Re: Spain -What's the attraction?
 

It appears that should you make yourself tax resident in Spain and retain a property in the UK which you do not rent out you will be liable to pay Spanish Non Resident Tax/Imputed rental tax on the property. As you do if you are non resident in Spain and have a property there however the UK property will be taxed on the price you paid not Catastral value as of course there is no such thing in the UK. From Fred this is not a new thing however it seems not to have been applied or known about previously but is now.

Re: Spain -What's the attraction?
 

By the way I asked the question what if I moved but my wife stayed in UK property and was told I would need to pay 50%. Also as was our initial plan on buying in Spain retain property in UK and let our daughter use it rent free but pay bills again in that case we would still have to pay this tax. Hence why I think it is totally unfair and nothing to do with Spain. I have written to my MEP, I have had acknowledgement but no response yet, I realise it will no doubt make not a jot of difference but felt it had to be done (not something I have ever done before MEP or MP). It is making us carefully consider what to do next re our plans.

Re: Spain -What's the attraction?
 

Thanks very much, bobd.

Re: Spain -What's the attraction?
 

The old attractions of Spain are disappearing. The first and biggest wave of expats sold their semis in the UK, bought a nice place in the sun, and came to join the carefree life of fellow expats. The brought their cars with the yellow number plates and steering wheel on the wrong side with them and ignored all the regulations about getting useless bits of paper from the Spanish authorities.

Nobody bothered them for years, the money they spent was most welcome and Spanish builders couldn't keep up with the demand and foreigners flooded in to build the numerous urbanisations springing up all along the coast.

It had to end in tears and it did when the bankers in the US nearly brought the world down in 2007.

It's a changed landscape now. The Spanish state is skint and needs to increase its tax take from all of its citizens, including the million British expats. The carefree expat life in the sun has gone, and it's becoming a never-ending struggle to hold on to what's yours.

It's getting harder all the time.

Re: Spain -What's the attraction?
 

Sounds like you've got that Monday morning feeling HBG.:thumbdown:


Just enjoy the sunshine while you can and remember you don't need to clock in for work today. :thumbsup:

Re: Spain -What's the attraction?
 

I think the attractions of Spain remain for many of us that have holiday homes in Spain. I am in Oliva and really do not see that it has changed much since the recession started.
Yes, projects have been stopped that would be beneficial eg improved road and rail links but what you have never had you cannot miss.
I enjoy the place now as much now as I ever did and always look forward to visiting.

Re: Spain -What's the attraction?
 

I'm clocking in in 15 minutes time, but only for the morning and hopefully only from home. I can even walk around as long as my mobile is switched on.

You could be right about the Monday morning, I used to ride on a crowded tube train back in the UK for at least an hour-and-half each morning for many years.

Sometimes I felt like a peeping tom when I lowered the newspaper to admire an office girl sitting opposite, in the mini skirt days. Some of those office girls have come to Spain, like me, and some still wear the same mini skirts, but they no longer have the legs for them.

Re: Spain -What's the attraction?
 

We have recently come back from Spain and like you, on the surface didn't notice huge changes, although I asked every bar owner/restauranteur and they told a different story. People are still coming, but for shorter periods and spending much less, especially the Spanish. Just watched Comando Actualidad and there the Spanish are auctioning all manner of stuff from art, jewellery, cars, office/restaurant equipment, apartments, repossessions etc, not a pretty sight to see so many down on their luck. Good for the auction houses, they've never been so busy. There will be many, like us I guess, unaffected by the crisis but for many less fortunate, it's been devastating. And it ain't over yet, still a way to go.
http://www.rtve.es/television/comando-actualidad/

Re: Spain -What's the attraction?
 

The best idea is to live in an area where people aren't suffering

Let them eat cake! :D

Re: Spain -What's the attraction?
 

Yes you could sell your house in the UK and buy a nice villa with a pool, a Mercedes and a boat in Spain. Never noticed the last recession pre internet days:lol:

Re: Spain -What's the attraction?
 

I know your post is tongue in cheek, but just to say that Spain's problems have nothing to do with US bankers or building too many homes for expats

Their problems result almost entirely by the corrupt politicians who ruined the cajas and gave permission to construction companies to build massive projects that were not needed, all so that they could take a cut in the form of bankhanders - and at the same time pretending that the economy was growing spectacularly, when all that was happening was the cajas was giving out cheap credit to all and sundry

Re: Spain -What's the attraction?
 

The Bank of Spain didn't allow Spanish banks to trade in those diabolical sub-prime packages, but banks trade globally nowadays. The badly financed overbuilding wasn't confined to expat coasts, Madrid is surrounded by ghost towns.

You're right about the awful corruption, but on the bigger picture, it's tiny.

Spain suffered in the recession in the same way as most other countries, for the same reasons. The experts bang on about the high unemployment, but if you take the black economy out of the equation, the unemployment is not much higher than anywhere else.

The black economy is a problem for the tax collectors, and it has been for hundreds of years. The whole of Spain fears the 'men in black' who are cracking down, me included.

Re: Spain -What's the attraction?
 

Yes, there is nowhere near 27% unemployment in Spain, most of these people are working at something. Actually given that the majority of workers actually dont pay any net tax, then a black economy for the poorest doesnt do the economy or government much harm.

Although the Spanish didnt trade in American junk mortgages, they created plenty of their own by giving e.g. 300k mortgages to illiterate Ecuadorians with no job contracts. The state of the Spanish cajas and property market is entirely the fault of the politicians as the cajas are managed (scandalously) by politicians, not just by bankers. All with the aim to make themselves very rich and to scr*w everyone else

Re: Spain -What's the attraction?
 

That sounds much too rational for you. I still think CMan's login has been hacked.

Re: Spain -What's the attraction?
 

Try and keep it quiet, Jackie, us expats are being attacked by all sides as it is. We all know the guys with the Mercedes and boats, they've given us a bad name for years.

Their wives should be forced to shop in Primark and C&As, like the rest of us.