that many expats drive uk cars around on uk plates illegally, so they are an easy target, for break ins,as the owners cannot report them to the policia ( our was perfectly legal in all respects) Given the nightmare of the Spanish paper system, I would sell that too, and buy a Spanish car over here ( second hand cars are more expensive over here)
My words of advice would be: Whatever you do, be patient, and do not try to shortcut the Spanish paperwork system, it won't work! I tried, and I got my power cut off! All because Endesa woulde not recognise me as the legal owner of the property until I had the meter moved outside, this despite a letter from me, and two from my solicitor! Having said all that I am here and I am stopping here, with or without Brexit!
Pete

chopera

Rented out property (as furnished) in UK, anything valuable went to my parents' attic (where it still is), everything else went to the charity shop. Got on plane. Spent a couple of years renting while checking out areas to buy in. Bought a flat along with mainly cheap Ikea furniture to begin with, which we gradually upgraded over the years.

I'm very glad a did that way, I felt like I was building a new life rather than trying to relocate my existing life to another country.

Horlics

There's a form you should fill in NRL1i which requests that you get your rental income gross from your agent (if you are using one). You then declare the income on a self assessment. Rental income on UK property is taxed by HMRC and not by Spain.

If you're shifting your rental income over to Spain frequently you should find one of the exchange companies, don't use your bank's transfer system, they charge too much.

chopera

Yup, been renting mine while living in Spain for 13 years now. I just pay an agent 9% for full management and let them get on with it. Occasionally stuff needs to be fixed, which they handle and I pay for. I need to declare the rental income in the UK as well as Spain, but since it's my only income in the UK and it doesn't take me above the tax free allowance (after taking into account mortgage interest payments) I don't end up paying any tax in the UK. I end up paying tax in Spain though, but Spain still allows you to offset against mortgage interest payments to an extent (I can't remember the exact details as my gestor handles it). So my recommendation is to consider taking out a large mortgage against your UK house before moving to Spain as it might well end up being tax efficient, and it will be difficult to do so once you no longer live in the UK. The other thing to bear in mind is that you'll probably be subject to CGT in Spain if you subsequently sell your house in the UK, and you'll need to declare it on the modulo 720 as well (which won't cost you anything, but there are large fines if you fail to do so)

chopera

Yes it is taxed by Spain. the dual tax agreement means you don't pay the same tax twice, but you need to declare the income in Spain as well, and you may get taxed on it (I do).

Sunnytimes

Thanks everyone for your input to this thread on how you moved to Spain. I seem to be viewing the move as a lot of bother with what seems like quite a few pitfalls! I wish I was of the type that just get up and go and worry about the paperwork and consequences later but I like to think I am looking at all aspects about moving to Spain thoroughly. I think from reading what has has been said is that we should definitely sell both our cars and buy a Spanish car when we get over there, seems to eliminate a lot of bother by all accounts. Now thinking about another option of just selling up to eliminate the bother with estate agent management fees, possible bad tenants, damage etc. But then we have all the problems with tax on savings to declare. Still a lot to look into and I need to start taking notes. Thanks all, much appreciated.

pwwm

Just to say, here 10 years old for a car is nothing, we sold a 1995 Discovery back end of last year for 3k with 250 000kms on the clock, Cars dont rust in our end of Spain. We drove our LHD car over from UK rematriculated it kept for 12 years. now see it being driven by a chap from the mountains.

marcbernard

Tax is only levelled on income (interest etc) not on the capital (unless you have a hell of a lot, rightly).