Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

My partner (44), myself (54) and our son (19) are planning on moving to Spain in a few months time. We're bringing our 2 dogs too.
We will be living off savings.
I was wondering what we need to consider; such as:-
area
solicitor/agent
landgrab
paying for the property/banking/tax
healthcare
UK benefits

I'm sure there are many more items for this list. If someone can add to it I would be very grateful. I can then go away and search in more detail against each subject.

Many thanks

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

AFAIK, the only benefit transferable is the DLA, healthcare for you would have to be private as free healthcare is only available for the those of retirement age. After 183 days you would be considered as tax resident, and would have to pay Spanish tax on your worldwide income, however the dual taxation treaty does apply with those countries signed up for it.
Landgrab tends to be in the more rural areas. Taxes do depend on the area you live in, and the type of development, if you are living in a community, then there will be annual community charges.
Do NOT use a solicitor recommended by an agent, they are not always working to your benefit, use an independent one, preferably one in your area that comes recommended by other people.
Shop around for house prices, there is NO single agent rule, so houses are often up with many agents, often at different prices.
Area will depend on what you want, beach, nightlife, type of house and I would suspect that a few look see trips would be useful.

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

Moving in a few months and you are just asking these questions now ? good luck I hope it all goes well for you and your son.

Have a search of this forum for the answers to your questions the info is all here somewhere. Living off savings, I hope you have millions as they wont last long having to pay for all the taxes and private health care.

Remember Spain has different costs for all sorts of things depending on the area you live in. It also has different ways of doing things, some paperwork not needed in one place all paperwork and some in others.

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

Thank you for your kind replies. Now I just need more people to add to my to do list pleeez! Many thanks

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

Our lawyer dealt with our house purchase and set up our bank account, utility providers, rates etc.inc. direct debits and the like. For us the process was straightforward and quick.
I cannot answer questions about living in Spain as I only use the house as holiday home.
There are many other posts on this try searching the forum.

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

Are your dogs chipped, have up-to-date rabies vaccinations and pet passports? You will need them.

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

Without delving in to your personal circumstances, savings only? No income for the years ahead? You'll soon find that your move over will eat up your money rapidly!
Good luck though.

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

Yeh, good luck! Let's hope they have a biiiig pot of savings. As someone has said, considering they are moving quite soon, there seems to have been little research done. What does the son intend doing?

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

cost of internet and is can you have a landline?

car tax depends on where you live, ours has actually gone down this year

I would and did only buy with mains wáter, didnt want a deposito.

decide whether to buy a car here against cost of re matriculating, pros and cons for both, 2nd hand cars here are expensive though

though we bought on the edge of our village, our garden is urban, so we pay more rates(IBI) on the land than we do on the house. If the garden had been rural then we wouldnt have paid. Added a lot onto the rates.

Again depends on the área what your car tax and rates will be. Car tax goes on the área you live in and not national.

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

I have just noticed you have not decided on an area. I must say you appear to be jumping into this without carrying out any research and that includes visiting areas to find something suitable for you including winter visits.
Do you to be by the sea or in the mountains? Do you want hot southern weather
(well in the summer anyway) or a more temperate northern climate? Town or village?etc.
There are many questions you need to ask and only you can answer.
This forum can help as it did me when I purchased and still does on occasion, however I knew the answers to the questions that only I could answer before then.
The more precise you can be in your questions the better the response you will receive from forum members.

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

Thank you all for your responses. We're hoping to buy a renovated finca or a rural villa in the Alicante region. We'll survive ok financially. Our dogs are chipped and vaccinated but no pet passport yet. I don't mean to be offend, but what my son will be doing wasn't one of the questions I need to add to my list. My main worry is how little I know about local authority and government policies, and all the form filling which will be involved. I'm aware I'll have to rely on the services of a lawyer. Are there any that you would recommend?
Much obliged to you all

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

No-one can make a recommendation until we know the area, much less vague than 'Alicante Region', you want to move to, and that must be your first consideration. I think people asked about your son knowing the dearth of jobs for non Spanish native, or fluent Spanish people. Official unemployment figures are something like 30%, and unofficially worse than that, with many jobs, if they can be found being 'on the black'.

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

Now, you should know better, Mike.

Did you not know that you have to stick strictly to the questions asked?

I hope I have no need to tell you this ever again.

:rofl:

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

I only asked about their son as unless they have some plan we don't know about, a 19 year old with no Spanish and no hope of a job stuck in the campo will be bored out of his skull. I'll leave them to it, but considering they are moving soon to as yet some unknown place, I find it incredible that they are only now starting to ask very basic question. Normally we get "we are thinking of moving next year/in two years time" sort of question.

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

One of the questions was "UK Benefits", perhaps you could answer that. ;)

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

see post #2.
:rofl:

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

I agree, it might be important to make sure the dogs are chipped etc, but you really can't overlook the 19 year olds needs.

When our son was 19, top of the list would have been 'opportunities for legovers.

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

Reading on another thread. his son is 'special needs', so that will need a lot of research, certainly probably more than the time frame. The OP need to understand that the benefit system in Spain is a huge amount different to the UK system.
this is a list of those benefits that are NOT available in Spain.

<Non-exportable UK benefits

The following benefits are for people who are ordinarily resident in the UK and under no circumstances are they available in Spain:

pension credit
council tax benefit
income support
housing benefit
means-tested incapacity benefit/employment support allowance

Remember – if you are in receipt of benefits, it’s an offence not to tell the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) if your circumstances change,>

There is plenty of info available on the internet, and a google search will bring up all the relevant articles.

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

Agree, best I leave it there, I think.:confused:

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

They will probably be giving up hundreds of pounds per week if they make the move:confused:

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

Hi Jaycee,

Add to your list the arrangements for removals. You will have to work out what you are going to shift from the UK to Spain and might want to weigh-up the costs of shipping (in the general sense of shifting stuff, rather than specifically sea freight) versus buying new.

I see you have dogs. I won't subject mine to the hold of an aircraft so driving is a must at some point. If you do that, you might want to look at van hire, in which case you can shift some stuff and the pooches at the same time.

What I've done is made a list of all the things I need in the new place along with their source, i.e. ship from UK, buy new in Spain. I've gone for one-way van hire as I happen to be moving to a place where the hire company's presence in Spain is, so it all works out rather well.

That said, were it not for the dog, it would be more cost effective to box things and pay a box shifter. But, I have some things I don't trust removal firms with, hence the DIY decision.

Re: Moving to Spain - to do list needed
 

I think I have moved to the wrong town as there has not been much opportunity (id be content with) for me :(