Welcome to our Spanish Property Page

If you would like further details on any of the properties or plots listed below, please telephone us. You can also contact us at our e-mail adress: spain@jamie-dean.co.uk

Ref No: ARBOL001
Arboleas

These are custom made villas with outstanding mountain views within a private gated development. Sold as a package with numerous options, seven exclusive luxury villas are all sold.
3 Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms
Price 129,000 GBP to 154,000 GBP (1 EURO= 0.72 GBP as of 2/6/03) Euro´s

The following information is only supplied as a general guide. In Spain, as in any Country, always seek professional advice before entering into any contract.

Costs
Buying a property in Spain involves a large amount of paperwork, with this comes a number of costs. As a guideline you should add 10% to the declared purchase price of the property to cover this. Costs are as follows:

Transfer Tax
This is the one which will hit your pocket the hardest, 6% is payable on a resale property, 7% IVA (VAT) and 1-1/2% Stamp Duty is payable on a new property and 16% is payable on the purchase of land. If you buy a new property and intend to have a pool or garage built, try and have it included with the sale of the property, as if you build later, you will attract tax at the higher rate of 16%

Notary Charges
These are set on a fixed scale by law and you should expect to pay around 300.00 Euros as a minimum. This can rise quite dramatically if other factors are included ie. a mortgage.

Solicitors Fees
Probably the best investment you will make, buying without a Solicitors advice could cost you dearly. Expect to pay around 600.00 Euros on a property purchase of between 75 - 150,000 Euros

Registration
Having a property deeds inscribed in to your name at the Registrar. Expect to pay between 120.00 and 300.00 Euros.

Who Pays What
Spanish Laws state that unless stipulated in the Contract, Taxes and fees are split between the buyer and seller as follows:

The Buyer Pays The transfer tax or IVA Registration fees Notary Costs

The Seller Pays Plus Valia tax, which is calculated on the Increase in value of the land since the last sale Notary fees in drawing up the new deeds The estate agents fees

These rules are not followed rigidly and it is often the buyer who ends up footing the bill for most of them, In Spain, all debts on a property, stay with the property when it is sold, another good reason to employ a solicitor to discover if any nasties are hidden away with a property.

More Information
The paperwork in Spain is a complex thing and only the people who write the laws and Solicitors have a true understanding. Although there are a number of books written about the subject, these should only be used as a way to gain a basic understanding and are useful in this respect. The following information is only supplied as a general guide. In Spain, as in any Country, always seek professional advice before entering into any contract.

I. Obligatory costs, above and beyond the purchase price - on buying property in Spain. Notary fees (drawing up and notarizing the "escritura" (title deed) 7% IVA purchase tax (equivalent of VAT) "Registro" - registering the title deed at the Property Registry Electricity hook-up Water hook-up Gas hook-up (if necessary) Legal fees (if necessary) Community fees "Contribucion Urbana" - Local Land Taxes

Buying an Apartment
Our Apartments are sold with the client paying half of the sales price during the course of construction (the other half being paid to us by a mortgage that has already been granted to us with a local bank. When the Apartments are completed and the client wishes to take title he can either pay off the bank´s half and thereby have clear ownership of the property OR continue the mortgage with the bank (which is generally for 15 years with the option to extend or cancel it at any time.) The Notary ("Notario") - This is the person who acts on behalf of the Spanish government to make sure that:
(a) The seller is who he says he is; and
(b) That the Title ("Escritura") is clear and if not the Title will state what status and what rates of interest are owed on the property. VAT (IVA in Spanish) - Equals 7% of the Escritura´s declared value. If you are purchasing a commercial unit, taxes are 16%. Registering your Title Deed (at the Land Registry) - Registering your Title Deed with the Registrar of Deeds in Vera should cost approximately 275 Euros. That price is for a 2 Bedroom Apartment of approximately 75 M2 in size. Naturally a larger Apartment or House would cost even more. This must be done as soon as you have taken title or there are fines. Electricity - About 180 Euros for the standard contract of 3.500 Watts. You pay bi-monthly fees based upon consumption and the amount of watts you have contracted. Water - Contract is usually 185 Euros and depends on consumption GAS (Butano) - If you cook with gas the bottles cost 9.00 Euros for a refill. The contract per bottle costs 30 Euros. LEGAL FEES - Lawyer's usually charge about £700 (about 1200 Euros) for over looking the legal paperwork on purchasing a typical two bedroom apartment. "Gestors" often much less for the same work. Community fees - In the past, all the complexes that I have built, I have also owned a substantial amount of Apartments in them for my own rentals, consequently I too want to keep phase and charges for Community ownership as low as possible. I.B.I. - Land Tax approximately 90,15 Euros per year, per Apartment.

Community Fees (if applicable): If your property is part of a community, YOUR obligations toward THE COMMUNITY of owners:
By law the Community must meet once a year (AGM) and elect a President, an Administrator, and a Secretary to manage the daily running and maintenance of the Community. The date for that meeting is inserted into the title deed. If you have a good developer he usually will manage the entire project keeping maintenance costs as low as possible.

Fees usually run 30 to 55 Euros per month, depending on how large the Community is and what they have to maintain; pools, garden, parking. Cost of Electricity and Water depends on consumption. Usually a 2 Bedroom Apartment is 32,00 Euros for Electricity and 18,00 Euros for Water - give or take. Rubbish collection for Apartments is approximately 9,00 - 12,00 Euros per month. Land Taxes on the property (known as "Contribucion Urbana" or "I.B.I.") for a 2 Bedroom House would be approximately 95,00 Euros per year, give or take.

II. EARNING A PROFIT ON YOUR APARTMENT IN SPAIN
Our associates do not take a laissez faire attitude towards renting your property out. They expect our clients to earn a good income on their substantial investment. They do not wait for someone to walk in the front door and plead with us to rent them an apartment. They are aggressively marketing on the Internet to various "activity clubs" to entice them to come to Spain and RENT. Our associated company will be soliciting directly to Golf Clubs, Air & Hang Gliding Clubs, Scuba Diving Clubs (3 of Andalucia's 19 Blue Flag Beaches are here in Mojacar for snorkelling and underwater activities), Windsurfing and Sailing Clubs, Golf, Tennis and English Lawn Bowling Clubs, etc.

Let's face it, if your Apartment is rented for as low as £100 a week in mid-February, you still get £80 profit. If your property is rented in off-season you very well could pay your entire community fees for the year. If you want to rent even more you could help yourself by putting up adverts in your home Supermarkets, news agents etc.

RENTAL CHARGES
The times have changed. Clients coming on holiday expect much more than to wade in the sea and drink sangria. They must be constantly looked after. Our associated company will be charging a 20% commission for rentals. This holds multifarious advantages. Because we are in the construction industry, they maintain a full staff of Electricians, Plumbers, Carpenters and cleaning people. Should something go wrong, they are there. Furthermore, they can take additional care of them to facilitate an enjoyable stay. Their holiday packages can include: airport pickups, car rentals, food packages, and arranging special side trips to other interesting localities.

EARNING A SUBSTANTIAL PROFIT ON YOUR INVESTMENT
The Spanish banks are offering mortgage facilities to our clients for 50% of the sales price. While you only paid half the purchase price you then are given time to pay the rest in a mortgage usually over a ten to fifteen year period (you can cancel whenever you want).

III. ESTIMATED RUNNING COSTS* FOR YOUR APARTMENT ARE THE FOLLOWING:ELECTRICITY* 30 Euros per month X 12
*DoC … 361,00 Euros WATER* 30 Euros per month X 12
*DoC … 361,00 Euros LAND TAXES (I.B.I.) per year… 90,00 Euros COMMUNITY FEES (Estimate) 30 Euros per month X 12. 361,00 Euros RUBBISH COLLECTION ("BASURA") Per year 64,00 Euros
-------------------
TOTAL 1237,00 Euros
Cost roughly per month = 103,00 Euros /mo.
*Depending on Consumption.

ESTIMATED RUNNING COSTS* FOR YOUR VILLA ARE THE FOLLOWING:
The following is an estimate of the approximate running costs of a three-bedroom house.

Gas - depending on consumption, a gas bottle costs 9 Euros to replace (once you have bought a contract for these in the first place. The price of this depends on how many gas bottles you buy). A normal full gas bottle usually lasts for about 2 weeks for every day cooking, maybe longer.

Water - Also depends on consumption but usually a 3 Bedroom house is about 6 Euros every two months.

Electricity - Depending on consumption about 97,00 Euros every two months for a 3 Bedroom house.

Refuse collection - 9,00 Euros every 3 months.

Sewage - no charge provided that the villa is not in countryside.

Property Tax for a 3 Bedroom Apartment is 169,00 Euros. For a 3 Bedroom House 241,00 Euros per year.

Insurance (always recommended, especially for renters) is about 272,00 Euros per year for a house and contents. Our associated company can offer this service to you through their Prosperity (part of Standard Life Insurance Group) Agency Agreement.

We hope the following answers will give you an idea of how easy, uncomplicated and totally simple it is to move to Spain. - In reality, moving to Spain is just as complicated, as it would be to move from Kent to East Sussex. That is to say, no problem whatsoever and a lot more sun.

British Citizenship
Your Passport and Citizenship remain the same, unless you stay more than 180 days, OR unless you choose to become a Resident Abroad. This is quite easy to do should you so wish.

National Health & Medical
At the moment the programmes are not transferable, but in future years we are sure they will be. Ric, the director of our associated company in Mojacar has 3 children and has lived here through numerous accidents and medical turmoil, he considers that he and his family are blessed by living under the Spanish sun and their medical care. He feels that it is first rate and doctors abound. (Good dentists too.)

State Pensions
These can be paid over here on a monthly into any local or national bank branch that you should choose.

Investments
Investments back in the U.K. are taxed only in the U.K., unless of course you are a Resident Abroad.

Transfer Sterling
This can be done easily. It either can be done digitally via the Banks new E-mail systems, or the older way or wiring the money, but there is no problems of transferring currency abroad.  

Maintaining a Home in the United Kingdom
Over the last 30 years the trend is to actually give up the home in Great Britain, because it is only a two-hour flight away. It is a hard psychological pattern to walk away from such a tiny island that has such powerful good memories, but with the world shrinking because of the Internet, you can actually exchange letters and look at the person you are writing to, or just get on a plane and hop back for a nice visit. But beware, once you have a place in the sun, you'll find yourself with many, many visitors and friends you never realised you had.

Taxes
Taxes you pay in the country of your financial residency. If you have investments in the U.K., even though you spend three to four months abroad, you are taxable on those investments under U.K. law.

Expatriate Organisations & Clubs
These abound, as do Societies for Golfing, Tennis, Lawn Bowls, Bridge or any excuse for people to get together whether it be a "once a month dining club" or an exploring club to find new Bars. People who live abroad, surprisingly enough, tend to flock together much more tightly, and even speak to their neighbours, which is something they might not do back in the U.K.

It is sometimes an idea come over, have a look around, start small and keep your house back in the U.K. for a while and just see how you get on. We feel quite confident that in the end you'll sell up and buy a nicer and perhaps larger house in the sun.