This was the situation 4 years ago when we were renting, we had enormous choice as there were so many on the market, rentals were getting cheaper as well. This was on the Costa Blanca, not far from Benidorm, so a tourist area. A very big percentage really wanted to sell but could see no possibility, so were all trying to rent out, which meant the rental market was swamped.

Yes appreciate the risk..but does not mean a person should not give it a go


Thanks - no not dependant on income additional to pension.



Nice to see a forum where there is a difference of opinion straight away! LOL
I do not want to rent out in the UK. To be honest if we go then we go, we are not looking at this as a 6 year visit and then return home - I am fully aware that we do not know what the future holds, however We feel that if we move abroad

1 Its is to a country and an area where we feel comfortable
2 It is a permanent move - otherwise just buy a holiday home
3 We are both in our mid 50's - we have both had friends who have died
before they got to 60 - We have no intentions of being part of the
"wish we had done that group"
The information that you have all given is welcome and I appreciate you help.
I will look into the NI contributions - I am aware that we should be covered for the first 2 years from the UK... and we have allowed in our outgoings for medical cover - who knows the way things are over europe even the UK Gov may stop paying overseas!!!!!!

Will be back with more questions

MM[/QUOTE]

My OH and I retired early to Spain, almost 6 years ago now, for much the same reasons. Although we moved before "la crisis" hit, we have never regretted it. We had bought a house here over 3 years before we moved on a permanent basis, just using it for holidays in the meantime, but always with the intention that it would be our permanent home in retirement. For a number of reasons we found ourselves in a position to make the move 5 years earlier than we had originally thought, so there seemed no compelling reason to stay.

We've paid for private medical insurance since our two years' state cover under the S1 ran out, and haven't found it too onerous. We didn't base our financial calculations on being able to find any kind of work or run a business out here (just as well!!!) nor renting a property out, just make sure we live within our means until all our various pensions become payable.

No doubt I would have been better off financially if I'd kept slogging away until I reached 60, but on balance I would rather have the 10 extra years of happy and stress-free retirement. Like yourself I had seen too many people die either shortly before or shortly after they reached retirement age and I was determined not to be one of them if I could help it!

Good luck with your plans.

[QUOTEMy OH and I retired early to Spain, almost 6 years ago now, for much the same reasons. Although we moved before "la crisis" hit, we have never regretted it. We had bought a house here over 3 years before we moved on a permanent basis, just using it for holidays in the meantime, but always with the intention that it would be our permanent home in retirement. For a number of reasons we found ourselves in a position to make the move 5 years earlier than we had originally thought, so there seemed no compelling reason to stay.

We've paid for private medical insurance since our two years' state cover under the S1 ran out, and haven't found it too onerous. We didn't base our financial calculations on being able to find any kind of work or run a business out here (just as well!!!) nor renting a property out, just make sure we live within our means until all our various pensions become payable.

No doubt I would have been better off financially if I'd kept slogging away until I reached 60, but on balance I would rather have the 10 extra years of happy and stress-free retirement. Like yourself I had seen too many people die either shortly before or shortly after they reached retirement age and I was determined not to be one of them if I could help it!

Good luck with your plans.][/QUOTE]

Hi There glad things worked out OK for you and other half.
Yes we would be better off financially if we stay - BUT we may not be expect a lot of people moved to Spain and France 10years ago as they thought the cost of living would be lower for ever and now what has happened.
Like you I am NOT going to spend the next 10 years slogging away in the NHS, we do not expect financial rewards we are happy to "survive", as I have said, we want to do something different, experience different things, not wait untll well now for us state retirement is 66.

I appreciate you well wishes. WHere are you based?

Hi
I am always willing to say to people "if thats what you want to do do it" - better to have regrets that it failed due to......, rather than live with regrets that you hadn't got round to it, just talked about it. From failure comes experience, experience that can be used next time to ensure you don't make those mistakes.

there are traps, pitfalls, pratfalls etc. I am sure that with a sensible head on, careful planning for personal and money that you can make it a success. And if you don't - at least you tried it
losing someone close, at any age, but more so so young, brings home the fact that none of us know what the future holds for us, only that we are the only ones who have to steer the course with blinkers and dark glasses on.

good luck, keep in touch with BE Spain, there are many future friends here you haven't met yet.
kr

Thanks Domino
love your location "living in the olive groves!"
Will be back once I have researched further tax, NI etc

We were exactly in the same position as you, nearly 7 years ago. We had owned a holiday apartment for nearly 20 years here, and decided to live here (before the crisis) on the basis that if we have a good 10 years, we will have enjoyed ourselves, albeit it on a much small income. In our view thank goodness we did, some of the things that we had to overcome, we look back now and wonder whether we would have been able to cope with in our 60s.

We never assumed we would obtain a rental income from our apartment, and intially thought we would sell it, but it has provided us with extra income every year since we arrived.

If you have sufficient income from your NHS pension to survive, my advice would be to go for it.

We have never regretted coming to live here.

With regard to an income from rentals, never depend on this, however we have been extremely fortunate that our apartment is rented for 6 months of the year with people coming from where we were based in the UK.

The apartment is small, with only 2 bedrooms, but fortunately is front line on the coast, but prior to coming out here when we only used it for our own purposes I had dishwasher, TV, egyptian cotton sheets and towels. I feel I have now found a captive market, amongst my friends, who are prepared to pay, albeit not a huge amount, for small luxuries like HD TV, luxury towels and sheets, welcome pack of good quality foodstuffs and champagne. I never ever advertise my apartment and only rent out to people I know.

The advantages for me are additional income and being able to see all my friends and family throughout the year.

So if you are thinking of purchasing a property to rent out, perhaps look initially at a potential market amongst friends or work colleagues or certainly in the area where you live.

If you feel that there is a sufficent market, but also dont need to depend on the income then go for it. If not, I would suggest you just come over to Spain and enjoy your life!!!!

What's the tax now on rental income, is it still 24%?

Can you save invoices for cleaning, decorating etc. to offset against it?

We live in Velez-Malaga, capital of the Axarquia region. It's a large town (certainly wouldn't suit anybody looking for rural isolation!), 4km inland from the coast at Torre del Mar which is a resort town catering mainly to the Spanish market. We live in the oldest part of town (within the original city walls) with cobbled, stepped streets - thus no access by car which many people would hate, but we like it. It's very quiet for a town location.

I don't drive so would never have considered living in a small village or in the countryside, and my OH didn't want to drive any more either, so we appreciate the good public transport facilities here. We also have the regional hospital 10 minutes away and a really good range of shops and leisure facilities.

Everybody looks for something different in their ideal location, but the important thing is to identify the things that important to you and your individual needs/preferences, which I'm sure you know!

What's the betting you don't get a reply Pocaloca???

Yes you can now offset some costs of your rental property against your tax. This used to be only available to Spanish resident but yet again the good old EU intervened and it is available to all property owners regardless.

I understand 'where you are' I did 30 years in the Police (mostly accident investigation), and my partner also has the chance to get out of the NHS early. For me, I have seen enough 'horror' and had enough stress to say 'enough'. I imagine you will know how it feels for my partner, but I can tell you she is almost completely 'burned out'. We recently bought a lovely house in Granada (out in the Country) which was a 'lifestyle'choice rather than a financial 'bet', the grisely state of the market in Spain allowed us to buy a house we simply could never have dreamed of buying 5 years ago, so thats another way of looking at it. We will move ASAP next year, like you, we have lost a lot of friends of late.

Theres some good advice/experience on this forum and some well made points. My advice (for what its worth) is go for it, but only if you income as it stands can give you a means to live, without having to DEPEND on supplimentary income which will probably not materialise.

Good luck, as I said, I think I understand exactly 'where you are'.

Sounds like the makings of a new thread?

You don't mention your husbands income when you both retire and come over but if you are both determined to arrive some of the following may be helpfull.

Will you be driving over and bringing a car to stay permanantly. If so you will have to matriculate it. If you do this within 30 days you will not pay first regitration tax.

You will need to get your NIE number from you local extranjanos office. This is you tax office number and allows you to conduct all manner of purchases and other official matters. Form EX15

If you are going to be here for more than 90 days you may as well go for your certificate of residence which will have your NIE number on it (green sheet) for this you will need to fill in form EX18 and to do that you will need to be Epadronmiento. You register on the Padron at your local Ayuntamiento. There are all sorts of paperwork you will need to take with you but we can fill in the detail later.

Once you have got the above out of the way you can then look to sign on the health system which you can do for 2 years with an S1 from DWP you should make sure you get the S1 as you leave since you will need for the Residence cert as proof that you will have health cover.

Finally for now if you intend to be resident for more than 183 days in any year (not continuous) then you will be tax resident so you may as well sign on at the Hacienda (tax office) you use form Modelo 030 to do this. Having become tx registered you can then take your FD9 form from HMRC to the Hacienda for counter signiture which will allow you to become non tax resident in UK and tax resident in Spain.

Not true. There is no requirement to be on the Padron to sign on the register of foreigners (which is what you are referring to). In fact many town halls will not allow you to sign on the padron until you have signed on the register of foreigners. It is not a certificate of residence in any way shape or form.

Just because you have signed on the register does not necessarily entitle you to sign on the padron - you need to be habitually resident in Spain to do that and signing on the register after 90 days does not necessarily mean that you are habitually resident.