[News] Spain plans 100% tax on non-EU owned homes

[Seagull58]

Or obtaining six-month visas.

I'm not aware there is such a thing as a 6 month visa Do you have the information?

 

[Seagull58]

Please stop posting and quoting as you read down a) because it was y'day and things moved on / already learned b) I couldn't give a shit now! No offence, like.

At least you know better now. You're welcome.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

It's nothing to do with dual citizenship. It's to do with legal residence. Brits residing in the EU before Brexit were entitled to claim residence under the withdrawal agreement. The ones who lived the majority of each year in the country mainly did so but some chose not to do so (there are tax implications, for example) and so are now limited to 90 days in each 180 on a rolling basis.

Correct. All you had to do, was be a legal resident the night of 31 December 2020 and you got residency status in the same country.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

So are non EU citizens, at least they are in Portugal and France, where having residence gives you access to the national healthcare system

Generally, in Germany, you'd have to take out private health insurance if you came from a third country. I believe you can enter the 'public' system if you have a job i.e. health care gets deducted monthly like everyone else, but if you lost this job you'd then need private...it's the law to have heath cover here.

 

[Bob!]

Or obtaining six-month visas.

There are no 6 month visas for Spain

 

[papachris]

I am a resident in the EU (Estonia) but still a UK citizen. I moved before the brexit deadline and got official residency. Very difficult to do it now.
A lot of previous comments about healthcare so I will explain how the situation is here.
Regarding healthcare I have to either pay about 240€ per month myself. Or earn the minimum wage, now 850€ per month and my employer does it. (I keep my income).
This gives me full access to the health service including GP plus a discount at the dentist.
Once I reach 65 it's all free

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Or obtaining six-month visas.

As others have asked, where did you see this?

 

[albionalba]

Good on 'em. If only we'd do the same to the Russians.

As others have said idea this sounds appealing but from the little I understand about it from sanctions etc the UK seems happy to let Russian etc property ownership be domiciled offshore. I'm guessing the same dodges happen in Spain, but it would be good to know if they get better at nailing offshore ownership definitions.

On the main point I have mixed feelings. From a selfish perspective we'd love to have somewhere in Spain . Before all the recent furore we thought Malaga a prime spot because of the great transport links and no need for car etc. But since then there's been that huge backlash in the city against incomers from anywhere - and with this proposal too, it makes the whole thing less attractive. And I can absolutely see the locals perspective too. It's not much different to DFLs inflating south coast property prices and annoying locals.

Am loving the nuanced discussions on this thread too.......very entertaining.....

 

[East Staffs Gull]

As others have asked, where did you see this?

Several EU countries issue Visa D’s for periods of up to 6 months. Spain doesn’t, but anecdotally people are obtaining these and then spending their time in Spain. The Visa D’s are only valid for the country of issue, but the lack of border checks leaves them open to abuse.

 

[GoldstoneVintage]

Why do you have to bring Brexit into every thread ?

It was 8 years ago move on get over it

The vote was 8 years ago, but the consequences continue to play out. It is the proverbial gift that keeps on giving. Of course Swindon lost its Honda factory due to Brexit. The company denied it at the time, but my wife used to work with one of the top bod's missus. In 2016, he was called to a big meeting with all the execs from Japan. He knew after that it was over.

 

[GoldstoneVintage]

But they won't be affected will they? Because they have dual nationality, or at least should have if they lived there before Brexit. This will surely only affect anyone post Brexit thinking of moving there. And anyway, people from all over the world move there including millions of illegal immigrants. Sure it's aimed at them more than a few leathery Sun readers (not my words). Still, any opportunity to blame everything and anything on Brexit it seems

Interestingly, Spain is one of the few countries in Europe that does not allow dual citizenship. Also, if you want to be Spanish, you have to have lived there for 10 years. Yep, I've looked into it.

 

[theboybilly]

Spain plans 100% tax for homes bought by non-EU residents

The measure is meant to help tackle the country's housing crisis, the prime minister said.

www.bbc.co.uk

Good on 'em. If only we'd do the same to the Russians.

As a bonus some of the leathery, Sun reading ex pat bores who voted for Brexit and thought it wouldn't apply to them are going to be mightily pissed off. Again.

You do realise the vast majority of Brits in Spain contribute loads to the host country and don't act like they are on a week's jolly in Benidorm?

 

[cunning fergus]

You what?

When did Brussels ever control the UK Parliament's ability to raise taxes?

Brussels has control because primary legislation, (the EU Treaties) confers the legal right of the EU to legislate directly on the members states, without any mandate from the member states democratically elected institutions. The legal instrument (secondary legislation) that is used by the EU to control the member states in this way is called an EU Regulation.

Regulation - EUR-Lex

search.app

Not being in the EU means a country, and it’s democratically elected institution, can be sovereign and ensure ALL decisions it introduces into legislation are subject to its local democratic process. That is, of course, if that country’s leadership choose to manage itself in that way. I’m sure this point came up on the Brexit thread.

 

[Machiavelli]

The saddest thing about Brexit for me is the fact it’s now nigh-on impossible for British youngsters to simply up sticks and spend some time working in Europe. You could do this on a whim in the past, zero paperwork. I don’t necessarily mean work-work either, more casual stuff working in a cafe for the summer, working in the mountains etc. I spend a lot of my spare time in cafes and bars and had spoken to many young Brits who were working there simply because it made a change to a summer job in Aldi or B&Q, or they wanted to travel, have an adventure and wanted a different experience and earn some money along the way. I now can’t recall the last time I spoke to a Brit like this. It’s very sad. Starmer even turned down an offer from the EU where young Brits could get visas in the EU if it were reciprcosted in the U.K…..scandalous.

I'm not trying to undermine the existential importance of your point here but, for me, the saddest thing about Brexit relates to trade. International trade is a win-win when its conducted between relatively equal partners (ie, not colonial arrangements, or much of the US-Latin American iterations). This means that it boosts GDP. Most international trade is done with nearest neighbours. The impact of Brexit has been on our trade with the EU and, consequently, on the GDP of both but the UK has been massively more affected by it.
I'll just reference three things in the news today.
First, Nov's UK GDP figures were 0.1%.
Second, Ed Davey is giving a speech today announcing a Lib Dem policy to return to the Customs Union.
Third, the IPPR have just released the following report, and I'll highlight the key bits of info below. We can but hope that during the lifetime of this parliament, Davey's manoeuvre and IPPR's influence on Labour will have an effect on the policies of Lab, Lib Dem, the Greens, etc to crank things up further on the rejoin front.

From: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jan/16/uk-trade-eu-post-brexit-rules-ippr-report

Estimates suggest that compared with staying inside Europe’s free trade zone, UK goods exports to the EU between 2021 and 2023 were down by 27% while EU goods imports to the UK were down by 32%, the report said.

Meanwhile, other G7 countries including the US, Japan, France and Italy enjoyed a boom in trade. The UK experienced a 10% decline in total goods trade from 2019 to the end of 2023. Figures from 2019 to the end of the third quarter of 2023 show other G7 countries saw an average 5% increase.

 

[nicko31]

You do realise the vast majority of Brits in Spain contribute loads to the host country and don't act like they are on a week's jolly in Benidorm?

Many Brits used go to live in Spain tended to be old, on the large side and become a burden on their generous health system. In return we got loads of young healthy Spanish working in our hospitality sector.

It was a great deal for the UK, not anymore

 

[swindonseagull]

The vote was 8 years ago, but the consequences continue to play out. It is the proverbial gift that keeps on giving. Of course Swindon lost its Honda factory due to Brexit. The company denied it at the time, but my wife used to work with one of the top bod's missus. In 2016, he was called to a big meeting with all the execs from Japan. He knew after that it was over.

Complete horses poo

The Honda factory closed because the company consolidated all thier production for EVs elsewhere
Honda stated that the industry's transition to electrified cars (including pure-electric, plug-in hybrid and "self-charging" hybrids) was behind the closure, as it made less business sense to retool the Swindon plant due to its small production volume relative to North American and Asian plants.

The vote was 8 years ago, but the consequences continue to play out. It is the proverbial gift that keeps on giving. Of course Swindon lost its Honda factory due to Brexit. The company denied it at the time, but my wife used to work with one of the top bod's missus. In 2016, he was called to a big meeting with all the execs from Japan. He knew after that it was over.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47287386

Read the above nothing to do with Brexit

But you keep believing. What you wife's friends wife said.


Honda stated that the industry's transition to electrified cars (including pure-electric, plug-in hybrid and "self-charging" hybrids) was behind the closure, as it made less business sense to retool the Swindon plant due to its small production volume relative to North American and Asian plants.

 

[dsr-burnley]

I'm not trying to undermine the existential importance of your point here but, for me, the saddest thing about Brexit relates to trade. International trade is a win-win when its conducted between relatively equal partners (ie, not colonial arrangements, or much of the US-Latin American iterations). This means that it boosts GDP. Most international trade is done with nearest neighbours. The impact of Brexit has been on our trade with the EU and, consequently, on the GDP of both but the UK has been massively more affected by it.
I'll just reference three things in the news today.
First, Nov's UK GDP figures were 0.1%.
Second, Ed Davey is giving a speech today announcing a Lib Dem policy to return to the Customs Union.
Third, the IPPR have just released the following report, and I'll highlight the key bits of info below. We can but hope that during the lifetime of this parliament, Davey's manoeuvre and IPPR's influence on Labour will have an effect on the policies of Lab, Lib Dem, the Greens, etc to crank things up further on the rejoin front.

From: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jan/16/uk-trade-eu-post-brexit-rules-ippr-report

Estimates suggest that compared with staying inside Europe’s free trade zone, UK goods exports to the EU between 2021 and 2023 were down by 27% while EU goods imports to the UK were down by 32%, the report said.

Meanwhile, other G7 countries including the US, Japan, France and Italy enjoyed a boom in trade. The UK experienced a 10% decline in total goods trade from 2019 to the end of 2023. Figures from 2019 to the end of the third quarter of 2023 show other G7 countries saw an average 5% increase.

According to these stats, UK goods exports to the EU were down by 11% (in real terms) from 2019 to 2023, while UK goods exports to the rest of the world were down by 11%. On the face of it, that suggests that leaving the EU affected exports to all countries equally, whether they were in or out. Other factors may have disproportionately affected the rest of the world, of course.

I wouldn't cast any reliance on statistics comparing 2021 with anything. There is no way to reliably remove the covid effect from the figures.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7851/

 

[nicko31]

Complete horses poo

The Honda factory closed because the company consolidated all thier production for EVs elsewhere
Honda stated that the industry's transition to electrified cars (including pure-electric, plug-in hybrid and "self-charging" hybrids) was behind the closure, as it made less business sense to retool the Swindon plant due to its small production volume relative to North American and Asian plants.



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47287386

Read the above nothing to do with Brexit

But you keep believing. What you wife's friends wife said.


Honda stated that the industry's transition to electrified cars (including pure-electric, plug-in hybrid and "self-charging" hybrids) was behind the closure, as it made less business sense to retool the Swindon plant due to its small production volume relative to North American and Asian plants.

Brexit wasn't the sole reason but it was a factor.

No one in their right mind would choose the UK for a new factory to serve the European market for cars or anything else for that matter. Add on top of that another terrible trade deal that eliminated tariffs on imported cars from Japan

Even Badenoch has admitted the Tories had no plan for Brexit. They spent years infighting trying to work out a plan, business lost patience. In the we ended up not even in the customs customs union.

Swindon voted for Johnson in 2019 on mass, he was your man

 

[GoldstoneVintage]

Complete horses poo

The Honda factory closed because the company consolidated all thier production for EVs elsewhere
Honda stated that the industry's transition to electrified cars (including pure-electric, plug-in hybrid and "self-charging" hybrids) was behind the closure, as it made less business sense to retool the Swindon plant due to its small production volume relative to North American and Asian plants.



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47287386

Read the above nothing to do with Brexit

But you keep believing. What you wife's friends wife said.


Honda stated that the industry's transition to electrified cars (including pure-electric, plug-in hybrid and "self-charging" hybrids) was behind the closure, as it made less business sense to retool the Swindon plant due to its small production volume relative to North American and Asian plants.

As I said, the company denied it at the time (the Japanese are very diplomatic) hence why the BBC reported it that way. A high up in Honda management, in other words someone ITK, said that the factory will close if Brexit happens. Brexit happened. The factory closed. It's pretty clear to me but obviously believe what you like.

 

[Blues Guitarist]

I am a resident in the EU (Estonia) but still a UK citizen. I moved before the brexit deadline and got official residency. Very difficult to do it now.
A lot of previous comments about healthcare so I will explain how the situation is here.
Regarding healthcare I have to either pay about 240€ per month myself. Or earn the minimum wage, now 850€ per month and my employer does it. (I keep my income).
This gives me full access to the health service including GP plus a discount at the dentist.
Once I reach 65 it's all free

Identical to my situation in Austria.