Buying an apartment in Spain....need advice

Banzai_Joe

Banzai_Joe

Banzai_Joe

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Hi all,
serious advice sought please (even though its GD).

My mum wants to buy a 1-2 bedroom apt within an established community in Salou, Spain.
Not really for investment, but mainly so she can go numerous times a year AND for our entire family to enjoy for how ever long. It will be willed to me and my brothers when she pops off anyway.
She will pay cash, and it needs to be around £100k (gpb).
She's 73 and clueless to be fair, so its down to me to sort out.

I have no idea where to truly start. My friend has one in Tenerife which i've been to 3 times and its really nice. Definitely the type of thing my mums wants.

i looked on ritghtmove and couldnt find anything for less than £140k. My mum found loads but didn't really where what site she used.

With brexit etc, i'm assuming i need to be extra cautious.

But i'd really appreicate some proper decent advice, ideally from someone who has a spanish apt themselves(?)

Cheers
 
Simply ask her what site she used, its not difficult and if need be you can check her internet history.

Your friend would also be a good place to start as he has experience buying property abroad.
 
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Yeah, my mate has offered to help for sure, but i'm looking for as much advice as i an get, so asking here is a bonus if someone offers something golden.
 
Be interested in the outcome mate, we're rather interested in buying a property on the island of gozo, love it there. Much like your mum means free family accommodation :)

We were looking at getting a mortgage with a few of us chipping in on the deposit
 
Can't really offer any advice on buying a property out there - however I've stayed at a friends apartment several times. One thing that surprised me, and put me off from doing it myself is how secure these places have to be. Due to the fact that the property is going to be empty at least 50% of the year break ins can be pretty common, so their property has metal shutters over every window, a 6ft high metal fence / gate before you gain entrance to the property, a metal gate in front of the door, and a double locking solid wood front door, I always found it a bit oppressive if I'm honest. Its not as if my friends property was the outlier either, everywhere was like this.
 
Rids said:
Can't really offer any advice on buying a property out there - however I've stayed at a friends apartment several times. One thing that surprised me, and put me off from doing it myself is how secure these places have to be. Due to the fact that the property is going to be empty at least 50% of the year break ins can be pretty common, so their property has metal shutters over every window, a 6ft high metal fence / gate before you gain entrance to the property, a metal gate in front of the door, and a double locking solid wood front door, I always found it a bit oppressive if I'm honest. Its not as if my friends property was the outlier either, everywhere was like this.
Click to expand...

Yes - Spain is full of thieving little gits.

A friends parents has a large villa just outside of Puerto Banus - they have the grates etc. and what they do is get a car jack, jack them open and then insert kids (can't get done by the po po underage) to rob your house. They have 24/7 security now that will be there in minutes but they're usually in and out before that.

Spain is nice purely for the weather alone. The rest of it is borderline third world and most of the people that go from here certainly don't help that.

£100k won't get you much really, but have you thought of France, southern parts are nice, and unlikely you'll get the above issues although they'll still want to tax the hell out of you.

Also check up the inheritance laws; in France they are awful.
 
Banzai_Joe said:
Hi all,
serious advice sought please (even though its GD).

My mum wants to buy a 1-2 bedroom apt within an established community in Salou, Spain.
Not really for investment, but mainly so she can go numerous times a year AND for our entire family to enjoy for how ever long. It will be willed to me and my brothers when she pops off anyway.
She will pay cash, and it needs to be around £100k (gpb).
She's 73 and clueless to be fair, so its down to me to sort out.

I have no idea where to truly start. My friend has one in Tenerife which i've been to 3 times and its really nice. Definitely the type of thing my mums wants.

i looked on ritghtmove and couldnt find anything for less than £140k. My mum found loads but didn't really where what site she used.

With brexit etc, i'm assuming i need to be extra cautious.

But i'd really appreicate some proper decent advice, ideally from someone who has a spanish apt themselves(?)

Cheers
Click to expand...

You need to go to the town hall and the govenrment property section to see if the place is legal, take the plans to see if they match up to the document ones, no extra illegal builds or land extensions, and get an official price of the property just in case they hit you with a future tax bill.

Then you get the solicitor to check if there is any debt on the property etc.. make your you get a signed letter from the solicitor that there is not debt on the property, so you can hold him liable in the future.
 
Make sure you understand the taxes and purchase costs. You will pay on top of the purchase price so that needs to be built into your budgeting. Somewhere between 10-15% on top.

Can't help you on sites as I was buying on mallorca, but in general I found the market to be less aggregated and more through the sites of specific agents.
 
My mother bought a place near Malaga a few years ago. I don't know all the specifics but can make a few comments.

I suspect she found it through an estate agent, I can't think how else she would have (not much of a net user).

It is a very old two-bed property in a sleepy, traditional, small town. She got it for a knock down price because the elderly English owner was desperate to move back to the UK, IIRC was in the 60-80k EUR sort of range. The taxes added quite a bit on (as other posters have mentioned) and it also needed some construction work (tanking a room with bad damp) which luckily went pretty smoothly.

If she sells now she'll probably only just break even because they whack you with even more taxes when you sell, so definitely not worth getting into unless you're keeping the place for a good while.

Can find out more if you want.

Also the Brexit concern should be a huge one for you, it's a big concern for my mother. If they clamp down on residency rules any further, or property rules, it could really ruin her plans to spend time there in her retirement (my mother that is, not yours :p).
 
Thanks so far guys.
The property she wants will be an apt within a complex. From the outside it would simply look like just another touristy hotel, but the apts will be largely privately owned.
My mate advises going out there, staying in the complex we want to look at. Go to the town hall and look at the books as they will show if there is any debt. Apparently a lot of apt owners don't pay ground fees (when they should), which up until very recently was never truly enforceable. This then leaves the complex in debt and with no money to maintain the place.

My mum is 73 now. I'd much rather she just kept paying to go back to the place she likes time and again until she feels she can't travel any more, than actually buy a place.
But i know she wants to buy to give the whole family a holiday home to enjoy.

I just don't have the time or inclination to deal with all of this. Cos if something goes south it'll all be on me. :(
 
When you buy in spain the legal contract will be drawn up to show that the sale has been made without debts and the debts, if any, remain the obligation of the previous owner. A decent agent will walk you through all of this but you do need to go out. You won't get very far from here.
 
Two main things I get from my parents owning something similar:

1. Will they use it enough? It'll probably end up more expensive (when all costs are considered) than just renting unless you go a lot. The question is will you go a lot? I guess it's slightly different as your mother is retired but the biggest issue my parents find is getting the time to go, because they also want to go to other places on holiday. Another example is I've only been about 4 times in 15 years, because going to the same place can get boring wuiclky if you only have a few weeks holiday a year. My parents try and go twice a year (one of which they have to to pay community fees and taxes).

2. Realise that community boards (or whatever the official name is) can be a pain, especially if there are a lot of Spanish in the. My parents find the Spanish generally only go during the hottest part of the year and have different priorities as to where the community fees should be spent. That's in a "lot" of only 20 ish owned duplexes, I can see it being more of a nightmare if there are even more. Also worth remembering that there will be the yearly community fees/maintenance costs your mother will have to pay out, on top of utilities and taxes.
 
Also read up on the tax laws that come into effect on death, grim I know but pretty sure a massive percentage is due the moment a death is registered.
/edit.. google isn't helping me prove that but i'm sure you have to be really careful.

Frankly I'd not, 100k buys a lot of holidays and hotels and much less grief. Such a time of change to with exit etc.
 
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