seasideman

I am looking at moving to Benidorm and would like some advice.

It will be for three adults. I am looking for advice on renting. I do not wish to buy but would like to rent. I would also like to know, realisticly how much income would you need to survive in Benidorm, as well as where are the best expat communities in benidorm

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

missile

Enjoy

tebo53

Hi, myself and my better half moved out to Benidorm just over a year ago. We rent a nice 2 bedroom apartment about 10 minutes walk from the indoor market and we pay 500€ a month plus electric, water is in with the rent. We "survive" very nicely on 1200€ income/month. There are no "best expat communities". You get back what you are willing to put in!

We love it here in Benidorm. Best of luck.
Steve.

Teresa1967

Hi we are looking to move to Benidorm and was told that alfaz del pi was known for expats,

mikelincs

Alfaz, Altea and Albir are just a few minutes bus ride, or car, from Benidorm. but without the huge number of tourists

seasideman

Hi Steve, I would love to hear more from you as I am finding it very hard to find the information I need.

Some of the things I have been concerned about is

1. Rental. I do not want to be renting a new home every twelve months and moving around all the time. How secure is it when you rent somewhere.

2. How much are the bills each month, ex, water, electric on average

3. If you do not mind, can I ask how young you are. My wife is looking to retire early as she has got early stages of copd and has been told it will not develop if we make life style changes. We have always thought about moving to Benidorm but this has made us want to move quicker.

4. The income per month has been a worry to us as my wife will not have an income and the income would be down to me. I am 45 and work for myself and can work anywhere in the world, but I do not want to be working as many long hours as I do now. So, I would be looking at reducing my workload and bringing in an income of around £1400 a month.

We are going to rent somewhere for six months to begin with as my daughter will be finishing uni, and we want to get a feel for the place to make sure we are making the right choice. I am coming out in March and instead of staying in a hotel, I am thinking of renting an apartment so we can see the other side.

Can I ask if you have looked into buying your own property or does renting suit you better. I have always said I wanted to rent but then people have said you should look to buy, but I am not sure. I have a property in the UK and looking to keep it on and rent it out.

seasideman

mikelincs, sounds like you are from the same neck of the woods as me. Do you live in Benidorm.

What I am looking for is to move to a place where we can meet new people from the UK. I do not want to move somewhere and we feel isolated, we would like to be part of a community and make friends.

I also want to be near enough to Benidorm so we can go to the beach, live near the beach now, and to also go shopping and nights out when we fancy it.

I have not visited the areas that you mentioned and will do on my next visit. The other problem I have is, how do you find accomodation, what rental people do people use.

mikelincs

Albir is on the coast, so has it's own beach, and we lived there before moving back to the UK, pleanty of shopping, supermarkets etc, and pleanty of bars/restaurants etc. There is a good health centre, and a walk along the coast is recommended. Albir even has it's own cricket ground, which also is a golf range as well.

seasideman

Can I ask why you moved back. I have read about lots of people moving back from Benidorm to the UK and this does worry me. I am trying to find out the truth of moving to Spain and the struggles we may face as well as the type of property we could expect to rent out there.

mikelincs

basically it was financial, when we moved to Spain the exchange rate was €1.50 to the pound, when we decided to return to the UK it had decreased to less tahn €1.10 and looked as it might well be heading lower. So we were getting less and less into our Spanish bank, but the cost of living was rising.

seasideman

Thank you Mike, these are the type of things that are very important to know. A lot of people do not think about financial and this is something we need to think about. Did you rent. How much were you replying on each month for income.

I do not want to be working every hour of the day as I do that now. I want to be able to slow down but need to know realisticly how much I should need to live on in pounds.

What items were you finding that were increasing in price. The rent due to the euro would be a huge factor. We want to rent as we have a property in the UK and do not want to sell it, but lots of people are saying you should buy, but not sure how mortgages work out in Spain.

I am looking at around £1,400 per month, but not sure if that is enough to live on for two people. I really do not want to work any harder than that as the whole point it to spend more time with my wife as at the moment we hardly get time together with us both working long hours.

Mitzyboy

I can chip in there as well as moved back after nearly 7 years in CB North

Firstly, I dont regret living there, it was great time.

You have to take on board that you will face similar challenges in Spain that you did in the UK. It's just sunnier and warmer. Bureaucracy is always a challenge, the things you have to do to get simple stuff done.

We moved back for a number of reasons, partly health and partly the tax situation in Spain which affected us possibly more than a lot of people on here. Lets not start another discussion on that .

The cost of living I still say in the CB North is better than the UK. Housing taxes are less, fuel, and groceries as long as you take care as to where you shop.

I dont regret moving to Spain, and I dont regret moving back to the UK. Spain isn't for everyone once you get past the holiday period. As I said, it's can be just like the UK only warmer, and in a country where you initially dont understand how everything works

You're doing the right thing by renting. I've been through and to Alfaz a number of times. It didnt feel like Spain. I used to make regular trips to Benidorm because (suprise suprise) I liked it. However the Southern beach area / old town were always where we stayed and we preferred it to the Spotted Dog and Red Lion areas

Good luck with what you do

seasideman

hearing a lot about Bureaucracy but no one is expanding on that. Would you move back to Spain.

What I am trying to find out is what it is really like living there. I would still be working around five hours a day instead of the long hours i do now, which can be around 12 hours a day.

Rosemary

When you first move to Spain you have a fair amount of paperwork to deal with at various offices which can be very time consuming so people get annoyed about it but once that is done it only occurs if there are changes in your situation.

So the basics are:

NIE
Padron
Certificate of residencia which means signing on the foreigners register
SIP card if you are eligible or if not making sure that you have alternative health cover
If bringing a car it needs to be matriculated
Organising things such as gas bottles, electricity, local tax, car tax.

Later:

Completing the tax form even if this is a nil return.
Licences for any work completed on the house.

I feel sure that I have forgotten something important but I am sure that others will soon tell us what it is.

Rosemary