Author: Vivagestoria

What yearly taxes must I pay? Why should I pay income tax?

Vivagestoria

What yearly taxes must I pay?

First of all you need to pay your local property taxes: Impuestos sobre Bienes Inmeubles (IBI), rubbish collection and sewage rights. These taxes are to be paid by all property owners, residents and non-residents alike. It is set and collected by SUMA in name of the town hall, similar to council tax in the UK. Once you have registered at SUMA all these local property taxes are generally paid by direct debit.

Why must I pay income tax in Spain?

Spanish tax law requires that non-resident owners of property in Spain have to pay Spanish income tax even if they have no Spanish earnings such as rental income. This non-resident tax issue can be confusing. Why should owning a holiday home entail paying income tax?

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Spanish property market shows recovery

Vivagestoria

Spanish property market shows recovery

The crisis of the Spanish property market seems to have finally come to an end. Year after year, from 2007 until 2015, the Spanish property market suffered from devaluation. Finally, it turned in 2016, when there was a slight price rise (1,6%), that became stronger in 2017 (4,4%) and seems to increase even more in 2018 (6%).

Spanish property market shows increased demand

The demand for Spanish property shows a strong increase. In 2017 the number of sales rose to 464.423 properties, which represents a growth of 14,6%. This growth is mainly due to the demand of foreign buyers. Approximately 60.000 houses in Spain were purchases by foreigners. Especially the “Costa´s” and the large cities, like Barcelona and Valencia, are popular amongst the foreign buyers/investors. Most foreign buyers come from Engeland, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Sweden and The Netherlands.

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NIE number application. The sooner the better.

Vivagestoria

NIE number application takes a long time

If you need a NIE number, be prepared for a long waiting process. In Alicante and most other places, NIE application is by appointment only. The current waiting time is as much as 3 months! The consulate is London is by far a quicker option.

NIE number, when do you need it?

When you want to purchase a house in Spain, you need a NIE number. Without NIE number the title deed can not be signed. Fortunately, no NIE number is required to sign the previous sales contract and reservation payment. Also, opening a bank account merely based on your passport should be possible. So, you can take the first steps to become owner of a Spanish home, also without NIE number.

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Rental Spain

Vivagestoria

What if I want to rent out my Spanish property?

If you possess a property within the Valencian Community -the provincies Alicante, Valencia or Castellón- and you want to rent out your property, then you are obliged to register this property.

Rental Spain – how to register your property?

In order to register your Spanish property for rental, you need to fill in a form called Declaración Responsable which you can download http://www.gva.es/downloads/publicados/IN/25082_BI.pdf

You need to specify the category of your property, choosing between (S) (Superior), (P) (Primera=First) or (E) (Estándar=Standard)

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Spanish property purchase-7 reasons why you need unbiased assistance

Vivagestoria

Spanish property purchase- 7 reasons why you need unbiased assistance from someone who speaks your language

If you want a hassle free and safe purchase in Spain, then unbiased assistance is an absolute must. You probably fully agree with me that you…

  1. don´t want to buy a property that is built without the necessary licences
  2. don´t want to buy a property if it isn´t free hold
  3. don´t want to take over the tax debts of the previous owner

And ofcourse you do want:

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Inheritance Tax Spain 2015. New rates and reclaims.

Vivagestoria

Inheritance Tax Spain 2015. New rates and reclaims.

There is a lot of contradictory information regarding the calculation of the Inheritance Tax. There was a national law applicable to non-residents and a different law with a regional character that applied to those who were residents in each of the regions with legislative autonomy. Nowadays the regional law is applicable to both residents and non-residents.

The risk of paying high rates

But is there a real risk of ending up paying very high rates? Do not be alarmed. Before the 1st January 2015 most of the Spanish residents that inherited from other residents paid little or nothing given the existence of reductions in the taxable figure. Now all those reductions, bonuses and exemptions are fully applicable to non-residents.

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Spanish land grab law

Vivagestoria

Spanish land grab law

The issue of the Spanish land grab law revolves around three classifications of land – land already urbanised, land suitable for urbanisation and rural land. As in any developing country, Spanish rural land is sometimes re-classified by the local authorities as suitable for urbanisation (development).

What about Alicante and Valencia?

Unfortunately, in the Valencia area of Spain the land grab law was badly drafted. In Alicante it was allowing a small number of developers and local authorities to exploit the situation, principally in coastal areas where land is in shorter supply and values are at their highest. It led to land expropriation of innocent private owners and compulsory payments for roads, streetlights and so on.

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Legalisation of Spanish property

Vivagestoria

Legalisation of Spanish property

What happens if the square meters that are officially registred in the nota simple are not correct? What to do? Call the deal off?

A lot of owners are in possession of a title deed with erroneous sizes and/or descriptions. Originally they may have bought or built a small house and later amplified it. Even for tax reasons they may have decided to declare only part of the built size.

If the difference between the registered and real size is significant, it is in your interest for future operations to have this legally modified.

How to legalize?

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Spanish catastro property information

Vivagestoria

Spanish catastro property information

What information can be obtained from the catastro?

The catastro shows the exact location of the property. A plan of the location and the boundaries can be obtained through the catastro. The plan shows the superficies of the building within the plot.

Sometimes the information shown in the documentation of the catastro does not exactly reflect the actual situation. For example, an extension is not registered or the plan does not show the swimming pool.

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Is your Spanish property free of debt

Vivagestoria

Is your Spanish property free of debt?

Or is there a mortgage or other claims on your spanish property. What happens when there is a mortgage on the house you want to buy? Is there a risk that you take over that claim?

No, not necessarily. First of all, if there is a mortgage on the spanish property of your choice, you might even be interested in taking over that mortgage, depending of course of the outstanding amount and conditions. If you prefer to buy the house without any mortgage, then the existing mortgage should be cancelled before you change ownership. In that way, you buy the house free of debts.

How to achieve that the property becomes free hold?

Cancelling the mortgage usually takes place on the same day as the change of ownership, so not before. The first deed will be a deed signed by the current owner (debtor) and the bank to cancel the mortgage, let´s say deed nº 103. The second deed, deed nº 104, will be the title deed signed by the current owner (vendor) and you (buyer). The moment you sign deed nº 104, the house is free of debts and will be registered as such in your name at the Land Registry.

Most of the times this is the only way the transaction can take place. Usually the seller does not have the money to cancel the mortgage and needs the income from the sales in order to do so.

Important! You should not sign the new title deed without the cancellation being signed.