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The Spanish government has recently passed new laws aimed at encouraging property owners to rent out their properties. It is hoped that, by simplifying the eviction process, non-resident homeowners will be tempted to become landlords. The new law will also speed up the judicial process with which landlords were formerly faced when requesting that tenants vacate the property due to non-payment of rent.
Until now, Spain’s Tax Office was strictly limited in the manner in which it was able to tackle foreign residents who owed money to the Hacienda. Money owed in Spain had to be reclaimed from Spanish assets, but a recent change in the law means that the country’s tax authorities can now seek recompense from assets held in the debtor’s country of origin, providing it lies within the European Union.
As anticipated, the government recently approved the reintroduction of the unpopular wealth tax, which has been suspended since April 2008. This could be bad news for people with assets totalling more than 700,000€, excluding the value of their primary residence up to a value of 300,000€.
However the new legislation will please many since, in its original version, people with net assets of as little as 108,000€ apart from a primary residence to the value of 150,000€, could be hit by the wealth tax.
Making a new life in Spain has been the choice of many British immigrants, the warm climate and relaxed way of life offering a more attractive alternative to the rain and indoor lifestyle of the UK.
However, any expat who owns property in Spain should make a legally viable Spanish will to ensure that their heirs receive everything to which they are entitled.
Horror stories in the UK press have led to certain reservations amongst potential purchasers of Spanish property. Various TV programmes have also helped to portray Spain as the land in which one’s beloved home can be declared illegal and bulldozed virtually overnight.
As overheated and inaccurate as many of these sensational reports are, the Spanish Government is mindful of this bad press and now seems determined to rectify the situation.
July saw the presentation of the findings of the EBA (European Banking Authority) stress test – an analysis of the state of health of banks across the European continent.
Subjecting the banking system to a ‘medical’ is a good idea at the best of times, but much more so when times are tough and we’re all still trying to escape from the clutches of a nasty credit crisis. The recent exercise, executed on a European-wide scale, was therefore an important one, designed to check up on the state of Europe’s major banks and instil much-needed investor confidence in the continent’s financial institutions.
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