NataHH

Missile you are wrong with your assumption that EU nationals don't read this forum. We are all here to help each other so we can avoid falling faul of the law.

We got a place in Portugal my partner registered at the local townhall before the Brexit deadline. We then decided after returning to the UK that residency was not for us. So when we flew back he did not show his A4 residency certificate at Faro Airport and his passport was stamped. He also went to the townhall to deregister but was told not to bother because by not pursuing the digital card application it would automatically become invalid.

My brother (an EU national) has a property in Spain. He is registered as a non-habitual resident. As I understand it, the reason for registration is: If the size of a town exceeds 20,000 it will be awarded City Status and receive big bucks from the government one of the places is Torox.

Lou71

It sounds like your brother is on the padron in Torrox - there is no NHR in Spain. We are resident in Portugal and needed written proof of address in Spain from the town hall so they told us we needed to go on the padron. We told them we are resident in Portugal and showed them all our paperwork but they said it didn't matter, we could still go on the padron, no problem.

So yes, contrary to popular belief, a lot of non residents go on the padron and town halls in Spain encourage it to boost their funding.

Rosemary

Regarding signing on the padron. Some town halls do encourage holiday home people to sign on due the numbers dictate the amount of funding that central government provide them with. It is understandable in one respect in that if a town has a very high number of holiday homes they get less funding than a place that has more people registered as resident but that does not make it right or acceptable. People should be extremely wary and make sure that they understand the laws or they could experience difficullties such.

On the CAB site I read that someone had been fined 250 euros for driving with a UK licence whilst being resident in Spain. They denied this saying that they were non resident. The police rightly said that as they were signed on the padron this proved to them that they were resident. CAB emphasised that by signing on the padron they unknowingly stated that that they were living in Spain. They were advised to remove themselves from the padron immediately, complain to the town hall that had misadvised them to sign on and take proof of on residency to the DGT office to appeal the fine.

The CAB have been advising non-resident holiday home owners not to register on the padron for years due to the fact that registering can have negative effects such as tax, impounding of non-Spanish plated vehicles and other issues.

Rosemary

missile

Please do not misquote me. I said "I doubt many" . :-)
Perhaps you should copy Lou71 & Rosemary's posts to your brother.

NataHH

Rosemary
I am sorry I don't know what CAB stands for but to clarify my brother who spends 4 or 5 months in Spain who drives a Spanish car when he is there was told to register as a non-resident. So what chance do foreigners have if officials can't give correct advice.

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizen...htm#eu-citizen

Lou
It seems he did exactly what you did - being a resident in one country and according to the rules registered his presence in another.

Ronnyone

If 20,000 inhabitants means city status there must an awful lot of cities in Spain!!!

bobd22

NatHH that is the point that Bomber Harris first brought up and I have mentioned. Its the point that I have been criticised for bringing up. Most people I would guess don't bother to comply because of the process but the link and other sources show what should be done. I think many believe that registering on the padron is sufficient but as Rosemary says that can in itself lead to problems if one is non resident. Most non resident people simply ignore it totally and I doubt very many come unstuck. However as Rosemary pointed out earlier in the thread it is not for forum members to advise ignoring the law either by ignoring any time constraints or wrongly signing on the padron. The link you quote shows requirements and individuals make their own decisions on how they should act. If your brother has inadvertently signed on the padron and is concerned it may lead to negative consequences for him it's very easily resolved. All he need do is go to the Townhall and ask to be removed.