I’ve blogged intermittently about the move to Spain over the last few years and two emails in the last month as a result so (a) Velez de Benaudalla (and / or Granada province) is becomingly increasingly popular for those looking to move to Spain, no surprise there, it’s lovely and (b) I could save your time by blogging about moving here.

Lessee if I can come up with ten useful facts rather than scattered over six years of blogs  . . .

1.      Learn Spanish. Or start learning Spanish, it takes a while. You can’t start soon enough. Wish I’d been able to do it at school, wish I’d put in an hour a day from the minute I fell in love with the house, wish I’d not assumed I could pick it up easily when I got here. I go to the local free Spanish classes, I watch TV series dubbed into Spanish, and training videos, and buy kiddie books, and my Spanish Is still stuck at pidgin level and frankly that’s getting a little embarrassing six years down the line, even with Covid19 interrupting play (and lessons, and interaction) for part of the time.  Yes there are English-speakers and expats from Europe who speak English (and increasingly fluent Spanish, sigh) dotted about so socially it isn’t essential. I’ll never, ever, be fluent but every time I suddenly understand what I’m hearing (or being asked) is a real buzz. The more Spanish you speak, the more integrated you’ll feel, and that’s priceless.    

2.      Go through professionals for everything official – conveyancing, tax returns, etc – the Spanish can sometimes seem to be laidback about bureaucracy, but when they aren’t, they aren’t sympathetic with those who have tried to cut corners or sidestep requirements. Not worth it, no matter how many people you meet who will tell you it’s a mug’s game to be legal, they’ve never jumped through a hoop in their life. Good for them. I had to live here and work here in a fairly public arena and I didn’t have the choice but over the years I’ve been very glad I chose to be scrupulously legal.

3.      Translate it! Yes, some communications seem to go on and on and on and yes you’ve got the gist:  but have you? Some words are misleading. (I got a text in 2021 telling me to report to the centro deportivo on x date, x time. I really thought I was going to be deported. Actually, it was a sports (deportes) centre being used for vaccinations.) Every document is miles longer than it would be in English, because the same facts or findings or regulations are repeated again and again. More alarmingly, not always repeated exactly. Bits get updated and other bits weren’t amended.  An official document can literally actually contradict itself. Be tactful pointing out the contradiction. Offence can be taken.

4.      Prices and expenses in Spain vs, say, UK –  swings and roundabouts. Better food, lower prices. Income tax is higher. Electricity is pretty expensive.  On the whole the euro goes further than the pound, unless you’re addicted to imported products and willing to pay over the odds. Once you’re a pensioner you can get a Spanish health card linked to your S1 (or equivalent from any other country of origin with a similar arrangement to the UK) and use the state health system but otherwise you’ll need to arrange for medical aid. Medical aid can be expensive, but some people do choose to have both. Housing, as every other country, depends where you want to buy. Budget for 10% on top of the house price to cover all the related conveyancing costs.

5.      Not everyone adapts to Spain seamlessly and not every move is a happy-ever-after. The Spanish are not hungry for extranjeros who want to turn the country into a home-from-home-plus-sun. Renting first rather than buying is not, however, always an option. Spain is not the only country with an okupa (squatter) problem, but it is enough of one that property owners are not terribly thrilled by the prospect of tenants. One French couple I know started offering a year’s rental in advance and if anything that got them more likely to be eyed askance.

6.     Fitting in – Spain is an immensely proud country with thousands of years of history and traditions. You respect that, bienvenido. You don’t like their attitudes, be sure they won’t like yours. They may smile and nod if you represent profit but under that they’re granite.

7.       Oh, and macho. Just saying. Scratch a traditional Spaniard, especially if you’re female, and you’ll find a man who will unhesitatingly come to your aid if you are in trouble, unquestioningly uphold your right to indulge in female behaviour, even be a virago, but will never truly believe you are capable of making your own decisions in a masculine-dominated world. How could you? You’re a woman.

8.      So much for attitudes … the nuts and bolts of the move, then. You’ll have six months after you move here to get yourself sorted, although frankly it’s a rare official who will hold you rigidly to that. Get your car, if you bring it, matriculated fairly quickly and certainly before your current MoT or equivalent runs out. You’ll need an NIE to buy a house, but also to present on nearly every official occasion or as proof you are here legally, and a padron from the local council to prove your address. After six months, if you’re staying permanently, you need to register as an official resident, then switch your driver’s licence for a Spanish one. It’s pretty straightforward to get a TIE photocard and they’re becomingly increasingly useful. Bureaucracy WILL drive you nuts. Regulations change, and change again. There’s so much paperwork, and it is asked for so often. I have my entire official life, including copies of passports and other documents as well as originals, in a file I carry every time I have to go near a bureaucrat, because you never know what could be asked for. If I ever lose it, I won’t even need to jump off a cliff. So far is Spain is concerned, if I lose it, I no longer exist and I might as well be dead.  

9.      Talking of dead, get your will sorted, especially when you buy a house. Spanish law is different, and a will drawn in another country will simply not cut it here.  Your heirs are in for a long drawn-out and expensive time of it if you don’t.

10.   Get your funeral sorted, or ensure your insurance has Spanish-friendly funeral cover.  If you die (I mean really die, not just lose your file) you should legally be cremated or alternative arrangements confirmed within 24 hours – okay, maybe 48 on weekends. If you haven’t prearranged the cardboard box, or that matter the flock of doves and the hired mourners, and aren’t carrying your funeral card,  you will get one or the other and either way it will cost your heirs a lot of money and Heaven help them if they don’t speak Spanish because decisions are needed NOW and there’s a great deal of bureaucracy about to crash down on their heads.

Oh, and read the Tales of the Alhambra. A Spanish guest staying here was shocked that I hadn’t, and she was right. It re-sets the way you look at everyone and everything about you.