Dear J White

Hold it, hold it, hold it - You sound like somebody about to panic.

1. Keep your home in UK
2. Keep your apartment in Alicante
3. Rent out your home in the UK for say 10 months of the year
4. Rent out your apartment in Alicante for 2 months of the year.

Therefore, when in Spain you have an income from your UK home and when in UK you have income from your Spanish home. Naturally, I would advise that your home in Spain should be rented out in July and August to maximise your income.

And you have the best of both worlds.

If you sold your current UK home would you raise enough cash to pay off your Spanish mortgage and buy a smaller place here. Your decision will be dependent on your personal financial situation. Renting both here and Spain is a good option but rental money should never be relied on to pay a mortgage as it is not a guaranteed source. Good luck and let us know what you decide

Samr

I cannot argue with what you are saying - it makes sense. But, this person is undecided and does not want to burn his boats. This also makes sense.

Thanks for your comments. I am reluctant to sell our UK home just in case and in fact have looked at all the options.

Leprosy - what you say makes a lot of sense and we would have considered renting our apartment before but for the fact that renters tend to knock the place about and we would have to pay for key holding, cleaning etc. and from what I see of the rents available in our area (there are so many available for rent these days) we would not make much out of it, plus this would not be enough to pay the mortgage we have. Renting our UK home was something we discussed with our financial advisor (as obviously we could rent this for a lot more than our apartment) but taking everything into account, again it can be a lot of hassle, tax on unearned income, agents to handle the letting, maintenance, etc. Again this is not guaranteed but would more than likely cover the mortgage if we gained a long term rental. We still have the mortgage to worry about after we retire and as discussed renting is not guaranteed. We could sell our UK home but could only afford a one bedroomed apartment in the UK but the problem is we could not afford to run two properties on our UK pension without getting an income from renting. Even with an apartment there are council tax, maintenance fees, leasehold rent etc. to take into account. One solution would be to buy an apartment in the UK and rent it out for 10 months of the year. That way we would be getting an income towards its upkeep and could clear our mortgage at the same time.

Ideally I would like to keep our UK house so we might consider renting for the first year just to be on the safe side. We could always go ahead and sell and buy an apartment after that and clear the mortgage if we wanted to get an income from the rent which we could use as living expenses to boost our pension. A friend of ours with an apartment above ours in Spain spent 3 years there and did not sell his UK home. He got so homesick for his grandkids and family, he went home 10 times in one year and this year has put his apartment up for sale. As he said he gave it his best shot but at least he did not sell his home in the UK.

As I said burning one's boats is a dangerous practice and a lot of people have come unstuck. At least if we kept an apartment in the UK we always have a home to come back to if needed. What do other people think, is this the best option for us? Have I forgotten any pitfalls?

Lots to consider

I think you are right to urr on the side of caution in terms of selling your home in the UK. It can be very difficult to return. I know someone who managed 6 years in Spain but once again couldn't stay the course and came back due to homesickness. Also mainly to do with missing seeing granchildren growing up and supporting (not financially, but just by being involved in their lives) her son and daughter during those family years.

She rented out her flat in the UK whilst in Spain and was so glad she hadn't sold as she said that house price inflation in the UK would have made it impossible to return after that length of time and she would have had no alternative but to remain in Spain.

Dopesmac said it all and JWhite (hope I didn't off end by saying you were about to panic - probably my immediate impulse at the time).

JWhite (now I'm going in the opposite direction) knows the benefits of renting his UK home with talk about agents, commission, taxes etc

It might be easier than you think to do all the work renting out your home in the UK, therefore no commission, no advertising charges, no taxes etc

Then you have time to think over the whole situation and will see the woods from the trees. If you return to the UK for say two months of the summer you will have no problem renting out your Spanish apartment. It will take a little work, but it can easily be done.

There are low price flights available all year round now and half the holidays arranged in the UK are done privately (not my words but the Travel Federation statement).

But, whatever you do please accept my best wishes.

Please remember you will have to pay Income Tax in the UK on rental income in fact on all UK income as you will be considered resident here for tax
If you stay in Spain for more than 6 months you should become a resident there

Please take advice from a suitably qualified person before you take any action

Thanks to all for your advice. We will wait another couple of years and see what the rental market is like at that time and as stated will probably try going over to Spain for 183 days (I think that is the period whereby you are not considered a permanent resident in Spain and so don't have to apply for residencia). After that time we may have an idea then if we want to rent out our house in the UK or sell and buy an apartment in the UK and switch between the two. If we do decide to rent either property I will consult our financial advisor about the tax position. If we can offset the interest on our mortgage that would be good. What percentage of the interest can you offset against the rental income, does anyone know?

We will keep a foot in both camps so to speak and see how it goes.

I have just read this post and thought I would reply as my friend was in a similar position.She has an apartment in Spain but when her daughter here in England had a baby she bought a caravan on a lovely sight near her daughter.We met her there as we lived there for 2 years looking after our grandchildren.The site now has mostly log cabins, which although the caravans were of a luxury type,the cabins probably last longer.The rent was £1050 a year for single units and £1500 for double units.PM me for a link to the site.

We have lived in Spain for 15 years and during this time have rented out our house in the UK. We were very lucky that the first tenant stayed in it for 10 years and payed for it twice over and since then we have had numerous tenants who usually stay for 6 months or 1 year (they have to sign a 6 month lease with our agent). Most months we get the full rent but others we have seen almost nothing when they want a plumber at about £40 an hour or a new carpet etc. We do not have a mortgage to pay now so not so reliant on the rent but we are very glad we kept it as the resale value has gone up to something we never imagined.
As I said we have been in Spain for 15years but in that time have changed our friends so many times as lots of people come to live here then after a couple of years decide to go back home - due to many reasons, mostly family and find it difficult to get back into the UK property market. One lot of friends are renting in an area they would not choose to live in, but have no alternative as they sold up in the UK and bought in Spain and now they can't sell the Spanish property so all their capital is tied up there and they have to live where they can afford.
So I would say keep something in the UK even if it is until you can decide whether Spain is for keeps.

I agree, hold on to the UK place is possible.

JWhite, Going on similar lines to what Jay Trip was saying but on a purchase side. You could sell your home in the UK and buy a Park Retirement Home, on a re-sale, you can get one for as little as £40,000 and you have still got a base to return to. With the sale of your house, you could possibly pay off your mortgage on your spanish property and still have money earning interest here, then you would be quids in. It is another avenue for you to explore.

Les

Cruisecontroller

We have considered a Park Home but there are things to consider like the additional rent you have to pay after the purchase pllus you still pay council tax and when you pass away you can't just leave it to your children, there are strict rules about having to pass the property to a person over 50 years of age.

Our main concern wherever we end up going is (1) the weekly outgoings as we will be on a small weekly income and (2) if we wanted to return to the UK that we have enough capital to still purchase a decent apartment, as a house is not essential for us. We have come to the conclusion that a static caravan might be the best option. As we will only need to use it for up to six months a year there is no problem as most sites allow you to stay up to 11 months (although every 6 weeks you are supposed to come off site if only for one day, which we could do by staying with our children to break the 6 months up). There is usually no council tax to pay and the outlay for the van can be £10 -20,000 depending on the age, then there are just site fees of approx. £1500 pa. As long as we choose a site where there is not a 15 year limit on keeping the van on site we should be OK. After all add 15 years onto our ages and we will be lucky if we are not pushing up daises

In any event we will probably have decided a lot sooner than this where we wish to be permanently. I am just conscious that we cannot afford to use too much of the capital from our house purchase to buy a place in the UK to stay in when we are here.

Then of course there is the advantage that buying a static van on a country site has beautiful surroundings too if you pick the right spot.

It was another option for you but you seem to be be well on the ball in this field. No matter what you look at, there are always going to be fors and againsts. Hope everything works out in your favour.

Les

If you have made the decision to live abroad why would you want a 'base' in the yUK. We have just moved to Tenerife and have sold everything in the UK. Something to consider if you do keep property in the UK as well as your home abroad, when the day of eternal rest finally comes for one of you, the surviving partner is going to be hit by both the yUK and Spain for taxes. Not good

They want a base in the UK because they would like to spend a few months each year visiting their family in the UK.
As a long time expat who over the last ten years have made visits to the UK every couple of months because of problems with parents, I have often wished that we had kept a base in England. Staying with relatives gets very old after a while.

That will teach me to read the whole thread from the beginning

All the advice given to us is all very useful and obviously different things are important to different people. Although the idea of just "cut and run" is appealing, I am very aware that I love my kids and grandkids very much. Also my parents emigrated to Australia when I was 9, sold everything to move in with relatives over there. Things turned sour in the first couple of years and my mother was dreadfully homesick although she had no living parents in the UK. She just missed her roots and returned to the UK 4 years later with nothing, not even a stick or furniture or any money to speak of. I don't think anyone should underestimate the importance of their roots and people (unless they are not human) will always feel homesick. It is wether you can accustom yourself completely to being without your family and country as to whether you can completely cut the ties.

I am not ready for that yet and have to be realistic. Also I have heard horror stories from some expats with friends who have just sold up in the UK and a few years down the line want to return and cannot afford another property. I don't want to leave myself in that situation.

As has been said there are fors and againsts with all the alternatives. If we can afford to rent out our UK house for the first 12 months I might do that and then if we are happy to sell our UK house to settle in Spain, then we might opt for the static van idea just to have our own place to stay in the UK when visiting.

Just trying to cover for all eventualities. After all it is one of the most important decisions in your life and you need to be sure whatever you do it is the right decision.

The comments re taxes are all too true I am afraid, but what are the alternatives. I am told that if we sell our UK home we will not pay tax as this is our prime residence. If we sell the property in Spain we have to accept there will be tax there. If one of us dies then we have to accept there will be more tax to pay in Spain. You are either registered for tax in Spain if you are resident there, or in the UK if that is your prime residence. You cannot have it both ways can you ?

Does not the same apply to Tenerife, it is a Spanish island ?

A lot of what you say makes sense JWhite, I have lived abroad for over 30years now and though I don't really get homesick as such just at times a longing for things British now as I am retired life is much different and I have considered moving back to the UK, constant journeys back and forth because of problems with elderly relatives are becoming very tiring and expensive. But having sold our property in the UK some years ago the expense of moving back would be horrendous. We own in Germany what would be classed in England as a large property but because of the static house market here would if sold perhaps raise enough money to buy a small flat in any of the areas in the UK that I would want to live in.
So think really hard before selling up completely. When moving to another country permanently life seems great but eventually there are other things to consider, the people left in the UK, will they need help, what happens if you lose your partner, will you be as happy in your adopted country on your own?
I am not saying don't try life abroad but give it some time before making the total break.