Considering moving to the Costa Blanca, advice and guidance required please

Hi Ian, Mary and Rafael,

Your question interests me as there are some similarities to our aspirations.

We are from Lancashire, hope you can forgive me that, and have owned a holiday home in the area for 7 years.

Our first house was in Playa Flamenca but last year relocated to Campoverde as in our opinion the area is much better.

It is our hope in the next few years to move to Spain permanantly to our new house in Campoverde, I am 56 my wife a few years younger and we have an 8 year old boy.

My advice is to check out the areas at all times of day and if possible different seasons too, some areas seem to close for Winter!

I will watch your other replies with interest and hope to learn from them particularly about schools.

Maybe one day we could meet up and be newbies together!

David, Imelda and Shaun.

Well My partner and I both work in the NHS I’m ten years away from retirement plans at 46. We did a huge tour from Valencia to Murcia looking for something that suited us and that would be mortgage free. 

I’m from the Wirral me Liverpool originally but have lived in Manchester, Brighton and since 2012 a place called Lewes in East Sussex.

We decided we wanted a proper spanish vibe for us both we also have two children one 9 and one 7. We stumbled in a place called Relleu it is truly a gem. You are however 18 mins from the beach and about 25 mins from Benidorm, 45 mins from Alicante airport however the views are amazing, the village is amazing and has great school and facilities there is a good mix of mainly spanish the. English the. Rest of Europe it’s incredibly friendly. 

You would need a car though. It’s certainly no Blackpool in the sun! The streets are spotless not like the dog muck paves streets of some of the other places we visited, there is next to no graffiti which also mattered to us.

We bought on an urbanisation called Cassas Mediterraneas which has a wonderful palm tree lined pool, a conscierge and very secure (in fact the three village police men live in site) there are two or three new builds left which are being cleared by the developer and I reckon you can get either a 3 or 4 bed for €80,000 they have two balconies and some have gardens the 4 beds have ensuite too.

There is a real sense of safety and community here and our kids have made friends already and we allow them to go to the park by themselves with other village children it’s so safe.

We bought a bank reppo on the site so got a villa and had enough to buy a car over there too for peanuts and we love it only bought it in October we have had Xmas and half term our thwrw back again in Easter and we are working out if I can move my retirement forward too.

Have a look up at Relleu there are great videos of the fiestas on YouTube and they have a Facebook page too. Good luck in what you decide to do. 

Hi

I have had a holiday home for many years and have quite a few full time resident friends.

Schools can be a problem for kids around the 12/13 years of age range as they find it almost impossible to communicate with other kids.

Just some advice try and get your kids on a language course including school holiday full time courses you will make there life much easier.

Kevin

Hi David, Imelda and Shaun

Thanks so much for your reply, we are familiar with the village having stayed there for a few weeks last year and really loving it and the location, just right as far as being quiet enough and yet near the bigger town and the beach shops etc, I really appreciate you taking the time to reply and hopefully we will see you there some time, we will certainly be returning to have a look round either way. Rafael is busy trying to learn Spanish and Mary studied it for 4 years at school in the Philippines ( as a former Spanish colony they had to) and is something like able to communicate.

Dont worry about being from Lancashire I like to think of it as an annex of Yorkshire anyway 

Kind regards

Ian , Mary and Rafael

Hi Nicola

We didnt visit  playa flamenca but have heard it is a lovely place

Its great that you have 2 daughters that attend Spanish school, and that they settled in quickly , it gives me hope that Rafael will also.

I agree about the research and i am not one to jump feet first.

Work wise I will have my pension and the income from our house rental and I think Mary would just like a simple stress free job to be honest, our income will probably be half what it is here but hopefully life will be easier and not working to  live and pay bills with little quality of life.

I will look around and explore online your area and really appreciate you reply 

Thanks so much

Ian, Mary and Rafael

Thanks Kevin

I agree Rafael is keen to learn Spanish and I hope to get him up to speed before we make the move , his mum speaks a little so hopefully that helps

Thanks again 

Kind regards

Ian 

Thanks for your reply Scott

I appreciate your posting so much info, I will have a look at the area and see whats what, I hope you sort your retirement out soon too, keep in touch

 Ian

Hi Ian,

Welcome to the forum. I can not give a lot of advice other than make sure sure you get good tax advice, more for your assets. Your pension as its civil service should still be taxed in the UK as I understand, 

I am in a similar position although not fully mirrored. I am 54 and my wife 63 we are both retired. We have several properties in the UK which we rent our main dwelling and a property in Spain. Our family are grown and flew the nest sometime ago. 

I have been looking at residency which is not that complicated but you need private healthcare up to retirement age, unless you work which we don't want too as we try and follow the sun. Grandchildren are also a major draw for us back to the UK.

Although our main pensions would be taxed in the UK at the minute, who knows if brexit will impact upon this, our other income and assets would be taxed in Spain. The tax bands and rates are less favourable by some margin than the UK.

However if we were to live in Spain we would accept this as its only right.

I am not sure about education, but what an opportunity for your son.

If you have been drawn to Campoverde I would say you have hit the Jackpot I love the place. Although we only spend around 4 months a year in Spain we have found it easy to make friends, I talk to everyone, as people seem eager to help and offer advice. 

We are really bust this week as we are getting ready to sell and move from one property in Campoverde to another, but we are out in June for 4/5 weeks so I would gladly meet up for a coffee and chat. 

Just be armed with this, many people get on a plane and get off experts wether it be in plumbing, building, legal advice etc etc, these people have graduated with degrees from Ryanair in the 2 1/2 hour flight I.e. That is they try and talk the talk but to be fair can't even crawl the walk. 

I would add the the people on the forum are genuine and helpful, as most have built up a wealth of experience and knowledge over the years and share it without an agenda.

Sincere best wishes in your new life.

Dave

Just to try and make it crystal clear re income tax:

Pensions related to government employment in the UK can only be taxed in the UK, but have to be declared here as that income affects the rate at which you pay tax on other income here.

Rental income in the UK is again only taxed in the UK, but again has to also be declared here.

All other income is to be declared and taxed in Spain. By 'all' I do mean all - state and private pensions, savings and dividend earnings, premium bond prizes, ISA interest, etc etc.

Any tax paid in the UK because you haven't got out of the UK system can be offset against tax due here, but you won't always get full relief.

The dual taxation treaty dealing with these matters is between the UK and Spain, not the UK and EU, so should not be affected by Brexit - although there's always the possibility that a new treaty could be introduced.