Hi all, I’m new here, and new to forums in general - so please go gently with me if I’m in the wrong place or asking the wrong questions.



I’m Matt, a 44 year old single father, based in the UK at present. For the last year or so I’ve been working on the idea of purchasing a house in the Valencia region, with a view to holidaying and splitting my working time between the UK and Spain, gradually increasing the time spent in Spain as my circumstances permit, hoping to eventually live in Spain full time and only return to England when work requires my physical presence.



I’ve now signed contracts (well my solicitor with PoA has) and I’m due to complete and get the keys to a property near Ayora on the 30th of this month. This is where my problems start, and hence me posting this and hoping for some advice. Due to the travel restrictions from the UK government, I cannot practically travel to Spain for the foreseeable future, I would be uninsured and whilst I could quarantine for 14 days on return, my children could not.



My primary concern is the day to day maintenance of the house over the next couple of months, principally the gardens which are largely lawn and which will probably turn to desert if not at least watered a couple of times a week. Does anyone know of any gardeners/pool people in the Ayora valley, preferably English speaking, as my Spanish is currently schoolboy at best (I am working on this though)?



Any other advice would be welcomed as I’m somewhat flying blind here. I don’t use Facebook, and the internet seems bereft of information about this area.

I would gladly have helped if it wasn´t for the fact that I live in Barcelona.

Good luck....and I hope someone on here comes up trumps for you

Good Luck. If you Google garden maintenance the closest would be 20 mins drive away Agro-Jardín Tornero https://www.houzz.es/profesionales/j...-pf~1295195793
You could try your luck and maybe he speaks English.

Moses, I don't know the first thing about property management in Spain, but I wondered if it would be worth the OP contacting local property management companies? I just thought they may be able to offer him a gardening service for a few months.

You are right and maybe even ask the estate agent that sold the property in the first place. The OP's location is quite a bit inland, so you probably won't have property management companies like you'd find on the coast. Often the local garden centre might have contacts.

If you still wish to complete on the 30th you could ask your solicitor to sign on your behalf.

Your solicitor and/ or estate agent should be able to recommend a reliable maintenance contractor. If you are in contact with the owners(?) they might be able to advise who they use for services. You might find useful info here > Ayuntamiento de Ayora or send an e mail https://ayora.sedelectronica.es/info.0

I have friends who manage property in my locale, but that is a long way from Ayora.

You are heading towards a tax and healthcare minefield. In the short term you will remain tax resident in the UK and be entering Spain as a visitor, but if you increase your time in Spain "as your circumstances permit" you may first bump into the the Spanish maxium stay restriction of 90 days for a visitor, and if you circumvent that by taking trips out of Spain you may then run into the fact that if you spend most (more than 180 days) of your time in Spain, albeit in periods of less than 90 days, you will become tax resident in Spain, which creates a whole other list of issues.

Thanks ever so much - me too!

Thanks, I'll give it a look

Hi, thanks for your reply. Fortunately/sadly the time when this will become an issue is a good way off yet. Depending on the outcome of the dreaded B word, I will, if necessary take out health insurance, but it'll be some years before I could even hope to be in a position where I'd need to change tax residency. When that time comes I'll adhere to whatever rules I need to, but by then its likely to be semi-retirement.