Arsnlno1

Hi there, My wife and I are looking into the possibility of moving to Spain from the UK, mainly because we are sick an tired of the weather Scotland offers us and feel we would enjoy life over there more.

The area we have been looking at so far is Andalusia, Almería, Mojácar.

We are both 32 and have two kids one 14 year old and one 4 year old.

The plan is to let the older child finish secondary school first and in the mean time take short holidays at different recommended locations in Spain to check out areas & schools for the younger one.

I work away for 28 - 30 days at a time in Azerbaijan so we would not be looking for work, what we would be looking for is an area where my wife would possibly find other expats wifes so she wasn't too lonely when I was away.

We plan to gather as much information as we can and then hopefully move over there in 2 years time but rent for a year to see how we settle and keep our house in the UK. then if we feel it's for us hopefully 3 years from now we will permanently move there and buy a property.

Any information anyone can provide on Tax, areas where we might find other expats (not too touristy though) schools that would speak english and any other information or advice anyone wants to offer would be greatly received.

Thank you

Ian

cricketman

First question. Are you going to leave your 17/18 year old in Aberdeen while the rest of the family moves to Spain? That would be incredibly tough for them

It would be even harder for them to find any work in Spain

Neptuno

The amount of info you need is so vast that you will have to trawl through the threads on different subjects.These are mainly for experiences and opinions.
There are many websites for expats eg anglo info, UK in Spain, and many forums beside this one-eye on Spain,Expat forum Spain, to name but a few. Just google.
To get the correct facts go to "the horses mouth"DWP, HMRC.
A good financial reserve, Health and tax are the priorities. Many people get into a mess because they don't realise how different the Tax system is in Spain.
Books can be useful, but the rapidity with which things change here means they are quickly out of date.
I think you are sensible to let the 14 year old finish his education, as moving here at this age can be very disruptive. Will he be going to university or college after A levels?I'm sure you know the work situation here!
Don't rely on just hearsay, don't be seduced by stories of sitting on the terrace watching the sun go down with a glass of wine!
You sound as if you are doing all the right things, researching etc.

Arsnlno1

We would leave that up to him, to explain he is actually from a previous relationship so he has a whole other family if you get me. We would not just be ditching him by himself in the UK

Flights are not expensive and at anytime he wanted to come over we would book & pay for his flight.

Domino

proceed with the same caution as a Bomb Disposal Engineer if considering buying a house in Almeria. The place is riddled with illegal properties, many of which the owners will present you with a basket of correct paperwork but have been built on agrario/rustico land that has no chance being classed as urbano. The Almanzora Valley, based on Albox has over 12,500 such properties, Almeria as a whole over 25,000. It is an Andalucia "problem" which extends right across from the East to the West, even in the Malaga area.
You will get no sympathy from the legal system, the solicitors will fob you off, the agents will shrug and say see your solicitor. The town hall will say "previous administration". The expat owners will just smile sweetly and be back in the UK before you can say Hey!.!

Proceed very very carefully - it would be a shame to spend hard earned money on a property that could be demolished at the stroke of a pen, without any warning.

But there are properties that are legal, there are expats who aren't out to sell you a pup. Just proceed very very carefully

rgds

Arsnlno1

Greatly appreciate the heads up on the area, doesn't sound too good, maybe wrong first choice but it is very early days, we haven't even had our first visit to a location we like the sound of yet.

Can I ask then to start off with can anyone recommend any other area of Spain, with English speaking schools, a few expat wife's that my wife could be friend and is close (30 mins atleast) to the beach ?

thank you for everything so far

steviedeluxe

If it's just a warmer climate that you're after, wouldn't it be more sensible to find a place in Turkey or Greece, given that you work in Azerbaijan? I know you can probably get a flight from Madrid to a connecting Turkish hub, but it will make the transit journey very long. If you are determined to be based in Spain and are flying from Madrid it may be better to be based near Malaga (or better Alicante or Valencia) for quicker "commute" times.
Edit: There is also Barcelona too - so maybe somewhere on the Costa Brava, but prices may be a little high there?

Arsnlno1

Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion but we visited Turkey once and I absolutely hated it, didn't like the people (sorry if that sounds harsh) not the sort of place we would want to live.

As for Greece been there 3 times and I absolutely love the place, the food and the people, however we are looking for somewhere that we could get cheap flights to Scotland for our parents & my son if he chooses to stay in the UK.

As for the flights I fly just now from Aberdeen to London then London to Azerbaijan first flight 6a.m. land in Azerbaijan approx 4p.m. U.K. time so long flights anyway.

Can you recommend any areas in Spain, I have only ever been to Benidorm, & a few others with my parents when I was younger so not too clued up yet, any recommendations would be greatly apreciated.

Thank you

steviedeluxe

Maybe the first step is finding out if there are any flights to Azerbaijan from a Spanish airport?
If for example there are flights from Madrid, then perhaps a place close to Valencia on the Costa Blanca (Denia?) may be a decent location, as the fast train only takes 1 and a half hours to Madrid Atocha, but you then have to get a taxi or use public transport to get to the airport.
I don't know Malaga flights to Madrid (there must be some?) so that could be an option too. So in that case the Costa del Sol could be worth looking at.
Another possibility (and again not so cheap) would be Mallorca. You could surely get a connecting flight to Madrid, or whichever hub connects onto Azerbaijan. In fact I suppose the Canary Islands could also be an option.
All those areas - Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Mallorca, have decent sized expat communities.

cricketman

You can get connecting flights to Madrid or Barcelona from almost anywhere in Spain - they are often not cheap though

Fredbargate

Gibraltar

Arsnlno1

Thank you for all those suggestions, I should add that my company pays my flights, and they are approx £600 from Scotland anyways. I just done a little search on sky scanner and compared prices between UK and various places you mentioned.

The cheapest was Barcelona, but Malaga & Madrid are both cheaper than my current flight & Alicante seems to be not much over the £600 also.

So any areas or towns you can recommend to look at near Barcelona, Malaga or Madrid would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all again for all the advice so far

I will just add to that that Barcelona & Malaga seem to be very cheap flights from Scotland so those two between the cheap UK flights and being less than my UK flight to Azerbaijan hence my company having no issue seem to be the two that would be most sensible.

So in saying that can you recommend and nice towns with the kind of things we are looking for, (Schools, Beach, Expat Wife's)

thanks in advance

Fredbargate

Watch Channel 5 tonight 8pm uk time

Arsnlno1

That would be midnight here, not gonna happen, lol, plus very limited channels they have here on the rig.

What is it about, will ask the wife to record it?

Cheers

Fredbargate

Gibraltar