Relocation to Spain Experience

[Martynt74]

Have you setup SEPA direct debits for any monthly payments, or amazon, as I'm contemplating ?

I'm just learning how it, surprisingly, works you just give supplier your bank account #, and they can take what they want !
much less formality than uk.

Slowly starting. I've now opened an account with Sabadell which i'm hoping won't be too painful. Have linked my wifes self employed tax/social security to it. As you say they can just request whatever they want and can be a nightmare to get back by all accounts! Just need to be extra vigilant ontransactions.


Things took a downward turn this week. Seems the local ayuntamiento (town hall), didn't actually send over the backing documents for my residency, and as such i got a letter to say my application is closed with no right to appeal as i failed to comply with the request. Even though i have a receipt the foreigners office just said i need to re-apply.

Given i'm now over the 90 day limit and actively working in the country, i got a little paniced, so have decided to pay a company to handle it for me. Would've rather not spent the money, but it's worth it for peace of mind.


In other Admin **** ups. The Gestor (kind of like accountants/lawyers who deal with admin and paperwork) registered my new car to the wrong address and got 1 digit of the post code wrong. I only discovered it when i realised i hadn't been sent the equivalent of the V5, checking my online account correctly shows the car registered to me but with the wrong address.
Got in touch with the company who submitted the documents, only to be told they want €30 to fix their own mistake!

 

[Martynt74]

@mattyfez @Concrete

Do you guys get paid over here? I got my first payslip, but for some reason it's split into multiple lines,

The "Base Salary" is around 40% of my actual salary, and then there's some bits for Bonus/Extras, and then the bottom line for A Cta Convenio which makes up around 50%. Just not really got a clue why they'd split it out like this. I've sent their HR an email but they're sometimes a bit slow.

Also they've ran payroll for the 2nd Jan to 31st Jan and so i've missed out on a days salary for the 1st as the UK ran payroll to the 31st December

 

[Demon]

Slowly starting. I've now opened an account with Sabadell which i'm hoping won't be too painful. Have linked my wifes self employed tax/social security to it. As you say they can just request whatever they want and can be a nightmare to get back by all accounts! Just need to be extra vigilant ontransactions.


Things took a downward turn this week. Seems the local ayuntamiento (town hall), didn't actually send over the backing documents for my residency, and as such i got a letter to say my application is closed with no right to appeal as i failed to comply with the request. Even though i have a receipt the foreigners office just said i need to re-apply.

Given i'm now over the 90 day limit and actively working in the country, i got a little paniced, so have decided to pay a company to handle it for me. Would've rather not spent the money, but it's worth it for peace of mind.


In other Admin **** ups. The Gestor (kind of like accountants/lawyers who deal with admin and paperwork) registered my new car to the wrong address and got 1 digit of the post code wrong. I only discovered it when i realised i hadn't been sent the equivalent of the V5, checking my online account correctly shows the car registered to me but with the wrong address.
Got in touch with the company who submitted the documents, only to be told they want €30 to fix their own mistake!

Sounds about right! Like a few EU countries you just get used to the endless bureaucracy.. but you'll get there in the end, remember: mañana

 

[Concrete]

@mattyfez @Concrete

Do you guys get paid over here? I got my first payslip, but for some reason it's split into multiple lines,

The "Base Salary" is around 40% of my actual salary, and then there's some bits for Bonus/Extras, and then the bottom line for A Cta Convenio which makes up around 50%. Just not really got a clue why they'd split it out like this. I've sent their HR an email but they're sometimes a bit slow.

Also they've ran payroll for the 2nd Jan to 31st Jan and so i've missed out on a days salary for the 1st as the UK ran payroll to the 31st December

Yeah confused the hell out of me at first, I checked the first couple were right then just went with it.

IIRC it's like national insurance and then the tax gets split between different national and local authorities/departments. They also show the tax implications of benefits as well.

 

[Concrete]

Little update. Not a huge amount has changed here.

• I had an email to ask for more info on my residency, giving me 10 days. Almost impossible to find a place to submit the documents as the online link in the PDF didn't work. *Think* i've sorted it. Just waiting for a response.
• We've settled on the big 40,000m2 plot of land. Currently in the process of negotiation and purchase structure - More on this later
• I bought a new car. A 2008 Kia Sportage. Has a towbar and roof racks. Is huge inside and will work nicely for long journeys and hauling stuff around
• The kids came out for Christmas. Weird sitting out on Christmas Day in 20C sunshine at a bar with a beer
• To encourage moves with the builder we signed the contract for the build and paid the initial deposit

Now onto the land. As i think i've mentioned. It's 3 plots of land. Plot 33 (19,000m2) ,34 (16,000m2) and 35 (5500m2)

The initial plan was to buy Plot 33 and build on it. However following a meeting with the architect, he believes Plot 34 is better as it has a good flat section to minimise groundwork costs and is slightly elevated for better views. Therefore we agreed to buy plot 34 and 35 initially with an agreement we'd then buy 33 later on. The price being €2.5m2 for the first 2 plots and then €1.5m2 for plot 33 to average close to €2m2 overall.
I then figured that the "extra" cost was only €30k and we can mortgage 50% of the land. So for a €15k initial outlay, it makes sense and is tidier for everyone to get it done and dusted. Once this plan was made, i decided that instead of a 50m2 garage, i'd change it's use to a 50m2 casita (little house) for guests with 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. The builder agreed he could build this quicker than the main house, and so we could move into this ahead of the completion to save paying €1300 a month in rent.

Everything then sounded like it was going swimmingly. Until this morning when i get an email from the builder saying the bank may have an issue with building over 2 plots, and wouldn't mortgage the land at 50% for any land without a building on. I'm now seeing if i can structure the land purchase where the 15,000m2 plot costs €4m2 and the others at a low price. We then get a mortgage valuation at a higher price (€4/m2 is still a decent market price so shouldn't raise any eyebrows)

Now just waiting to hear back.

On other matters, this rental runs out at the end of June, and we're struggling finding anything for the summer months that aren't at huge summer holiday weekly prices. We might have something but will mean having to take it from March and giving notice on this place. We had one lined up but after initially giving a decent price, he decided to double it

Ask your current landlord for an extension? They might be fine extending it, for payment in effectivo...

 

[Martynt74]

Ask your current landlord for an extension? They might be fine extending it, for payment in effectivo...

Nah. They want the juicy summer rent. It’s an amazing house for summer weekly rentals so I don’t blame them.

We’ve found a rental till September which is cheap and gets us over the summer months so might see what f we can get back in here from Sept onwards.the benefit is it’s only €800/mth which saves us €500 a month which is helpful.

 

[Concrete]

Good news you have it covered.

In your previous posts you refer to having a builder manage the site for you, is that you giving us the cut down version? In Spain (maybe the UK as well, I don't have experience) standard process is to hire an architect independently. They handle the endless paperwork and act as a guarantor for the builders work. As such they are a combined heavy and fixer and honestly I doubt I could have completed our build without him.

 

[Martynt74]

Maybe not expanded properly. My reference to “builder” is effectively a developer who used to be a property lawyer.

As such he will coordinate the whole process for us.

Ultimately we’re paying a premium for his services but given our position it’s well worth it.

The issue I have is that as an accountant I want breakdowns and numbers. His standard practice is to give a price for “a house” including all legal work, architect fees, appliances etc.

We need to find a way to meet in the middle and give me details. I don’t mind if his profit is 30%. I accept that for having someone manage the whole build, but I want to know how much is allocated to certain items so I can conpronise on some things to create budget for others.

At the moment this is where I’m struggling but I have a meeting with him and our estate agent on Tuesday to try and nail down a final spec.

 

[jpaul]

perhaps view his budgetting mathematically - each task, has a mean and standard deviation of cost/contingencies, and he has to find the distribution sum, without worst casing everything.

exchange rate what's your current approach on watching exchange rate for fund transfer ? pound has been strengthening over the last few months - annoyed I hadn't moved some euros->pounds,
maybe things improve if Keir#humptydumpty get's in (sequel - brexits)

 

[Martynt74]

perhaps view his budgetting mathematically - each task, has a mean and standard deviation of cost/contingencies, and he has to find the distribution sum, without worst casing everything.

exchange rate what's your current approach on watching exchange rate for fund transfer ? pound has been strengthening over the last few months - annoyed I hadn't moved some euros->pounds,
maybe things improve if Keir#humptydumpty get's in (sequel - brexits)

Messed up a little with that. Had thought we were due to complete last week, so in my haste i saw an rate of 1.163 and moved everything over in one lot, however as the week went on i could've got around 1pt higher which would've been about €1000 extra

For now, i've got most of the cash sat in my Trading 212 account. It pays out 4% interest on cash balances in Euros which is decent, and it means the cash is sat in Euros ready to transfer to the seller when the notary appointment is announced. Just need to withdraw it back to my bank the day before.

My plan for the rest is probably just going to transfer my GBP once a month. My salary is paid in Euros and covers our day to day living costs and a little savings So it's just my wifes income and other little bits in GBP. In theory that can all just get converted each month and put into savings. It's only ~£2k/mth so i think just hedging and converting regularly makes the most sense rather than trying to time it. Any FX changes won't be a material amount.

 

[Manbatius]

Thread saved, inspirational stuff. I rarely read a full thread these days, or comment, but this one got me.

Good luck on the build.

 

[Martynt74]

Few big days. We're heading to my parents place tomorrow for 3 weeks to house sit for them. It's come at a pretty crap time given we're moving into a new rental on the 1st March, and have to come back down this way on the 20th to officially sign the paperwork for the land purchase on the 20th Feb. We've also got my daughters cat being shipped over who arrives on the 2nd March.

I've just been to move some stuff into the new rental this morning as it's currently empty which makes things a little handier. It's nowhere near as nice as the current place but it'll do the job. Main downside is the outside space, but it's a decent cost saving each month which will be nice.

Had a meeting with the developer on Tuesday. Trying to nail down a final spec has been tricky but i want to get a final price so i know what i'm working with. The benefit being that a few things i was wanting to spec up as extras (water deposit for drinking water and video link for the gate) are actually included in the agreed price.

My wife wanted a bit more of an entrance hallway so we've shifted things around a little from the previous layout and come up with the layout below. Probably with a sliding internal door from the hall to the lounge area.

 

[Martynt74]

Well, an eventful weekend. The bad part being driving up to my parents, and coming off a slip road from the motorway onto a roundabout which was clear so didn't slow as much as usual when the steering completely locked up and the brakes didn't seem to work as well expected either.

Went straight into a lamppost which luckily stopped me going down a verge and back onto the motorway! Brain didn't process going to the handbrake sadly, but must've all happened in only around 5 seconds from no steering to hitting lamppost.

Front of the Jeep is a bit of a mess, but luckily the axle seems ok, so am hoping it's just a new bonnet/fender. The grill *might* be ok and straighten out. Radiator probably needs replacing and then whatever else needs putting back.

Luckily my wife was following behind so wasn't in the car with me, and my only injury is from jarring my leg as it was slamming onto the brake pedal during the impact. Think she was more shook up than me because must be horrible to watch that happening!

 

[Martynt74]

Onto the good part. The architect has finished the plans for the house with our reworked layout. Still a few minor tweaks i think to make, mainly being the pool being further from the house, but hopefully we can get things done quickly so we can get planning permission in

 

[Martynt74]

Scary scary stuff!

Have also agreed to pay for €5k worth of the sellers fees to reduce the official price slightly. Seems like it's a common practice here!

 

[Martynt74]

Woohoo, we're now officially land owners.

The rubbish dump came with the sale. Luckily we weren't charged extra....

The house is planned for by the tree diagonally up/right from the small group of people in the middle (me, the wife and the builder)

 

[Martynt74]

Update. Decided to mark up the locations of things. Mainly because we have constant discussions between myself and my wife, then get to the agents/developers, i say something and she looks at me blankly. So i've knocked up the below for the architect to work from and included her in the group chat so she can't claim otherwise

Grey is the drive
Green is the fencing/gate. This is probably well over the allowed size in the budget, but i don't think extra is too expensive. Also not sure if we can reduce it quite a bit in reality
Red is my garage/gym/office
brown is the house with the relevant direction (absolutely not to scale. The drawing below probably makes the house about 900m2!)
blue is the pool

Also in the plans is a pool room/shower/toilet which i've not marked up.


In the future my plans will be to add a guest accommodation (maybe 2) where the rubbish is, maybe further "in" which we can rent out, but still be far enough from the main house.

I'm currently looking for a digger for sale to start trying to level up the plots. Not going to touch where the house will be, but will be good to get the drive sorted and other areas. We can probably also begin clearing it and planting some trees so they get 12 months growth before we move in.

 

[pacegod]

Onto the good part. The architect has finished the plans for the house with our reworked layout. Still a few minor tweaks i think to make, mainly being the pool being further from the house, but hopefully we can get things done quickly so we can get planning permission in

Is there a reason the rear window to bed one isn't centred on the room/external wall, also the door to beds 2 and 3?

 

[Martynt74]

Is there a reason the rear window to bed one isn't centred on the room/external wall, also the door to beds 2 and 3?

Good spot and i hadn't noticed. Will flag this to the wife, but i imagine it's to keep the outside looking decent and fairly symmetrical.

Doors to beds 2/3 is intentional to give as much space to the left as possible so that we can position the sofa to the left without the doorway being in line. Realistically the door to that small hallway might be one of those hanging sliding doors to avoid limitation on door swing. Bathroom door is also changed to a sliding door.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Update. Decided to mark up the locations of things. Mainly because we have constant discussions between myself and my wife, then get to the agents/developers, i say something and she looks at me blankly. So i've knocked up the below for the architect to work from and included her in the group chat so she can't claim otherwise

Grey is the drive
Green is the fencing/gate. This is probably well over the allowed size in the budget, but i don't think extra is too expensive. Also not sure if we can reduce it quite a bit in reality
Red is my garage/gym/office
brown is the house with the relevant direction (absolutely not to scale. The drawing below probably makes the house about 900m2!)
blue is the pool

Also in the plans is a pool room/shower/toilet which i've not marked up.


In the future my plans will be to add a guest accommodation (maybe 2) where the rubbish is, maybe further "in" which we can rent out, but still be far enough from the main house.

I'm currently looking for a digger for sale to start trying to level up the plots. Not going to touch where the house will be, but will be good to get the drive sorted and other areas. We can probably also begin clearing it and planting some trees so they get 12 months growth before we move in.

Have some sympathy for the colour blind amongst us, that green and brown look almost identical to me!