Is renting your house as a holiday let still a viable option? Part 4 - General property discussion in Playa Flamenca - Playa Flamenca forum - Costa Blanca forum in the Alicante province of Spain
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Is renting your house as a holiday let still a viable option? Part 4

Davebev1Posted by Davebev1 on Thu Sep 27, 2018 3:02pm in General property discussion
20 replies1063 views9 members subscribed

Is renting your house as a holiday let still a viable option?

Part four – other requirements

Being legal and having a licence applies to the property owner but avoiding fines also means ensuring those you use to work for you are also legally registered.  There have in the past been those who were paid keyholders and cleaners who were working cash-in-hand and not declaring their income.  When you register for your password with the Guardia Civil they will ask who acts as your keyholder if you are not yourself resident in Spain.  They note the name and contact details and request the person concerned attend the office with their passport and tax number.  If you are found employing an unregistered worker, then you can both be fined.

Another common practice has been for people to act as unofficial taxis providing airport transfers.  There are regulations regarding this and recently a mini bus owner was fined 6000 euros when stopped by police and the passengers said they were paying the man.  Yes, that said six thousand euros!  The fines in Spain are not small!

For some reason no one yet asks you to produce copies of your insurance certificate, but I’m sure that will come in time as you do need to be insured.  We have always had a specialist holiday rental policy from a UK insurer (small-print in your mother tongue is tricky enough, but in another language, it is a total nightmare!).  This covers the property, us and the holiday makers plus has a public liability provision.  Another certificate I’m sure will be necessary in the future is the one from your air conditioning engineer regarding annual service of all air con units.  We ensure we use a properly registered engineer and have a full invoice with his tax number displayed as required under Spanish law.  If we had gas appliances I would be anticipating needing to produce your invoice showing the annual service of those fixtures too, but we are all electric.

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We also have a fire extinguisher, fire blanket and smoke alarms on each level.  We display our evacuation plan and provide the emergency number with a multi-lingual service.  What we cannot do is ensure that our guests actually read any of this clearly displayed information!

In addition to the information we must display, (we use the back of the front door as a notice board), we duplicate this information in the ‘house folder’ which also contains additional information on the house, the keyholders, washing machine instructions, internet access codes, TV stations, info on the area, directions to the supermarket and beach etc, bus timetables, 24 hour pharmacy, driving in Spain information, matters of personal safety, English speaking radio stations and a few other miscellaneous items.  But we know that despite saying in the welcome letter sent out before the holiday that they should read the contents of the folder, guests don’t look at it!  How do we know?  From phone calls, emails and text messages asking for information that is detailed in the folder!  So, complying with all the rules doesn’t actually mean the guests will take notice of anything, but we must still do what is required of us.



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Davebev1

Davebev1

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Davebev1

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2018 6:08pm

Davebev1

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Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2018 6:08pm

Sorry!  Words there now.  Glad you are finding it helpful, thank you.

Davebev1

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2018 6:42pm

Davebev1

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Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2018 6:42pm

Thank you Kim

TheRower

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:14am

TheRower

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Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:14am

Another very interesting informative post, thanks.

Zdenek

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 4:59pm

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Joined: 20 Aug 2018

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 4:59pm

Davebev1 wrote on Thu Sep 27, 2018 3:02pm:

Is renting your house as a holiday let still a viable option?

Part four – other requirements

Being legal and having a licence applies to the property owner but avoiding fines also means ensuring those you use to work for you are also legally registered.  There have in the past been those who were paid keyholders and cleaners who were working cash-in-hand and not declaring their income.  When you register for your password with the Guardia Civil they will ask who acts as your keyholder if you are not yourself resident in Spain.  They note the name and contact details and request the person concerned attend the office with their passport and tax number.  If you are found employing an unregistered worker, then you can both be fined.

Another common practice has been for people to act as unofficial taxis providing airport transfers.  There are regulations regarding this and recently a mini bus owner was fined 6000 euros when stopped by police and the passengers said they were paying the man.  Yes, that said six thousand euros!  The fines in Spain are not small!

For some reason no one yet asks you to produce copies of your insurance certificate, but I’m sure that will come in time as you do need to be insured.  We have always had a specialist holiday rental policy from a UK insurer (small-print in your mother tongue is tricky enough, but in another language, it is a total nightmare!).  This covers the property, us and the holiday makers plus has a public liability provision.  Another certificate I’m sure will be necessary in the future is the one from your air conditioning engineer regarding annual service of all air con units.  We ensure we use a properly registered engineer and have a full invoice with his tax number displayed as required under Spanish law.  If we had gas appliances I would be anticipating needing to produce your invoice showing the annual service of those fixtures too, but we are all electric.

We also have a fire extinguisher, fire blanket and smoke alarms on each level.  We display our evacuation plan and provide the emergency number with a multi-lingual service.  What we cannot do is ensure that our guests actually read any of this clearly displayed information!

In addition to the information we must display, (we use the back of the front door as a notice board), we duplicate this information in the ‘house folder’ which also contains additional information on the house, the keyholders, washing machine instructions, internet access codes, TV stations, info on the area, directions to the supermarket and beach etc, bus timetables, 24 hour pharmacy, driving in Spain information, matters of personal safety, English speaking radio stations and a few other miscellaneous items.  But we know that despite saying in the welcome letter sent out before the holiday that they should read the contents of the folder, guests don’t look at it!  How do we know?  From phone calls, emails and text messages asking for information that is detailed in the folder!  So, complying with all the rules doesn’t actually mean the guests will take notice of anything, but we must still do what is required of us.


Thank you so much for all that info. Have bought a house and are coming over in late October for a holiday and set it up for letting next summer. How do I access parts 1, 2 & 3 of your very useful information. Thanks again. Zdenek 

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Davebev1

Posted: Mon Oct 1, 2018 8:30am

Davebev1

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Posted: Mon Oct 1, 2018 8:30am

You can view all our posts by just clicking on the Davebev1 under the picture. Or use the search facility using the title (without the part 4 bit).  There are 6 parts in total and my husband is putting them up one a week.  We have also posted previously on other posts with links to where you can find the translated version of the application form but the application form itself is only in Spanish (naturally).  The only part of the process I am unsure about is the new first step, which is the Certificate of Compatibilitity that you need from your Town Hall first.  As this is a new step every town hall has a different time scale for issuing them, as far as I can tell, and it seems none of them were really ready for the introduction of them in July, so with the August shut-down things are aparently back-logged in some town halls.  If you have just purchased you should be able to use the energy certificate that the previous owners obtained for the sale which will save you time and money.  Good luck.

Zdenek

Posted: Mon Oct 1, 2018 11:19am

Posts: 111

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Joined: 20 Aug 2018

Posted: Mon Oct 1, 2018 11:19am

Thank you so much. Zdenek 

GCfromVC

Posted: Tue Oct 2, 2018 8:49am

GCfromVC

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Posted: Tue Oct 2, 2018 8:49am

After reading these posts I just don’t think it’s worth the hassle to rent out your property in Spain. Thats my own humble opinion by the way.

Davebev1

Posted: Tue Oct 2, 2018 1:43pm

Davebev1

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Posted: Tue Oct 2, 2018 1:43pm

We still do, and still feel it is worth it but I understand why some people now feel it is too stressful.  If I was starting out now I would probably worry about getting everything set up correctly, particulally if I had only just bought the property, so would use a legal firm to do as much of it as possible, but as we were already letting and did the registration even before it was compulsory we haven't had to deal with all he changes in one go, we have just updated as necessary, taking into account new rules as when they come along.  

iDragon

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2019 6:24am

Posts: 5

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Location: Castalla

Joined: 10 Nov 2018

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2019 6:24am

You are a star. I’m a new boy in town having just bought a 4 bedroom property. I have no intention of renting, but it’s very good to be informed of the rules to stay legal.

Thank you very much for your invaluable service.

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Airport Service Taxi Mil Palmeras  Torre de la Horadada
Gentlevan Removals
interior building work
Costa Blanca Building Specialists
Car Key Solutions
Villa Guardians
POSITIVE BELIEFS
Blacktower Financial Management
Expat Services
The Cats Whiskers
Gran Alacant Insurances
Thy Will Be Done
AA Free English TV
ASSSA Insurance
Espana Dream Properties
Jennifer Cunningham Insurances SL
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