I am in the process of purchasing an apartment in Duquesa

Hi Karen,

We rented in San Luis De Sabinillas 7 years ago and ended up buying and now living here. 

My tip for purchasing is get a good lawyer and make sure they sort out wills etc. Ours even set up our Spanish Bank Account. 

We can recommend a Gestor to take care of your annual tax returns, she speaks good English and takes care of our personal and business accounts. (see picture)

I can also recommend William our electrician. William McIntosh +34 663 55 13 80 he is on Whatsapp.

Plumbing, as always is a bit more difficult, we had a guy renovate our bathrooms and he does come back if we have a problem, but he only does it for customers.

Wrought iron gates, I'll ask around.

My wife has a shop in Avenida de La Paz ( by the San Luis Mercadona) so when you come make yourself known and we will help out any way we can.

Trevor

Hi Trevor,

Thank you so much for responding.  Yes we are using a brilliant estate agent and lawyer who does seem very meticulous, so just waiting for all the legal docs and pool licence from town hall.

I work as a Finance Manager, so I have probably bombarded both the estate agent and lawyer with questions, but they seem to be ok with it.

We will definitely get a Spanish Will, which the same lawyer will sort out once it's all gone through.  She is sorting our Spanish bank account, but we have decided to also use Starling Bank, as it is an online bank (no charges, and I have that in writing :-)) so we have opened a current account and next week will add on our euro account.  We are also going to use Transferwise to foreign currency transfers, they came highly recommended.

I have been advised about the non-resident tax, and I have a few emails but it was quite difficult how they work it out, but I will get them to elaborate a bit further down the line, as I know you have to do a tax return, so thank you for your contact.

We will definitely come and introduce ourselves to you at your shop. 

For this year and next year, it will probably only be a few weeks in Spain, but hoping to spend more time as my husband works remotely, and my work is semi-remote, so we shall see :-)

Once again, thank you for all the advice.

Kind regards

Karen

Hi Karen,

I moved to Spain 2 yrs ago and live 10 mins away from you and British.

I am a registered handyman trading as HandyPat.

I can do lots of different works including basic plumbing and electric.

No obligation quotations, reliable and quality work.

Good luck with your purchase.

Tele Pat on +44 7824425398

Hi Pat,

Thank you so very much, that is so great to know.

We will definitely be in touch.

Kind regards

Karen :-)

Hi Karen, 

Well I would not expect any less of a Finance Manager (smile). 

Admit we have an annual charge around €36 but we have found Sabadell good. Still each to their own. Definitely Transferwise are great.

I don't think you will find the Spanish Tax a real problem, we paid some tax because we let our property out for the first 3 years whilst we were sailing our way here.

Our lawyer took our English Will, did a translation and created the Spanish one from it. Basically the Spanish will honour your will.

Be great to see you and good luck.

Regards 

Trevor and Pauline.

Hi Trevor,

Thank you for responding.  

We aren't looking to become a resident, just spend lots of time over there if our work routine allows, but I can only imagine how wonderful it must be to live there.

I have a UK will and trust fund, and for now and whilst we are non residents our UK property is to my knowledge completely separate.  With that said, we will get a Spanish will for the property in Duquesa.

I will look into the Spanish tax, I may even be able to do my own return for the annual non-resident tax, which seems a bit of a mindfield, and I have had a few different figures thrown at me :-(  

My understanding is that it is based on the value of the property at the town hall (a bit confusing for me) but I will have to read their emails again and hopefully it will start to make sense.

One thing that has caused me a little concern is the communal fees.  I was sent the budget/Income and Expenditure/Reserves account for budget and actuals figures for 2018/2019, and budget figures for 2019/2020 which I have been advised were extended due to no meetings being allowed during the pandemic.

My apartment is one of 5 blocks on a complex, and they are all apportioned using I would assume sq footage and other factors, so I have the % apportioned of my apartment.  However, when I do my calcuations the amount of communal charges that should be charged based on the budget or actual expenditure is far less than the amount stated on the specification from the estate agent.

I have no issues with paying the communal charges but it is a grey area, and I have asked for a full breakdown, but not yet received.  Hopefully, that will all fall into place.

Sorry to bore you with trivial stuff, but it is all relevant and I am a novis at this.

But not to worry, we will pop and see you later in the year when we get there and maybe we can all go for a coffee or tea.

Thanks

Karen

Hi Karen I will look forward to your call, or if you want to meet for a coffee / chat initially that also works for me 😎

Hi Karen,

As I mentioned the Spanish tax is not difficult it is just making sure you do the right things. Our people charged us a flat fee of €95 a year and I just gave them rental incomes and costs.

Yes, community charges are based on space including if you have a store room like we do. You should have a Community President (a property owner) and more often than not an outside company that is administrator and manages the community on a day to day basis. You normally pay this monthly from your bank account and it is revised and voted on by the community at each AGM.  Our is in July when there are more residents around. It was missed back in 2020 but we had one last year.

I cannot say what you should be paying as it varies according to services supplied. Ours is €89 a month, but I know others can be €150 or more.

Hope that helps

Trevor

Hi Karen

Non Resident Tax, is based upon Catastral Value, this will be shown on your IBI Tax demand, issued in the summer, and due to pay around 11 September. NRT due November I think, certainly later than IBI

Edit: you pay these in arrears, so buying in summer 2022, you won't be required to pay until 2023

I use a tax payment service, Spanish Tax Forms to pay NRT, they make it easy, & charge for their service. Hopefully with your profession, you won't need them, but its an option. IBI payment directly easy enough.

Starling Bank, not seen them recommended on here for use in Spain, Do ensure that they offer a Spanish IBAN, which you need to set up DD's for Utilities. 

N26 Bank has been recommended, but their website says not available to UK residents. There's another poster on here, which says he emailed N26 customer service, who say if you have a Spanish address you can set up an account with them (contrary to their website)

Hope this helps & good luck with your purchase