Maybe you are considering moving and living and working in Spain. Maybe you live in the UK, or Europe, and have a dream to spend your life in Spain all the Costa del Sol, living in the sunshine drinking cocktails, soaking up the Spanish lifestyle, eating tapas, and generally failing better about life done in your native country. However, living in Spain is now more difficult especially for people from the UK to live your Spanish dream
The Spanish lifestyle
There is absolutely no doubt, living in Spain is preferable to a lot of countries in the EU and particularly the UK. The UK is without doubt a stunning part of the world, the green and pleasant land has plenty going for it including being a frontrunner in innovation, processes, business, work ethic, public services and transport at all, maybe contrary to people in the UK’s belief is exceptional. In Spain the major Banks, mortgage companies, government processes, processes of any description, e-commerce, websites on the internet are all light years behind the UK and the rest of Europe. Spain just has no adapted to the new digital world.
Spanish red tape
Getting anything done in Spain is a tedious process. The paperwork involved and the Neanderthal processes in place to do the most simple of tasks is very frustrating. However, the Spanish lifestyle, the beautiful country, is more than worth this annoying blip for living and working in Spain.
Imagine opening your curtains on a morning to the brightest sunshine 300 days a year. Packing up your car with a few beers, some wine, some munchies, ready to go down to the beach on an evening or on a weekend to spend your day staring at the blue ocean while slapping sun cream on to ensure you don’t go tourist lobster colour. That is no doubt that the lifestyle in Spain is probably one of the best in Europe. For us Brits, and EU countries that are used to efficiency and services having to deal with the Spanish system every now and again is simply worth dealing with to live out the wonderful lifestyle and history of this stunning country. It is a stunning country too, whether you’re visiting Seville with all its history and it’s 100% European lifestyle, amazing coffee, or you are visiting the simply amazing Barcelona which can leave you speechless when you say the architecture and both the modern, gothic, and historical parts of the city, wherever you decide to live in Spain we are sure you will feel you made the correct decision.
Working in Spain
You can not earn wages in Spain like you can in many European countries such as Germany or France, Scandinavia and especially the UK. The kind of money you can earn in the UK especially in the south is way higher than you could earn living in Spain. The ideal would be to work remotely in Spain and earn your wages from one of these countries digitally. This is a potential heaven, you earn your native countries wages but live in the sunshine and in most parts of Spain the lifestyle and costs are generally lower than your native country which makes living and wrking in Spain easier.
You can buy a bottle of wine for 1 euro, and not rubbish wine either you can buy a bottle of quality red or white for anywhere between 1 and 3 euros. Beers are cheap in the supermarket, food is pretty much on a par with the UK, drinks in the bar are reasonable however, they fill those babies up to the top with spirits and would probably laugh at the tiny UK measures in your cocktail. They start pouring and pretty much don’t stop until half your glass is full of spirits usually around the 5- euro mark based on Costa del sol prices. There must be the equivalent of five UK shots in each glass. Pretty dangerous stuff when you’re in the mood and you still think that the shots are similar to the UK. You slowly realize just how drunk you have become and how quickly, so beware.
Buying property in Spain
One thing you need to be aware of when buying property in Spain is the taxes. You need to allow around 13% of the value of the property to pay property transfer taxes, notary fees, legal fees, mortgage fees etc. This is before you’ve even paid the deposit should you require any info on mortgages in Spain please don’t hesitate to contact us so we can give you solid and honest advice on Spanish mortgages.
Importing a car to Spain.
Importing an EU registered vehicle is relatively straightforward however, after Brexit UK cars and now a bit of a nightmare. Spain have come down heavily on UK cars entering Spain the paperwork involved is colossal and the process is extremely difficult. The only way of registering a UK vehicle in Spain is to tie in with a residency application. This way, you can wave import duty by bringing the car in as a personal effect. Enabling it to make sense to import your UK car to Spain.
Taking residency in Spain
There is no hard and fast rule on residency in Spain. You really need to speak to an expert regards living and working in Spain, taxes, accountants, all need to be taken into account, including what kind of residency you get, your personal circumstances, and a lot of other factors come in to play when deciding just how you are going to live and work in Spain. You may just require residency, a non lucrative visa, a golden visa etc. All work in a very different way and you need guidance to ensure that you make the right decisions for both short and definitely long term stability for your new life in Spain. We at Equitas Property Spain cannot stress enough the importance of getting your ducks in a row in Spain. After Brexit this is now even more important and the Spanish government are no longer turning a blind eye to how people from the UK particularly are arranging and being approved for residency or visas to ensure you can stay in Spain and work at your leisure.
Eating out Costa Del Sol
Wow, this is where Spain comes into its own. There is literally every dish imaginable on the menu. Yes, you can buy traditional food you would find in your home country especially English, the full English breakfast is plentiful in Spain. And there are more Sunday roasts and carvery’s than you find in the UK. Traditional foods from the EU are also available. But the Spanish are accustomed to and very very good at tapas. Spanish tapas is phenomenal in Spain you can literally and usually cheaply order many different vegetarian, seafood, or meat dishes that you could shake a stick at. Cuisine in Spain simply knocks it out of the park. As does coffee, and in the humble opinion of equitas property Spain eclipses both the food and drink in the UK for sure at a relatively decent price. Don’t forget the earlier warning of how much spirits they pour in your cocktails.
