Hidden costs of buying a property abroad

Scooby_Man

If one were to buy a property outright, in say spain, for use as a holiday home and occassional rent, what are the typical costs associated with downtime of the property (e.g. council tax, utility rates, other costs etc)?

Ian_W

"Typical" would have to be very ballpark - depends on where in Spain and the size and type of property.
These are from 2yrs ago for a 1 bedroom apartment on a complex with a communal pool in the Canaries:
Electricity & Water 393.15
Community Fees 624.59 [paid to complex for comm upkeep]
Council Tax and Refuse 205.02 [2 separate charges in Spain]

It was let for about 45 weeks a year + owner usage so most weeks were occupied. In addition cleaning, laundry and maintenance charges to the company that looked after it and provided 24/7 guest contact was about £2K inc Spanish VAT. There were costs for holiday home insurance and Sky TV but, again, these may or may not apply.

There is also a Wealth Tax based on the official [rather than market] value of the property which for this apartment was circa 180€, £120 or so a year. If you do let the property Spanish letting tax is 25% of the gross income and you should also declare any income to HMRC although any Spanish tax is offset against your UK liability under double taxation treaties.

HTH.

missile

Sounds like you have no previous experience of property letting in the UK or buying property overseas? You need to do your homework. Buying a house in the UK can be stressful, buying in a foriegn country can be traumatic. I would suggest you go to BBC web site and watch the recent program which highlighted SOME of the problems.

Utility charges on mainland Spain are lower than the Canaries and far lower than UK. There is no council tax. Similar to old UK "rates" SUMA depends on where you live.

Scooby_Man

missile wrote:

Sounds like you have no previous experience of property letting in the UK or buying property overseas? You need to do your homework. Buying a house in the UK can be stressful, buying in a foriegn country can be traumatic. I would suggest you go to BBC web site and watch the recent program which highlighted SOME of the problems.

Utility charges on mainland Spain are lower than the Canaries and far lower than UK. There is no council tax. Similar to old UK "rates" SUMA depends on where you live.

I have plenty of experience of buying and letting in the UK (don't understand how you got to the conclusion of 'sounds like...' but nevermind).

Anyway, the point is if I had a lump sum to buy a property abroad (outright), and use it as a holiday home, with the occassional lets, what would be the running costs.

Scooby_Man

Iaw - thanks for the helpful message.

I take it you used an agent? It is common for people to buy and just manage themselves? I mean if you're just doing occassional lets, could you arrange this yourself - or worst case, use an agent for the duration of the let.

I remotely let a property in the UK and use the home insurance providers 'home emergency' policy - and touch wood in 5+ years I have never had to be called out - the insurance company has managed to solve all the problems, and it costs less than £40 per year. Was hoping I could do something similar abroad - the added benefit of there being a home for my family and friends to use when they are out there.

missile

You have given very little information and your question is a little niave. Running costs of a 1 bed appartment in Torremolinos will be a lot less than a four bed villa with aircon and a pool in Madrid :rotfl:

The SUMA depends on the value of your property and which town council controls the rates. The cost and level of services provided varies just like in the UK. Utility charges - depends on how much electricity, gas and water you will use.

Ian W has given you his costs. As I said, utility costs on spanish mainland will be less and far lower than UK. Telephone is a little more expensive.

Scooby_Man

missile wrote:

You have given very little information and your question is a little niave. Running costs of a 1 bed appartment in Torremolinos will be a lot less than a four bed villa with aircon and a pool in Madrid :rotfl:

The SUMA depends on the value of your property and which town council controls the rates. The cost and level of services provided varies just like in the UK. Utility charges - depends on how much electricity, gas and water you will use.

Ian W has given you his costs. As I said, utility costs on spanish mainland will be less and far lower than UK. Telephone is a little more expensive.

Well I seem to have given you enough information for you to draw a conclusion, albeit completely false, that I have no experience of property in the UK!

Anyway, others are able to provide helpful advice, so please dont waste your time on this thread.

missile

I have given you what I believe is good advice but ... as you suggest I will not waste any more time.

I wish you success.

RayWolfe

Well missile, I bet that's taught you a lesson! ;-)
Why are people so angry all the time ... I'm sure you were trying to help what ,I agree, appeared to be, an (apparently) naive OP. The fact that he wasn't hardly called for such a response.

Scooby_Man

Its funny how people come across on an internet forum: despite how it may seem, I am not angry at all, just advising missle to save his/her time by not responding to this thread with condescending overtones. If someone told me to save my time doing something that was wasting my time, I would very much appreciate it.

missile

Hi Ray,

Yes, I am suitably chastised. It seems he has let one property in the UK, but never bought overseas, so my assumption was half right? In any event it was a question to preface the advice.

If he had said what type of property and where, I could have given (and still would) more info.

Life is too short for petty arguements and I appologise to the OP for any unintended offence.