You could start one here

As Peter says this forum is the place for Expats on Majorca as well. In fact I know a friend of mine would appreciate it

I am sorry but I don't really know what "starting" a Forum means (it will be an age thing, I guess!!).

Do you just mean I should start posting comments or can we establish a heading that people can easily find? Help!!!!

Expats is a forum and within here you can start a thread (topic) as you have done with this one, calling it for instance "Expats in Majorca"
Anyone interested in moving to Majorca or those who live there could then join in the discussion.

The problem I see is that if it's not an actual forum I don't think people will come across it unless I post an new item pretty much every day to keep it up the list!

We couldn't have a forum for each country for expats as the site would then be too long and involve a lot of scrolling.

Hi Glynis,
It seems that there is very little interest in the Valencia forum and lots of interest in Mallorca and Palma city, I find it strange that Palma is not on one of your forums. Can Palma be added as a city break and this could be used by expats and holiday home owners/property developers to give advise to others, also this would keep up the interest in this forum. 28SAC.

My daughter (14 in November) has been in an International School (King Richard, Portals) and a Spanish private(ish) school (Scal Collegio, Magaluf) and neither for various reasons were very good.

We are now educating her, with another family, via home study to obtain her GCSEs. Has anyone here done or heard of this? Any experiences to relate?

It's going very well at present. Loads of enthusiasm and effort - 10 days in!!!!

I take my hat off to you Paul I attempted to home educate my two children, when I first came to Lanzarote, mainly due to lack of funds for the private school, and lack of knowledge about the local systems

They were 7 and 12, and we really worked hard, deciding timetables, what subjects to cover etc etc. It worked for the first couple of months, and I have never worked so hard in my life It fizzled out after a few months due to lack of commitment on all our parts.

One of my main problems (which I know is not relevant in your case), was the isolation, and therefore lack of integration. They did go to the local schools in the end, and although there were many many tears, (and feelings of guilt on my part), I now have two fluent Spanish speakers

I found private tutors for them in Eng Lang, Eng Lit, and Maths. My daughter now has 6 International "O" Levels, which I paid for her to sit. My son has none, just his spanish Education Book, which has impressed various colleges and uni's in UK, mainly I think cos no-one can understand what it's all about!!!!!!

Their education may not have been what I wished for them by comparison, but they did okay. Whether they fulfilled their potential I will never know But they are adults now and seem to be making their way in the world okay, so far anyway

Anyone else have views on education, buying a business, local politics or anything else reagrding Mallorca please post here and we can try to make this an active strand!!

Hi Paul and to anyone else interested in Mallorca, we have owned an apartment in Cala Egos for 5 years now with a view to moving out once our youngest daughter gets to uni, (15 now) and have been lucky enough to get out to the island each month and have made many local friends in Cala D'or. We are at this time setting up a new Spanish ltd company to enable us to buy a run down villa in Cala Egos that we intend to refurbish and then rent out. We have been advised that by setting up a ltd company our investment would be protected and also gives us tax advantages against money spent on our new project. The new company should be formed on friday and we can then get things moving with our architect and project manager. I know we will hit some red tape but we will face that if and when. Is there any other advise that you can pass on through your experience on the island. We complete the sale in early November and intend to start work in the winter as soon as a building licence is granted as we already have planning permission on the building and surrounding land. I can't wait to get back and get going on the villa as soon as possible, best of luck,
Steve.

Hi Steve. Spoken to you before re Majorca. Lucky you, wish I could visit every month We are going back in October and are going to do some serious viewing. Gx

I echo pargaluvva, Steve, lucky you Out of interest can you explain why, if you already have planning permission, you have to wait for the building licence before you are able to start work? My reason for asking is that I started work on an extension as soon as I got planning permission here in the canaries. Is it different in mallorca, or did I do the wrong thing

Hi G, I hope you find what you are looking for as i know that an apartment in the right area can still be self financing through rental and give the owner free holidays as well, good luck.
Madsue, We have bought the villa with permission to build another 85 sq mts and a pool but we still need to get permissision from the local Santanyi council to start the works as there are strict conditions in this area over materials and the type of stone that can be used, also noisey works can only be carried out from November till April. I am told that we have to pay for a licence and will be visited by building inspectors and if we do not comply with their restrictions we can be fined or denounced. It sounds bad but this is why we are using a local project manager for our first venture, (Mr 5%) to guide us along as he deals with the right people in the council house and has recently managed a complete build of a large finca for friends of ours. How is the property market going in the Canaries? as Mallorca is still returning at least 10% per annum.
Best wishes to all
Steve.

Sue

I would be interested in the answer to your question as well. The property that we are in the process of buying in Tenerife already has planning permission to build a second level on top. We were told that is all we need in order to start building. Would be interesting to find out if this information is correct ot wether we also have to get a building license.

Regards Jackie

Jackie, I do know that you have to pay for the building licence at the local ayuntamiento, it does have to be got yes, but my question was whether I could start building before I had paid the licence, which is what I did!!! When I applied for the permission was when I had to state types of materials etc etc, following the local guidelines at that time, which are different for each municipality here. Of course I live in the province of Las Palmas, so rules could be different!!

Steve, I don't know too much about the property market here, only that it is a buyers market at the moment, and that no-one wants to buy my house

Hi, Its really the same system as we use in the building trade in the UK, you apply for planning permission and once you get planning permission you apply for regs but can start work if you wish but if the building officer does not like something that you have done then he can make you change it if it contravenes the regs. As this is our first project i want to get it right and not upset anyone in the local council. If you have a look at any building projects that are going on around you the license should be shown outside the property, it give the builders/owners name and the proposed date of completion.
Steve.

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