Dee&Geoff

Hi All,
We plan on selling our home in Wales as we are now renting in rural Aberdeenshire. We have found an amazing house we are organising a trip over to view along with a few others. If all goes well and we sell our house we would move full time to Spain and I would fly as and when required for work but would still be working for a company in the UK and paying UK tax, so once we gain residencia would I have to also pay Spanish Tax as well as UK?

Also we are in the process of getting pre approved for a Spanish mortgage so would fixed rate or variable be the best option?. I'm thinking variable with Brexit and the way the Corona virus is unsettling the markets but would like to hear opinions as Im defo no financial genius :-)

snikpoh

Personally, I would get a fixed rate mortgage - they can't go much lower!

Make sure you don't become tax resident in the same year that you sell in UK as you will then incur Spanish CGT

Yes, you will be taxed in Spain. However, any tax paid in UK can be offset. This is quite a complex area so you should take financial advise regarding living in one country but earning an income in another.

Moses2013

I don't know where you are buying in Spain but property purchase taxes will also be different from region to region. This was on the newsletter recently:
For GBP earners wanting a fixed rate, there are only a few banks we can approach. One of these usually insists on the client taking out a single-premium life cover policy, which many clients don’t like. Also, for British clients only, the same lender has reduced the maximum debt-to-income level from 35% to 20% and they have also reduced maximum borrowing for British clients from 70% to 60%. The result is that far fewer British clients can now qualify for a mortgage with this lender. Despite the increased difficulty of qualifying with the above lender, for a standard enquiry and loan of around €200.000 the fixed rates are still very attractive.

Personally I went for fixed and just want security + the rates in Spain are lower than they are for us in Ireland. But we also earn € in Ireland.

Dee&Geoff

Thanks Snikpoh and Moses2013, it makes sense to get sound financial advise so would do that, have just had a mortgage approved in principal by Openbank as we bank with Santander in the UK but until we sell our house its all just gaining info. And to answer your question Moses2013 the house is near Oria in Andalucia so not sure of that areas taxes etc

Moses2013

I remember you were previously looking around Valencia and wanted to move to Spain because of your wife having Arthritus. Be aware that it can get cold in those areas during winter too and it really is far from everything, so don't be fooled by cheap property prices. The area does seem to attract many Brits who buy and then try to sell again when they get older, because there really is not much to do. Sun, a bank and supermarket can be found everywhere.

Dee&Geoff

Yes you are spot on there, we found a property that had been on the market for over a year, booked a viewing was not really keen on the surrounding area but the house was spot on as soon as we had viewed she took it off the market so not sure why she changed her mind, may be relationship problems we will never know.

I like rural and green so it was always going to be France for me but Denise prefered Spain, so she always said around the Grenada area would appeal to me and she was right hence our new search area. We are the only property in the area now and prefer that but being able to dip in and out with the other Ex Pats sounds good as well as the locals so think we would be happy but understand what you was saying and it does make sense but more rural the better.

Moses2013

Yes but you can have rural with being close to other things. You have to really visit at different times of the year and while you might see some green in winter or autumn, some places are like deserts during summer.
No offence but it's a problem many Brits have and you have to look at the wider picture, as buying and selling is not like the UK. Think Spanish and would many Spanish who aren't from that area buy there, what is life like when you really get older and the sunshine is no longer special.

Dee&Geoff

Makes sense what you are saying so we are planning on coming over this summer and trying diferent areas and see what we like the look of

Moses2013

I would highly recommend to do that before buying. I've driven through those parts all the way down to Almeria and although that was a few years ago, I doubt much has changed since then.
We personally only have a holiday home in Spain and avoid going in summer anyway but we wanted to at least have all options around us if we'd ever move there permanently.