How would you rent out Spanish property whilst living in UK as UK residency

First, the owner is the one who applies for the license, although you can pay someone to do that on your behalf.  it is also the owner who registers with the Guardia Civil.  We have posted a lot about that and with links to info sites and where you can download the paperwork.  If you can't find it best to PM me and I'll send it to you.

Second - I would not recommend sites like airbnb, tripadvisor and booking,com.  Like several other sites they will take bookings for you but leave you with little or no say over who stays there or when, and they do not 'do it all' for you - it's still your responsibility to collect the renters details and pass onto the Guardia Civil, arrange keyholders and cleans, file your tax returns and ensure compliance with the contract issued.  What they will do is charge you for the ad, charge the renter a booking fee and then charge you a fee for paying out the rental to you - they will also hold onto the rental money from the time it is paid over by the renter until after the renter has arrived.  all in all not a good deal for either owner or renter.  there are better options that are fairer to both parties.

Your tax return is still your responsibility.  As things stand, as you are a UK resident you would do a quarterly Spanish tax return with 19% tax payable immediately on the rental received the previous quarter with a few allowable deductions.  However if Brexit goes ahead and the UK becomes a 3rd country then the tax will be 24% of the gross rental (still quarterly).  You must also declare your income in your annual UK tax return and the state how much tax has been paid in Spain which reduces your UK tax liability.

So your choice is either first get your license and then pay a local holiday rental agent (there are a couple advertising on this forum) who will handle the ads, bookings and paperwork for you as well as the cleaning, pool maintenance and keyholding but hopefully respects any restrictions you may want on who stays (ie no student groups, no stag/hen groups etc) for a fee/commission.

OR  You handle the bookings yourself and use sites such the one here on the formum or Spain-holiday.com or holidayhomesdirect.ie as they allow you to stay in control of who stays and when, take the payments and send out your own contracts and info.  You would still need to employ a keyholder/cleaner and pool maintenance person (who need to be registered as a business or as self-employed).

It would be worth doing a couple of checks first to see if your property will meet the required criteria for a rental before starting the process, so you are not paying out and waiting months only to be told your bathroom is too small for a holiday let license on the property (it has happened to a few people).  Please don't be tempted to try advertising without a license - the fines are very large.

Thank you for taking the time to write back to me and responding so quickly. I really do appreciate your well written explanatory notes! Thank you so much

Hi Ray,

Thank you for taking time to reply back to me, that’s excellent I didn’t realise that you’d still have to pay Spanish tax on your rental especially if it was received in the UK. I’ll look into that further.

Thank you

Caroline

Hi Callie

If you do decide to go ahead with your rental, I have a legal cleaning and laundry service in Campoverde and I am more than happy to give you a quote if required.

Regards

Heather

Callie  if you do decide to rent, please could you consider us as long term tenants.  We are two retirees and have already lived in Campoverde for 10 months.  MY sister is there too so we know the area well

PLEASE let us know if you decide

Regards