Smithy73

Man, I think you missed the point I was trying to make. There is nothing wrong with living in a Spanish apartment... Generally they are bigger than the UK equivalent and some offer great outdoor space if you not bothered about a garden....

But not if you want to rent it out on Airbnb and expect to get a tourist license! I tried to buy a beautiful 2 bedroom apartment last September in the centre of Valence, in Ruzafa purely to rent out on a short term basis only. My lawyer who is excellent, checked with the town hall in Valencia city and told me - Do not buy this apartment, you will NOT get a tourist license on it!

Being a long term landlord is not a business model I would be interested in here - the rents are low and there are no legal safe guards when things go wrong and the tenant has all the rights etc. No issues with Gandia as such, as its a fairly wealthy area... I was talking about what happens when things go wrong and the tenant decides not to pay the rent. There is nothing you can do about it and you will have a 4 to 5 year battle trying to get them out. At least in the UK the legal system moves to get you a hearing in a matter of months... here it is years for something not urgent like a tenant not paying rent.

dougal03

I think you have to decide if you want long term or holiday rentals,as you point out Smithy.I have never considered short term which is more lucrative,as I only had my rental as an investment for my granddaughter so just needed a tenant who would not trash my property(hopefully).Two things to consider for holiday rentals,(a) the change over cleaning arrangements which can be costly if you have to outsource that (b) to consider the neighbours if you have problems with a rowdy family or group.And of course the Spanish Govn.does take a large fee annually.Should you decide later that you want to sell instead of eventually using it as your residence,you will have a tax to pay as it was not your main residence.As someone remarked recently to me,people should not believe all they hear on British TV programmes about how much you can earn with holiday rentals.I was perhaps very fortunate as I never did have any problem with a tenant but I am glad that I had a business quite unconnected with the property section.

Smithy73

So figures to give you an idea on a €200K 3 or 4 Bedroom Villa with pool near to the beach in Costa Azahar.

EVERYTHING reasonable rents for the 8 weeks of July and August minimum in the Gandia area - I mean everything that is clean and serviceable within 20mins drive of the beach - must have a pool though.
It's not difficult to get 12 weeks... So some of June and September for example.
For the above Villa in this area you should expect €800 - €1000 a week - depends a little on area and how newly refurbished
Change overs tend to be €100-120 a time - So a cleaner comes in cleans your house completely and does the laundry... all bedding and towels
Pool Cleaning €65 a month

You have the normally bills on your holiday home, whether its rented out or not etc

As a non resident you will need to declare this and pay 19.5% on your €6400-8000 income (8 week example), but you get tax relief - for example, on home insurance, mortgage loan interest payments, property maintenance expenses etc.

I would suggest that the income left after tax (on the above) would pay all of the bills on the property and give you quite a lot of spending money for the various holidays at your Spanish home.

There is capital gains tax to pay on the sale, only if you have made a profit as in the UK. If you are non resident there is an automatic 3% taken at the point of sale, which you then claim back if no profit has been made.

I give this rough break down from experience. I have neighbours who manage to get 20 weeks rental out of their places.

dougal03

Sounds goods as long as you can get those bookings.I know how much the standing charge is for electricity & water if you have a vacancy.My daughter had a business which had contracts with Scandinavian companies to oversee their changeover of properties in the holiday sector which included Benidorm,Alfaz & Albir.Obviously you can get rentals but the big boys have a lot more clout,which is why you must pick an area that will suit your needs.