Buying Spanish Property

[Meg888]

Hi, I'm after advice. After a fab holiday in the Canary Islands my partner is considering buying out there for the purpose of a second home, holiday let and if successful a pension plan. He is 45, in a well earning job but has no assets/capital in the UK. So a mortgage would be required. Does anyone else have any sort of advice at all to offer? There is so much to find on the internet, it's almost mind boggling! Obviously he understands he'd need to appoint both Spanish & UK lawyer to ensure paperwork is legitimate, and that he would need to draw up a Spanish will.

[VHG]

This web site may help if you have not seem it for expats in Spain

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/spain-expat-forum-expats-living-spain/

Note the Spanish economy is in bad shape so many not be the best place to buy at the moment (unless you can get a real bargain).

[Sqad]

Spanish property prices are not about 50% lower than 6 years ago.......now is the time to buy and offer 30% off the asking price and then haggle for a better deal.

Taxes, legal expenses etc add about 20% to the agreed buying price, this will depend upon the area.

Never buy a property that is yet to be built.

Spanish Lawyer is essential.

You will also need a villa company top look after your property.

[Sqad]

Oh! Low property prices in Spain, strong pound to the euro.......now is the time to buy.

[Meg888]

Great thanks for the replies - just had a quick look at that forum VHG, seems very informative. Thanks also Squad for the advice, we met some ex-pats out there who currently look after English owned properties, so we could always use them as they always seem keen to get any extra work. They looked after us on holiday, and they were lovely, though we didn't speak of buying out there to them. The area we're looking at is Fuerteventura, it's a residential area, but about a 10 min drive from the Correlejo town centre & the famous beaches. It's only a little 2 bed villa, with a pool and on the internet I've noted they're going for approx. 100k EUR, so if we can haggle a good percentage off that's even better.

[Jennykenny]

Have done it from both ends, ie had a flat in London while we lived and worked in Portugal and Spain, and then after coming back to London, had a flat in Spain. Both situations were nightmares. Endless problems with maintenance etc.
Strongly advise you to rethink this idea. You can have great holidays with someone else taking all the responsibility.

[Mosaic]

The rental agent of a property we hired explained that there's a glut of property for rent in southern Spain as a whole (maybe different in the Canaries but....)
Loads of people buy, but hardly any can get a decent number of weeks rental.
Meanwhile incomprehensible or non-existent planning regulations mean the lovely view that inspired you to buy gets blocked by a new development. They also reckoned that if by chance every property was occupied all the time, it would overwhelm available power and water supplies.

[Meg888]

Thanks for your input, Jennykenny & Mosaic. It will be at least a year before the ball starts rolling seriously/money exchanging hands etc. so that's a lot of time to do homework and research. I'm just putting feelers out, finding out what's involved, how safe it is etc. So thanks all for replies, valuable information!

[Dogsbody2]

The cost of both buying and selling is far more in Spain than you will be used to in the UK. One has to use a notary and these people charge based on a percentage of the transaction cost.
Agree with comments on planning consent, rules that may change in front of your eyes.
Also, far to easy for future change in Government policy to fleece the ex-pat, regarding taxation, introduction of random new rules etc.
Far too great a risk to think of in terms of a future pension income.

Just enjoy the holidays by renting as and when you feel like a break. No reason to invest.

[cameliaheartfelt]

Spanish property prices are on the up. Just be careful if you buy on a residential complex as you are not allowed to rent out for holidays/short term lets. The shortest let is 6 months. The government is clamping down and fining owners, looking on social media for renters advertisements.