Saturday 19 December 2015

Property of the week

 
Ref: NCB6331
Type: Semi Detached
Area: Costa Blanca North
Town: Benitachell
Beds: 3
Baths: 2
Pool: Yes
Price: €179,000









 Description: This is a charming and beautifully positioned three bedroom, two bathroom property all on one level and located in one of Benitachell´s most popular urbanisations with large communal swimming pool, restaurant and immaculately maintained gardens.

The property is situated on a quiet road with communal parking and a pedestrian walk way leading to a gated sun terrace with outside dining areas and barbeque which is east facing to enjoy the beautiful sunrise over the mountains.

Internally the property consists of a useful utility area, a modern kitchen, large open plan lounge and dining area with fireplace and patio doors leading to a private west facing terrace with mountain and valley views. A hallway leads to three bedrooms with storage, a modern family bathroom and additional shower room with patio doors leading from the master bedroom onto the terrace.

The urbanisation itself is extremely well maintained all year round with street lighting, on site gardener and concierge and the communal areas include tennis courts, basketball, football, a wonderful children's play area and life guard on duty in the summer months.

This bungalow has the added advantage of a large 110m2 underbuild with enormous potential to extend and provide further accommodation or a separate apartment for holiday rental investment.

A charming and traditional Spanish bungalow set in a well maintained community only a few minutes drive to Benitachell or the upmarket harbour town of Moraira with its array of pretty shops, restaurants, bars and beaches.

Community charges - €900 per annum.
IBI - €240 per annum.
Basura - €120 per annum.


Direct Link
http://spanishdreamproperty.co.uk/index.php?action=listingview&listingID=82530

www.spanishdreamproperty.com








Friday 18 December 2015

Part 36 Our Spanish Dream The Launch

PART 36 Our Spanish Dream


The launch
Despite the set-back, with almost everything in place, we still launched in April 2010, although time restraints meant we didn’t really get going until late May.   We planned a slow steady start, feeling our way around how best to develop the service.  We were struck straight away buy the need for what we were doing, and the gratitude by many for actually having someone to talk to about the whole process. 
When an enquiry came in we would call (or if no telephone number, we would email) and ask about the property they were seeking.  The request for details about their longed-for new home was often met with surprise, and still is today.  Comments like “well aren’t you just going to send me a load of properties from your books?” and “Just send what you have and we’ll let you know if there is anything we like” were normal.  We had by now around 2000 properties on our site, (we usually run at around 2500 now) so just sending what we had wouldn’t really help anyone – the email would take forever!  Once we were able to explain our service, people opened up about what they wanted and the searches began.
We decided right from the start that our service needed to be FREE to our clients.  Our fees would be paid by the estate agents whose property our client purchased.  So we search for properties from various sources and ensure only those matching requirement are shown to the client.  Once the client has bought their new home the estate agent with whom the property was listed pays us a fee for finding the buyer.  That way we are not asking for any up-front fees or asking our client’s to pay any additional costs for their purchase – buying a Spanish property is expensive enough!



www.spanishdreamproperty.com


info@spanishdreamproperty .com

01603415296

Saturday 5 December 2015

Property of the week

Property of the week

Direct Link

http://spanishdreamproperty.co.uk/index.php?action=listingview&listingID=82666





Full description of this Villa

This elegant 3 bedroom Villa is located at Dehesa de Campoamor, right next to Campoamor beach and the lovely little bars and restaurants that dot this coastline.  It is a short 3 minute drive to Cabo Roig strip for livelier evenings and to take in the atmosphere of the outdoor marketers selling their wares on a summer’s evening.  The Villa has three bedrooms and two bathrooms and is being sold fully furnished.  A bright spacious lounge has two windows to let in light and is furnished with two soft leather sofas and a white dining table and chairs.  The floor tiles are in light beige which makes the room a very relaxing place to be.  The kitchen has built in units in a gorgeous red sheen of cherrywood and sales includes the American style fridge/freezer, washing machine and other white goods.  The three bedrooms are double size, and the master has double doors that lead to a nice balcony which gives a bird eye view of the area.  The bedrooms have built in wardrobes and bedside lockers.  The bathroom is decorated in muted shades of brown and beige and comes with shower over bath.  The second bathroom is stylishly decorated in different shades of grey and includes an electric shower.  The upstairs solarium is a good size for comfortable sunbathing or lazing with your afternoon coffee! To the side of the property there is ample parking for your car and there is a lovely shaded area with BBQ and garden furniture to enjoy the burgers and steaks! Yum!!  Outside the house the urbanisation has a lovely seated area set under a pagoda in a relaxing green oasis, a lovely calm space to read your book or chat with the neighbours. The communal swimming pool is close by and is very large with a children’s pool area attached. 

Friday 4 December 2015

Our Spanish Dream Part 35 Spanish Dream Property

Our Spanish Dream Part 35

Dave & Bev Townsend 

With all future projects with the development company on indefinite hold and the loss of Dave’s Dad Bev actually had some time available to dedicate to a new project.  We began seriously looking into the setting up of a property finding business.  But time became a precious commodity again as Dave’s Mum’s Alzheimer’s led to daily care being required by us even with all the paid help she was having three times a day.  At the end of 2009 Mum was admitted to a nursing home so she could have the 24 hour care she needed.
With time to develop the project again we moved forward with a view to starting in March 2010.   We flew to Spain to sign contracts with various reputable agents to be able to show their properties, making sure none were exclusive so we were not tied to any one agent.   To do our work properly we needed to be able to select properties from various sources.  We decided that we would cover only the areas we knew well, starting with the south Costa Blanca, going about 20 minutes inland plus areas around Moraira, Javea and into the Jalon and Orba valleys in the northern Costa Blanca.  We also wanted to add towns and villages close to the Mar Menor so would spend time in those areas during our next few visits.

Yet again our plans had to be postponed as just after our return from Spain in mid-February our daughter was in an accident and suffered a very serious injury to her right leg.  Three operations in the first 24 hours, plus a fourth three days later, saved her leg but recovery was going to be very slow and never complete.  Our grandchildren were 1 and 2 years old so it was all hands on deck to help out during her weeks in hospital and the five months it took for her to take her first steps again.  Life on crutches for the next year (plus) was not easy with two lively toddlers and support from family was essential.


Saturday 14 November 2015

Property of the week La Florida

Property Of the week
Description: Reduced from Euros 245,000 to Euros 215,000 This immaculate 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom detached villa is situated in the popular area of La Florida, close to a great selection of local amenities and a short drive to the beautiful beaches. The property consists of a glazed conservatory leading into a lounge/diner with patio doors leading to the garden, a fitted kitchen, two twin bedrooms, a bathroom and a master bedroom with en suite bathroom.
The property also benefits from good outdoor space with a gazebo, utility room and the lovely private pool. Other features include hot and cold air conditioning and off road parking. Sold furnished.









Sunday 4 October 2015

Our Spanish Dream Part 34 Can we do this?

Can we do this?
It’s fine to have an idea to help people find their dream home in Spain and another to actually do something about it.  Our lives were incredibly busy with work, family and caring for Dave’s elderly parents, both with serious health issues.  I ran a part-time business around family and in-laws’ needs.  I also worked free-lance finding projects for a property development company that worked with the current owners, architects and planners to see how the property/land could be developed in the future, getting plans passed, buying the owner out at a premium and selling the project onto developers.   Property had always been a huge interest of mine and I had project managed two major renovations of our own.  It was far more interesting to me than accountancy, the field in which I had qualified years ago but family had cut short any career.
By now we had talked to so many people about what they needed to know, what to avoid and where to find accurate information.  We were even being asked to speak to friends of friends!  We heard a few stories of people having been ripped off or sold properties from the big ‘viewing trip’ companies only to discover they felt they hadn’t really been given fair information.
The more we thought about it, the more it made sense.  Use our experiences, my property finding training, and our knowledge to help people avoid the pitfalls and find the right property for them.  As we have said before, buying in Spain is an expensive business, you have to get it right first time.  People need to be able to step back from the hype of the brochures and sales talk to see the reality of what is right for them.  More and more we could see a need for someone to work on behalf of the buyer rather than the seller.  There was just this major obstacle called time.
 
 

Friday 18 September 2015

Our Spanish Dream Part 33 First thoughts of property finding

PART 33 First thoughts of property finding

Over the years that we had considered buying in Spain, seen various family members and friends make the move and watched the market change, we had learned a lot.  It became obvious to us that we seemed to know more about how things work and more about thinking through and considering options than many of the self-appointed ‘professionals’.  It also became glaringly apparent over time spent with agents and at shows that agents were only interested in selling you property on their books, not helping you in finding the right place for you; after all their client is the vendor, (not you, the buyer), and the only way they make money is by selling you one of their client’s properties.
There were some large company’s around before the 2008 happened, that are unfortunately now re-emerging, offering cheap four day viewing trips.  They would fly you out, put you up in a hotel, assign a person to you as your ‘guide’ who basically met you for breakfast and never left you alone until late evening.  You would be driven round new developments and shown show houses, sold the dream and on the final day asked which property you would like to buy.  They were very successful.  The fact that you could have bought the same property cheaper from another source or that there were hundreds of re-sales that would offer you a better match to your requirements for less was irrelevant to these companies.  Once you moved into your new home you were often offered a job as one of their ‘guides’.  It was a lucrative business and resulted in some bad press for the Spanish property market.

So we saw a need for property finding rather than property selling.  A service that works for the buyer, not the seller.  The idea of Spanish Dream Property was beginning to form.

Find us at Facebook

Friday 14 August 2015

Our Spanish Dream - Part 32: So, where were we left after 2008?

Our Spanish Dream - Part 32: So, where were we left after 2008?

When we bought our house we did lots of calculations to ensure we could afford the house. We built in a contingency for both our own income declining (although we didn’t expect it to) and for the exchange rate dropping by 10%. “Why?” asked people we knew, “it’s not as if the exchange rate is likely to drop to 1.30€/£1, it’s never been that low.”
In the latter part of 2008 and whole of 2009 the pound struggled to stay above 1.10/£1, spending more time below it than above it. Dave’s work hours were cut to 4 days a week, the development company Bev did work for cancelled all outstanding projects, meaning commissions expected totalling thousands of pounds in the next few weeks were not going to arrive, many months of work for which she would now never be paid, and the part-time business needed more hours but still produced less income than before.
Our good news was grandchild number 1 had arrived safe and sound in December 2007 and grandchild number 2 was now on the way. On a sad family note, Dave’s Dad lost his long fight with illness in the summer of 2008 and his Mum was needing more care as dementia took an ever greater hold.
We kept our heads above water, but it was not the financial place we had expected to find ourselves in at all. The cost of running our Spanish house was now much higher due to the rock bottom exchange rate and rising running costs, it needed around 35-40% extra in sterling just to stay on an even keel. But despite all the doom and gloom it seemed people were determined to still have their holidays in the sun and bookings for 2008 and 2009 were good and both seasons full.

Dave and Bev Spanish Dream Properties
Dave and Bev Townsend have two homes, their main one in Norwich and a second home in Playa Flamenca in south Costa Blanca, Spain which they also let as a holiday rental www.house-by-the-pool.comThey run a property finding business offering a free service for those seeking to buy a property in the Costa Blanca (Alicante) or the Mar Menor area of the Costa Calida (Murcia) www.SpanishDreamProperty.com. Bev has family in Spain and they intend to move there full-time in a couple of years.

Find us at Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/spanishdreamproperty



Saturday 25 July 2015

Our Spanish Dream - Part 31: The banking crisis happens!

Our Spanish Dream - Part 31: The banking crisis happens!

    
March 2008 will be etched on the memories of many people for all the wrong reasons. The banking crisis started, mainly in America, but it had begun. By the end of that year it seemed the whole world was in financial crisis. The bank bailouts were followed by entire country bailouts in the Eurozone. The Bank of England slashed interest rates to record lows, allowed sterling to go into free-fall to devalue the pound and started quantative easing to stop the UK going bankrupt too. The exchange rate had fallen from over 1.40 euros to the £1 to parity in just a matter of months – unforecast and unprecedented, in fact it was almost unbelievable.
Looking at things from the ex-pat perspective anyone living on a UK pension or other sterling income suddenly found their income had dropped by roughly a third. A UK pension/income of £800.00 per month had gone from over 1200 euros in January 2007 down to just 800 euros two years later. Add to that spiralling electricity and gas prices, increased living costs and no interest on any capital savings and many ex-pats found themselves in real financial hardship. With mortgages almost impossible to come by and people in real fear of losing jobs and just ‘sitting tight’ wondering how to ride out the crisis, it was the perfect storm for the collapse of the housing market.
Everyone knew that the building bubble would bust at some point, too many new builds were springing up along the Spanish coast, the rate of build was unsustainable, but a decline in building and maybe a small correction in prices was all that was required, so they said. Well, with construction companies going into liquidation overnight and the value of land dropping like a stone, building ground to a complete halt.
Re-sale prices went into freefall and in some areas the value of property halved. Negative equity abounded and some people had no choice but to hand the keys of their house back to the bank. This was far from Spain’s finest hour.

Dave and Bev Spanish Dream Properties
Dave and Bev Townsend have two homes, their main one in Norwich and a second home in Playa Flamenca in south Costa Blanca, Spain which they also let as a holiday rental www.house-by-the-pool.comThey run a property finding business offering a free service for those seeking to buy a property in the Costa Blanca (Alicante) or the Mar Menor area of the Costa Calida (Murcia) www.SpanishDreamProperty.com. Bev has family in Spain and they intend to move there full-time in a couple of years.

Find us on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/spanishdreamproperty

Saturday 18 July 2015

18072015 60 Second Property Show

Ref: HEDR8403
Type: Semi Detached
Area: Costa Blanca South
Town: Campoamor
Beds: 3
Baths: 2
Pool: Yes
Price: €180,000
Description: This 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom semi-detached house is located in Dehesa de Campoamor and just a few minutes walk to the beautiful sandy beach and marina.

Situated on a small development surrounded by a pine wood this property comprises of a front porch leading to the longe/diner, independent kitchen with door to the utility area and a shower room on the ground level.

Upstairs there is a family bathroom and three double bedrooms all with built in wardrobes and the master having a sunny balcony.

Externally there is a front terrace, rear terrace and a side terrace with private swimming pool.

This property benefits from being just a short walk to the beaches, restaurants and shops. Is fitted with hot and cold air conditioning and is to be sold full furnished.

Friday 10 July 2015

60 Second Property Show

                                   Welcome To the 60 Second Property Show

                        3 Bed 2 Bath
                            Townhouse in Villamartin

Ref: HEDRLD14217
Type: Townhouse
Area: Costa Blanca South
Town: Villamartin
Beds: 3
Baths: 2
Pool: Yes
Price: €109,000
Description: Reduced from €119,000 to €109,000 This very spacious 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom townhouse, with private swimming pool is located in Villamartin. Local amenities, three golf courses and beautiful beaches are all just a short drive away.

The property consists of a large lounge/diner with a log burner, a separate fitted kitchen with an adjoining utility room, a downstairs bedroom, a bathroom and storage cupboard. Upstairs is the second family bathroom, two double bedrooms and a sun terrace, with external stairs leading up to the large solarium with storage cupboard.

Situated in an elevated position, the upper terraces offer fantastic views of the salt lakes and the distant sea.

This property also benefits from hot and cold air conditioning throughout and off road parking. Sold furnished.

Our Spanish Dream - Part 30: Communities

Our Spanish Dream - Part 30: Communities


We often get asked if a property is leasehold or freehold – those terms as such don’t exist. Effectively all individual properties are owned outright, but when you buy a house on a community, you own your house but the communal areas are owned by the community, which is all the owners together. The laws governing how communities are run are known as the Horizontal Laws and all communities have to be run according to these laws.
So what does owning a house on a community mean? First, it doesn’t suit everybody. The strictness of community living varies greatly. For instance, I know a community where all the air con units must be out of sight (so low down on balconies/solariums etc), all sun blinds are a particular colour and the pool is closed during siesta time, (when it’s hottest and you most want to use it!).
Our community is much more accommodating; you can have sun blinds in whatever colour you like, the pool stays open all day and if you want air con units you put them where it suits you. We also have a very understanding attitude to glazing in a terrace or changing your terrace tiles if you wish to do so. So although there are laws governing how a community is run, within that, the community itself decides the details.
On our community there are monthly ‘committee meetings’ and anyone can ask for a particular matter to be discussed and dealt with, but a committee run community is not common and brings its own challenges.
Every community has an unpaid President, elected at the annual general meeting for a one year period and usually a resident. There is also a paid Administrator, usually a legal firm. The President does have total authority which can get interesting if they don’t talk to people!
However they can only act within the law and the administrator is responsible for overseeing that side of things and the financial matters, such as collecting the community fees. A community may be as few as 4 or 5 properties or may stretch to hundreds, but 50 to 100, sharing one or two pools, is quite common. Fees will be dependent on the amount of community facilities so vary from around 400 euros to 800 euros per year (golf courses are a lot more).

Dave and Bev Spanish Dream Properties
Dave and Bev Townsend have two homes, their main one in Norwich and a second home in Playa Flamenca in south Costa Blanca, Spain which they also let as a holiday rental www.house-by-the-pool.comThey run a property finding business offering a free service for those seeking to buy a property in the Costa Blanca (Alicante) or the Mar Menor area of the Costa Calida (Murcia) www.SpanishDreamProperty.com. Bev has family in Spain and they intend to move there full-time in a couple of years.
Find us on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/spanishdreamproperty

Friday 3 July 2015

Our Spanish Dream - Part 29: Keyholders number 4

Our Spanish Dream - Part 29: Keyholders number 4


With no keyholders we contacted the lady we had met in October 2011. Her business was going well and she would be happy to meet us in February. We also went on-line and found another company and booked a meeting with them first.
The first couple arrived and we showed them our check list. They were fine about it but their costings were complicated so some cleans would be more expensive than others. He also said they would pop in on the renters unannounced and if they were out would let themselves in to turn off things like air con left running and leave a note telling the guests they should have turned it off. I was horrified! The idea that they would just let themselves in was totally unacceptable. I found the man very unpleasant, quite an abrasive character, and I could see he would upset people, including me!
It was a relief to meet the other lady again. Her business had expanded, her husband, now retired from the army, and her daughter and her partner were now working with her. The daughter would be responsible for our house. She was in her thirties, well presented, very likeable and had immaculate nails, (like her mother). I later discovered she had trained as a nail technician, which explained a lot.  We liked her and her partner. She was totally unfazed by the check list, her partner would do the airport transfers and any odd jobs. We signed them up, so relieved I didn’t have to deal with the abrasive guy again.
I’m delighted to say they are the best keyholders and cleaners we have had and all the guests have liked them too.


Dave and Bev Spanish Dream Properties
Dave and Bev Townsend have two homes, their main one in Norwich and a second home in Playa Flamenca in south Costa Blanca, Spain which they also let as a holiday rental www.house-by-the-pool.comThey run a property finding business offering a free service for those seeking to buy a property in the Costa Blanca (Alicante) or the Mar Menor area of the Costa Calida (Murcia) www.SpanishDreamProperty.com. Bev has family in Spain and they intend to move there full-time in a couple of years.

Friday 19 June 2015

Our Spanish Dream - Part 28: Keyholders Number 3

Our Spanish Dream - Part 28: Keyholders Number 3

    
So our holiday in October 2011 didn’t get off to a very good start, sacking the keyholders in the first couple of days. We had two weeks to find new ones and get them up to speed. We somehow heard about a new business locally so I emailed the lady. She was away on holiday so couldn’t come and see us until the following week but we made the appointment anyway. In the mean time I sat and put together a full ‘check-list’ for every single room and the outside areas of what we wanted doing before and after every guest. It was very long! The bottom line was simply that we wanted it as clean and presentable as we would like to find it ourselves if we were paying to stay there. We set the bar high.
The next day the air conditioning engineer arrived to service the units. We told him what was going on and he said his wife was looking for a small job and he would mention it to her. We met up, she was very pleasant, I showed her my check list and she took the job on a trial basis over the winter. Knowing she may not be carrying on beyond that we still met the other lady. She was immaculately turned out and I wondered how she could keep her perfect nails so good when she loved cleaning, she was very professional and we liked her. We explained that we had taken on someone over the winter but would like to keep her details in case it didn’t work out.
Our new keyholder was great for two seasons, but a change in her circumstances seriously dropped us in at the deep end when she had to move on short notice out of the area with her husband’s job in December 2013. She was so embarrassed about leaving us in the lurch she just left most of the keys in the house, locked up, sent us an email and posted the front door key back to us!  So in January 2014 we were again keyholder-less with a house in Spain and us in the UK!
 
 
Dave and Bev Spanish Dream Properties
Dave and Bev Townsend have two homes, their main one in Norwich and a second home in Playa Flamenca in south Costa Blanca, Spain which they also let as a holiday rental www.house-by-the-pool.comThey run a property finding business offering a free service for those seeking to buy a property in the Costa Blanca (Alicante) or the Mar Menor area of the Costa Calida (Murcia) www.SpanishDreamProperty.com. Bev has family in Spain and they intend to move there full-time in a couple of years.
 

Friday 12 June 2015

Our Spanish Dream - Part 27 Keyholders Numbers 1&2

Our Spanish Dream - Part 27: Keyholders Numbers 1&2

    
Keyholding is both the most important part of a successful rental and the most frustrating part of your rental!  When we first bought the house a lady at the estate agents said she would be happy to keyhold and meet guests when they arrived.  The guests would then pay her the cleaning and laundry fee before they left.  (It’s important that you show this as an extra on all your ads.)  So we paid her an annual fee and thought that we had things sorted.  The problem was that she really didn’t have the time to do the job properly and wasn’t flexible enough to fit around arrival and departure times of guests.
Towards the end of the first season she recommended a local business set up as full-time keyholders and cleaners.  Run by three people it went very well for the first 2 years.  Then one left and another couple joined, but the two couples fell out within months and the business was down to two people.  They had more work than they could handle properly and standards dropped so we had a heart to heart.  They asked for a second chance and we stupidly agreed.  The next season was a disaster!
They didn’t clean to the standard required, didn’t water our plants and the quality of service was going down all the time.  When we arrived ourselves at the end of the season I cried at the presentation.  It took us two solid days of cleaning for about 10 hours each day to get the house to a standard we wanted and we still had to do our usual twice yearly cleaning of voiles, bed covers, windows, shutters and cupboards and do the inventory.  So in October 2011 we sacked the keyholders!
Sacking your keyholders is fine if they are doing a bad job, but it rather leaves you in a difficult position when you return to the UK and you have no-one taking care of the house or preparing it for renters.
Some quick thinking was needed!

Dave and Bev Spanish Dream Properties
Dave and Bev Townsend have two homes, their main one in Norwich and a second home in Playa Flamenca in south Costa Blanca, Spain which they also let as a holiday rental www.house-by-the-pool.comThey run a property finding business offering a free service for those seeking to buy a property in the Costa Blanca (Alicante) or the Mar Menor area of the Costa Calida (Murcia) www.SpanishDreamProperty.com. Bev has family in Spain and they intend to move there full-time in a couple of years.

Sunday 7 June 2015

Our Spanish Dream - Part 26: You can’t get sea sick on a pedalo!


So having chosen south Costa Blanca as the place to buy a property because it is one of the few areas in Spain that doesn’t have mountains or lots of windy roads, due to my travel/motion sickness problems, you would think I’d be sensible enough to stay away from other things that cause an issue. But this is me, and I don’t always do the sensible thing. I have always hated the idea of depriving my family the joys others take for granted, so over the years I have been the ‘bag-holder’, standing for hours, totally bored and with aching feet, while my family have shrieked and squealed their way around several theme parks.
 
Benidorm may not be my idea of a nice resort but we have used the amenities there on several occasions. 
So I have stood for hours by the rides at the 
Terra Mitica theme park, tried not to get dizzy watching the children on rides at Mundo Mar and numerous fun fairs, and even braved bobbing about on the sea.
 
We have taken the short ferry ride from Denia to Moraira; I’m sure it was picturesque but I wasn’t able to look. We took a glass bottomed boat out to the waters around Calpe Ilfach to see the underwater life, and while they let me sit in the bottom looking at the fish it was fine, but then I had to sit up-top when they moved and that wasn’t fine. But I guess the classic was the pedalo – I have never been allowed to forget insisting that “you can’t get sea sick on a pedalo” and proving myself very wrong.
 
I’m sure there are many more attractions than I will never visit now my children can go without me that involve been spun around, flung around or tossed about in the Costa Blanca but please, do go an investigate them yourselves because the report won’t be what you would like to hear if you ask me to try them out for you..

Dave and Bev Spanish Dream Properties
Dave and Bev Townsend have two homes, their main one in Norwich and a second home in Playa Flamenca in south Costa Blanca, Spain which they also let as a holiday rental www.house-by-the-pool.comThey run a property finding business offering a free service for those seeking to buy a property in the Costa Blanca (Alicante) or the Mar Menor area of the Costa Calida (Murcia) www.SpanishDreamProperty.com. Bev has family in Spain and they intend to move there full-time in a couple of years.

Friday 22 May 2015

Our Spanish Dream - Part 25: Keeping it Legal

Our Spanish Dream - Part 25: Keeping it Legal


Taxation is always a tricky subject. I’m not going to try and advise you on what you should pay, just that you should be declaring your income in both Spain and the UK if you are renting out your Spanish home and are a UK tax resident. The Spanish are slowly catching up with illegal renters and fining them for non-declaration and non-payment of tax.
We had always wanted to do things legally, but persuading our fiscal rep to do it was another matter. For years the ‘black economy’ had flourished and the Spanish tax authorities had largely ignored the situation. The financial crisis would change all that.  Post 2008 all European governments have chased unpaid taxes however they can, and not declaring your income in Spain carries high fines. The rules have changed in both countries over the past few years so do seek proper qualified advice on tax. The short version is that you need to declare your income in Spain and after certain allowances have been deducted you will pay around 24% tax on the net earnings. As Spain and the UK have a dual tax agreement you can declare in the UK your earnings, less certain expenses (what is allowed is different in the two countries!), the amount of Spanish tax you have paid and the HMRC will not tax you twice on the same income. BUT you MUST declare the income in both countries.
In some regions of Spain you need to register a rental property, Alicante region is just starting this but as at early 2015 it isn’t necessary if you only own one house. I suspect this will change. In some regions there has been a registration requirement for many years and in others there is none at all. The bottom line is that it is up to you to make sure you are complying with the local laws and national laws in both countries - if you don’t keep it legal then don’t moan if you receive a fine!

Dave and Bev Spanish Dream Properties
Dave and Bev Townsend have two homes, their main one in Norwich and a second home in Playa Flamenca in south Costa Blanca, Spain which they also let as a holiday rental www.house-by-the-pool.comThey run a property finding business offering a free service for those seeking to buy a property in the Costa Blanca (Alicante) or the Mar Menor area of the Costa Calida (Murcia) www.SpanishDreamProperty.com. Bev has family in Spain and they intend to move there full-time in a couple of years.
 

Sunday 17 May 2015

A great property on the Costa Blanca South

2 Bed 1 Bath
Semi Detached in Villamartin

Ref: 4297
Type: Semi Detached
Area: Costa Blanca South
Town: Villamartin
Beds: 2
Baths: 1
Pool: Yes
Price: €99,950
Description:  TOWNHOUSE WITH PRIVATE POOL 2 BEDROOMS 1 SHOWER ROOM, 1 WC FULLY FURNISHED KITCHEN COMMUNAL POOL EAST FACING
[Please click an image to enlarge]

 A great property on the Costa Blanca South
http://www.spanishdreamproperty.com/index.php?action=listingview&listingID=76948