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

[portlock seagull]

Are you just being dense ?
Pre-brexit I could get reciprocal healthcare in the EU and it was free to me, as it was free to EU citizens in the UK.

Wooo, keep it civil.

Reciprocal yes. But you paid in the UK. You wrote “free”. Now you’d have to pay over there using insurance. You’re still paying something, somewhere, somehow. Nowhere is free. If they find me unconscious in the street I’d be saved at a hospital before they asked for money. If didn’t have insurance then only self to blame or pay afterwards. Which would represent good value for money I suppose if saves yer life.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

This tax will effect only homes not lived in by the owners. In other words, people who buy to let out on AirBnB.
We've looked at returning to Spain to live but since Brexit it is very hard. They've removed the Golden Ticket that meant someone spending 500,000€ got a free entry.
I've lived in Spain but sold my 3 bedroom apartment that I purchased for 5 million and sold for 8 million*.
I moved all my money back to the UK to purchase my house here but forgot a minor bank account. La Caixa tracked me down and sent me a letter telling me I have this account but it's now been 3 years of trying, including 2 hours in La Caixa Madrid, to unlock the account. Even now it's still locked. Only surprise was its contents, 5400€, nice.




*pesatas. 1000 = £5

8 million…crikey. Steve Foster has a serious challenger!

In the financial stakes that is…I have no idea what your racism is like.

 

[Bakero]

Fair enough. However an enormous number of people aren’t / weren’t affected in such a way, mainly those deemed to be less well off. Which had a lot to do with why we left ie disenfranchised with the establishment, liberal elites etc. Some you win, most yer lose et al.

I was just pointing out how British immigrants in the EU have been affected. Some of the things I mentioned also hit those residing in the UK though. Everyone lost their freedom of movement. Perhaps Brexit voters aren't bothered but their children and grandchildren might well be. And the impact on the economy affects everybody too. Not exactly one in the eye for the liberal elites, whoever they are.

 

[maffew]

Yep.

Buying property to rent should only be permitted for property that is built specifically to rent (or is reclassified as such, having met defined pre-requisites (yet to be defined)).

The rental sector in the UK has always had issues, from Rachmanism/Hoogstratenism to un-moveable sitting tenants paying peanuts protected by socialist tenants' rights.
Our politics has never been sufficiently grown up to deal with this owing to the noisy vested interest of the two 'sides'.

In recent years we have seen an increase in cash rich boomers 'investing' in property to rent. I know quite a few professionals who have opted to do this in lieu of workplace pension (or on top of....).

I don't imagine any of the political parties can fix things though.
I will reserve my opinion about the present lot till it become clear whether or not the chancellor has tanked the economy....
Or created a house building boom so that her mates (and possibly herself) can get rich....
As has been suggested in the respected political journal, NSC.

It's often greed over need, a couple of million people owning multiple property's to rent out is IMO probably one, if not the the biggest issue with high house/rental prices, there's simply not enough to go around and boomers own the majority. I know of workers in a factory where I'm from in the midlands in the 80s and 90s buying 5 or 6 properties by doing overtime/night shifts and to be fair, being quite shrewd. We're just a small over populated island with not enough to go round. Oh and MPs, not surprisingly I think are around 3 or 4 times more likely to have multiple houses than the rest of of. Didn't that labour guy recently in the news with the mouldy flats have 20 or 30? That's just not right

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Are you just being dense ?
Pre-brexit I could get reciprocal healthcare in the EU and it was free to me, as it was free to EU citizens in the UK.

I don’t think this is strictly true. The situation is EU citizens are entitled to the same healthcare as the locals when resident in another EU country.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Sauce that says British immigrants to the rest of the world 'overwhelmingly' voted Remain ?

I was going to ask the same question. Westy seems very confident but I'd like to see the data.

 

[WATFORD zero]

8 million…crikey. Steve Foster has a serious challenger!

In the finances stakes that is…I have no idea what your racism is like.

I think Steve Foster has lost focus and is spending all his time on social media again

Probably why his company 'the largest IFA' in worthing is no more

 

[Weststander]

Sauce that says British immigrants to the rest of the world 'overwhelmingly' voted Remain ?

What do Britons abroad think of Brexit?

FT survey aggregates the British expat perspective from 300+ readers across 53 countries

ig.ft.com

Obviously a survey, as 5m ex pats largely didn’t get the chance to vote.

Backed by @Bakero’s real world experience.

Makes sense … why would people living a dream of sorts, wish to be damaged?

 

[happypig]

Wooo, keep it civil.

Reciprocal yes. But you paid in the UK. You wrote “free”. Now you’d have to pay over there using insurance. You’re still paying something, somewhere, somehow. Nowhere is free. If they find me unconscious in the street I’d be saved at a hospital before they asked for money. If didn’t have insurance then only self to blame or pay afterwards. Which would represent good value for money I suppose if saves yer life.

No, you didn't pay in the UK, it came out of general taxation.
10 years ago Mrs H had a nasty fall in Greece and took a chunk out of her leg. She went to hospital to get it seen to and had to return every two days to get it redressed. No-one asked us for any money because we were in the EU.
Anyway it's moot because there are other reasons why I cannot now move to Spain.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Thank you @Guinness Boy

I have been in bed all day with a bug, and getting increasingly bored. This thread has saved me.

I think the wife is pleased I’ve stopped bothering her for the past hour as well. I’m also flexing my beautiful new iPhone.

 

[Bakero]

I was going to ask the same question. Westy seems very confident but I'd like to see the data.

I don't think we have that data as anyone who was outside of the country for 15 years prior to Brexit wasn't allowed to vote

 

[happypig]

I don’t think this is strictly true. The situation is EU citizens are entitled to the same healthcare as the locals when resident in another EU country.

That's what I was trying to say (and failing badly it seems).

 

[WATFORD zero]

What do Britons abroad think of Brexit?

FT survey aggregates the British expat perspective from 300+ readers across 53 countries

ig.ft.com

Obviously a survey, as 5m ex pats largely didn’t get the chance to vote.

Backed by @Bakero’s real world experience.

Makes sense … why would people living a dream of sorts, wish to be damaged?

To be fair, I would expect anyone who lived in the EU to be fiercely anti Brexit. But I would have expected anyone with an iota of common sense in the UK not to have been taken in by Nige and Boris

I do think though that to make the statement that British immigrants abroad 'overwhelmingly' voted remain would need a little more than an FT online 'survey'

 

[portlock seagull]

No, you didn't pay in the UK, it came out of general taxation.
10 years ago Mrs H had a nasty fall in Greece and took a chunk out of her leg. She went to hospital to get it seen to and had to return every two days to get it redressed. No-one asked us for any money because we were in the EU.
Anyway it's moot because there are other reasons why I cannot now move to Spain.

National Insurance?

 

[portlock seagull]

I was just pointing out how British immigrants in the EU have been affected. Some of the things I mentioned also hit those residing in the UK though. Everyone lost their freedom of movement. Perhaps Brexit voters aren't bothered but their children and grandchildren might well be. And the impact on the economy affects everybody too. Not exactly one in the eye for the liberal elites, whoever they are.

But understandable. Anyway, I did benefit from getting gin 10 euros cheaper coming back from Eire last year. Cost more if you were in the EU so there's a benefit. Took 8 years but there's one. And we get to stop illegal immigrants, that's going well isn't it?!

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

It's often greed over need, a couple of million people owning multiple property's to rent out is IMO probably one, if not the the biggest issue with high house/rental prices, there's simply not enough to go around and boomers own the majority. I know of workers in a factory where I'm from in the midlands in the 80s and 90s buying 5 or 6 properties by doing overtime/night shifts and to be fair, being quite shrewd. We're just a small over populated island with not enough to go round. Oh and MPs, not surprisingly I think are around 3 or 4 times more likely to have multiple houses than the rest of of. Didn't that labour guy recently in the news with the mouldy flats have 20 or 30? That's just not right

To be fair to the labour guy, he employed a property management company to run the business, and sacked them when the story broke.

But I agree with what you are saying.

An ex of mine rented in Macclesfield from a bloke who bought house after house on a new estate, with the rentals funding the 'investments'.
The 'investment' will always pay when you can charge more in rent than an owner would have to pay if they bought the place and had a mortgage.
Renters who can't afford a mortgage end up paying more in rent for the 'privilege' of not having a mortgage 'commitment'.
How perverse ais that?

This is all part of the 'rebalancing' that has been happening since Thatcher got in. I suspect it has been deliberate.
An alternative view is that the English are so obsessed with home ownership (rather than renting like the Germans do) that our greed has created the mad UK housing 'market'.

On the whole I think it is cock up rather than conspiracy

And, back commuting for the heavy teaching season, I am reminded that some people are nice and others are miserable entitled ****s.
I had one of that latter sat next to me on the way in this morning.
Don't ask

 

[Weststander]

To be fair, I would expect anyone who lived in the EU to be fiercely anti Brexit. But I would have expected anyone with an iota of common sense in the UK not to have been taken in by Nige and Boris

I do think though that to make the statement that British immigrants abroad 'overwhelmingly' voted remain would need a little more than an FT online 'survey'

Backed by @Bakero (hasn’t met a Brexiteer) and all the clients etc I know who have places in Spain, France.

Why would the majority of Brits who are ex pats or have second homes vote to make their lives harder?

I’ve only heard that guessed in one place …. a few bitchy posts at the beginning of this thread.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

An ex of mine rented in Macclesfield from a bloke who bought house after house on a new estate, with the rentals funding the 'investments'.

This happened a lot in the late 90s. A combination of the new B2L mortgages, being able to claim interest as an expenses and rising house prices. All you needed was a few thousand deposit to get started. Buy the first, wait into the value has risen, remortgage to release equity to fund the deposit for the next, and so on. One lender used to send me a monthly mag and it had a story of one chap who owned 31 properties this way as he “wanted a rent cheque every day of the month”. Then there was the super teacher guy. The mortgage companies really pushed this as well.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Backed by @Bakero (hasn’t met a Brexiteer) and all the clients etc I know who have places in Spain, France.

Why would the majority of Brits who are ex pats or have second homes vote to make their lives harder?

I’ve only heard that guessed in one place …. a few bitchy posts at the beginning of this thread.

I heard of a handful, and know of one personally. From my circles I’d put the figure at 80-90% Remain and rest leave.

I was part of an action group during Brexit which was probably around 20 strong. The ones I heard of, bar the one I knew, were through this group.

 

[nicko31]

Expats (immigrants) 5 years ago

4 min 55 secs "nothing will change"

You can't beat a bit of English exceptionalism.