Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2019 5:57pm
On top of the excellent advice from Ray the authorities are very hot on this at the moment and large fines are being given out for renting without a licence and using unregistered cleaners. You have to have a licence even if you are renting out to friends and family at reduced rates and it has to be rented free to avoid the need for a licence so it just isn't worth it. You also risk the property being closed down by the police, even mid rental.
Depending on facilities, I don't think €85 per month is excessive for community fees and you can get an idea of what you can rent it out for on the various rental sites, again much depends on the actual apartment, the complex itself, proximity to beach etc.
As you are looking to rent it out, you would need to contact the Ayuntamiento to ascertain if they consider it to be in a tourist area assuming it meets the basic requirements of the bathroom and room sizes. DaveBev1's post is excellent and written from experience.
You would need a Spanish bank account which will carry monthly charges as a non resident and to pay monthly standing charges for water and electricity even if the property remains empty plus IBI (council tax), rubbish and insurance. If you want to rent over the winter, you will need to have some form of heating. I have seen other posters have had a pay as you go electric meter installed and offer a varying amount of electric use within the rental price. You will have to submit quarterly tax returns and although there are costs you can write off against this, it is not as generous as in the UK.
Unless you buy a property that already has a tourist licence there is no guarantee that you will get one. Even if all your neighbours have one it could be that the Ayuntamiento decide that the complex already has enough tourist lets or maybe the community won't allow it although within Benidorm itself I imagine the hotel industry will have a big say on how many tourist licences are awarded.
Just had a look at the property and it was built in 1976 and the interior looks well maintained. It has a garage, a lift and a communal pool and although roughly 30 minutes uphill on the way back from the beach there are probably buses. There is no air conditioning and personally I won't consider a holiday apartment or hotel without this. I'm also not sure the bedroom on the enclosed terrace would pass muster so rental wise it could only ever be 1 bed.
Good luck with the number crunching but do your own research and don't rely on forecasts from estate agents wearing rose coloured spectacles.