Spain - 35% writedowns suggest carnage ahead

sdooley

Some British Benefits are contributions-based (job seeker's allowance, state pension), others are based on habitual residence.

But it's not that hard to show you are resident here. As you say, a returning expat will have a rental contract if they don't own a property. What you can't do if you are resident abroad is just fly back for surgery on the NHS and fly out again - that has to be right - otherwise you could have the benefits of the UK system at a time you are not paying tax into it.

Oldernotwiser

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I do not know how people with huge mortgages on their Spanish places (espevcially if they are in sterling), manage.


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Actually, it's the people with euro mortgages and sterling income who are suffering most!

seven-day-weekend

sdooley wrote: »

Some British Benefits are contributions-based (job seeker's allowance, state pension), others are based on habitual residence.

But it's not that hard to show you are resident here. As you say, a returning expat will have a rental contract if they don't own a property. What you can't do if you are resident abroad is just fly back for surgery on the NHS and fly out again - that has to be right - otherwise you could have the benefits of the UK system at a time you are not paying tax into it.

I meant that many returning expats will be living with relatives because they can't afford anything else and therefore won't have a rental contract. I have heard stories on expat forums about returning expats having to wait six months before being entitled to anything. I do know about the healthcare and quite agree that your healthcare should be in the country in which you are resident. However please note that many expats DO pay tax in the UK. My husband does as he has a Government (Teachers') Pension, which have to be taxed in the UK.

seven-day-weekend

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Actually, it's the people with euro mortgages and sterling income who are suffering most!

That is actually what I meant - people who have to pay their mortgages from sterling income. Didn't express it very well, sorry.

Swan_2

treliac wrote: »

Although, as I understand, acute medical care is available to ex-pats under reciprocal EU rules, the Spanish will not take responsibility for the long term care of Brits living in Spain.

So more worry lies ahead for those living there into old age who lose their independence. Some are already known to have had to suffer the distress of being brought back to the UK, in a very frail state.

seven-day-weekend wrote:

And because entitlement to British Benefits depends upon residency, returning expats can be refused them, and NHS care, if they cannot prove they have come back to stay, (for example they may be staying with relatives and not yet have their own address) even though they may have paid into the system for forty years, whereas someone who comes from abroad and has never paid anything, but can show a rental contract or deeds to a house, is entitled.

it's amazing how many people aren't aware of how the respective health care systems work in these kind of circumstances, I certainly wasn't until earlier this year & I think it deserves highlighting

my Ex husband had been living on the Costa Del Sol for 8 years, he became ill with what turned out to be advanced prostrate cancer which had spread to his bones, he was in hospital desperately in need of dialysis and/or blood transfusions, but they wanted £2,500 up front & that would have only been the beginning of the expenses & no-one had that kind of money
the only analgesics he was getting were paracetamol & ibuprofen

by then he was too ill to fly back to Britain & air ambulances are prohibitively expensive, £40-50,000
so my son took time off work & out of Uni to fly out, then travelled overland & by ferry with him, acting as nurse to a doubly incontinent patient with a bedsore the size & depth of a tennis ball at the base of his spine & with no proper pain relief

on admission to a very large modern teaching hospital in Britain morphine was administered immediately & he was given the care he had needed for so long
the staff said they'd never seen anything like his condition outside of textbooks

he died 3 weeks later, 4 days before his death he was presented with a bill for his treatment



sorry, not about house prices, but definitely financially relevant to ex-pats retired or thinking of retiring abroad

stevetodd

GDB2222 wrote: »

The situation is not helped by people finding out that the house they bought in Spain did not have the right permissions, or those are withdrawn because obtained through graft. Then their house is seized/bulldozed.

My wife and I often muse over the idea of having a second home in Spain but as soon as we drift onto this subject that more or less ends the discussion. Although I must admit that we know very litlle of the Spanish market, but we areaw are of various disasters people have suffered

Pobby

stevetodd wrote: »

My wife and I often muse over the idea of having a second home in Spain but as soon as we drift onto this subject that more or less ends the discussion. Although I must admit that we know very litlle of the Spanish market, but we areaw are of various disasters people have suffered

Sadly, after many years of looking forward to Spanish retirement, we have shelved the idea. I think the only way for us now would be to rent long termish. Deffo will not buy.

izzzzythedog

there was a time not long ago when it was easy to rent a nice place with a pool for 500e a month and recieve 800-1000 for an easy bit of bar work or coffee shop , mix in smuggling a few cigs back to blighty ( whos robbing who ? ) and life in spain doesnt seem so bad at all

boy has it changed , its possible to move and work there still but its not easy and dont expect to land into a job , creating one isnt easy when your new to any place , mix in spanish and its 10xs as hard

whats not been mentioned is the ex-pats huddle into little communitys who generally look after each other and guideance is easy to come by , they have already trod the path most wish to walk so an afternoon spent in the right pub can reap rewards

Paulgonnabedebtfree

izzzzythedog wrote: »

there was a time not long ago when it was easy to rent a nice place with a pool for 500e a month and recieve 800-1000 for an easy bit of bar work or coffee shop , mix in smuggling a few cigs back to blighty ( whos robbing who ? ) and life in spain doesnt seem so bad at all

boy has it changed , its possible to move and work there still but its not easy and dont expect to land into a job , creating one isnt easy when your new to any place , mix in spanish and its 10xs as hard

whats not been mentioned is the ex-pats huddle into little communitys who generally look after each other and guideance is easy to come by , they have already trod the path most wish to walk so an afternoon spent in the right pub can reap rewards

And as some ex-pats have also discovered over there, some Brits currently living there will happily rip you off when you misplace your trust in someone just because they have Brit roots. My friends saw through it but not everyone was so fortunate.
BEWARE !!

RecoveringAlcoholic

My friends saw through it but not everyone was so fortunate.

The Costa Crime.