The European Court of Justice has ruled over the New Year on Mortgage Floor Clauses, which are the clauses put in a mortgage deed by some banks which basically meant that when interest rates went down the bank retained a minimum floor clause, so customers paid more interest. They are being seen as “abusive clauses” against the benefit of customers,... Read more »
Healthcare & Prescriptions here in Spain
HEALTHCARE IN SPAIN UK STATE PENSIONERS Under EU regulations, the UK pays Spain an average annual cost to provide healthcare for its pensioners. Healthcare is provided to UK state pensioners resident in Spain and holders of a S1 form from the UK on the same basis as healthcare given to Spanish pensioners. Therefore, healthcare changes that are applicable to Spanish... Read more »
Spanish Beauty Products (Beaute Mediterranea) and Suberb Products and Services
This is not something I had ever thought I would be blogging about on our legal and tax webpage, but why not? When you find a quality product or service, just like our own, I believe you want to use it, In fact, if that company has got their customer right, it goes beyond that, it is that your customers... Read more »
How Children Inherit Property in Spain
We had an enquiry from a walk in client this week regarding passing 50% of his Spanish property to his son now as then he thought it would make it automatic that his son inherits when he dies. This was our email to him today as this was not quite right,given that Spanish and UK law are different. Dear X,... Read more »
Iberdrola and the Frequent Power Cuts in Spain
FREQUENT ELECTRICITY POWER CUTS I used to have no problems at all in my house on the Orihuela Costa, cooking, washing and using electricity for all manner of things, courtesy of paying Iberdrola a large amount of money every couple of months. Then I started to notice frequent power cuts, when running, for example, the oven, and one other applicance... Read more »
More Reasons to Move to Spain
Spain ranks incredibly well in HSBC Worldwide Survey. The HSBC Expat Explorer survey 2016 is a global poll of 26,871 expats across the entire world. The research, conducted online by You-Gov is important when people are trying to decide where to relocate to. We wonder are HSBC asking the right questions however and maybe some of the headlines are misleading.... Read more »
Las Alpurrajas – The White Villages
Las Alpurrajas – the White Villages The Las Alpurrajas or La Alpurraja is a region of white mountain villages in the province of Granada in Andalucía. They are a very straightforward and partly scenic 3.5 or 4 hour drive from La Zenia and well worth visiting, even in the winter months. In fact, the photographs below were taken late in... Read more »
The difference between Pulpo, Calamari and Chipirones…
When Talk Turns to cephalopods…. A few days ago we had our company annual Xmas do, and talk turned to cephalopods. Of course no one actually used that word, but it sort of started with what the devil is the difference between all that Spanish stuff; “calamar”, “pulpo”, “chipirones” and all that. So I promised to write a blog on... Read more »
December and Christmas Holidays
24th December – Christmas Eve is called Nochebuena in Spanish (Goodnight) and it is the most important family gathering of the year. In the evening people often meet early for a few drinks with friends then return home to enjoy a meal with the family. Most bars and restaurants close in the evening. Prawn starters followed by roast lamb would... Read more »
Tax on Rental Income in Spain
Clients that have a property let (either short term or long term) in Spain must declare their rental income and pay tax on it. This note is really aimed at clients who let their property long-term and do not declare the rental income. This is illegal. Landlords need to pay rental tax for the days that the property has been... Read more »