Maintaining your home in Spain

Steps to take to maintain your home in Spain

Surprises are wonderful except when it's surprising maintenance costs that you haven't budgeted for. So before deciding to buy, you may want to make a list of everything involved, including all the associated fees and how often you’ll need to pay them.

If you already own your house, you’ll want to make sure you stay on top of it all, as there could be different factors to think of than back in your home country, such as community bills for example.

After this, your steps will depend on if you’re renting your property out, using it as your retirement home, living and working in it, or using it as a holiday home. You’ll need to think about management companies to help you if you’re renting it out or general maintenance if you’re not. Here are some of the things you need to be aware of:

The fixed monthly costs you can expect to pay

There are various fixed monthly payments associated with maintaining your Spanish home, which you need to budget for. The first and most costly are of course the mortgage repayments. The amount of this will obviously depend on the agreement you made with the bank you got it from, as well as if it’s a variable or fixed rate term.

Home or house insurance is another important cost to remember. Whether you live in the property full time, rent it out or use it occasionally for holidays, you’ll want to make sure you have insurance should anything happen to your home. Home insurance in Spain will most likely work slightly differently to what you’re used to and may even cover for more. Some Spanish insurers also insure for items in your home such as white goods, or problems including severe sink blockages or leaky pipes for example. Anything that is not covered by your insurance, you will have to pay extra to maintain yourself, this could be due to regular wear and tear, as opposed to breakdowns.

Utility bills are of course expenses that you’ll pay every month without fail. Even if the property remains empty for some of the year, you may still have to pay a connection fee to make sure your property is still connected to water, gas and electricity.

If you own an apartment or a house within a complex, you will also have to pay community fees, this covers costs for the communal areas, cleaning of the halls or stairways, as well as money for a contingency pot should anything go wrong with the lifts or roof for example, which everyone is responsible for. We will cover the community fees for houses within a complex, further down.

Those who rent their properties out should also take into consideration that they may have to pay management fees, this is especially true if you live abroad. The cost of management fees vary, depending on the level of service they provide. It’s typically a percentage of the rental income. 

Annual costs involved with owning a property

Every year in Spain you will have to pay a property tax known as the Impuesto Sobre Bienes Inmuebles or simply IBI. The cost of this tax depends on several factors, including the cadastral value of your property and where it’s located. Much of this money goes to your local municipality, so it doesn’t only depend on what region of Spain you live in, but which town or city too.

If you rent your property out, as well as paying tax on your earnings every three months, you will also have to declare this in the yearly declaración de la renta or Spanish tax return. A local gestor or accountant can help you with this and tell you exactly what you need to pay, depending on your individual situation.

If you’re a non-resident and own your house as a holiday home, you will also have to pay non-residents tax. You will pay this regardless of whether you rent out your property or not.  This is 19 percent if you’re an EU citizen or 24 percent if you’re from a non-EU country, which now includes the UK. If you’re an EU citizen you can claim back some of your maintenance costs on your tax return, but if you’re outside the EU, you can’t, so you’ll need to factor this in too. 

Costs involved when you buy in a community

We’ve mentioned some of the costs involved when you buy an apartment in Spain, but there are also extra costs when you buy a house in a complex, such as on a golf course, which is popular with many retirees in Spain, who want to be part of a community.

This will include fees for the upkeep of the grounds, gardeners, security, swimming pools or any other communal facilities such as a gym for example. Prices will vary greatly depending on the complex, the location and how many facilities it has.
 

Renting your property out

If you choose to rent your property out, there are various points to consider, as well as other costs involved. If you have another property close by that you live in yourself, you might want to consider managing the property yourself. In this case, your Spanish will need to be fairly good in order to deal with contracts, tenants and local plumbers, electricians etc., should anything in the property need fixing. You will also need to be aware of local laws, eg. how long the tenant is allowed to live in the property, how much you can raise the rent by and when, as well as what you’re responsible for and what the tenant is responsible for. As well as building’s insurance, you may also need additional insurance because you’re renting it out, rather than living in it yourself.

If you’re thinking about renting your property out short term to tourists, there’s even more you need to think about. Most likely you will need a tourist licence to be able to do this, which will also be an extra cost. Some big cities or areas are also no longer issue tourist licences, such as Barcelona, so if your plan is renting out to tourists there, you will need to make sure you purchase a property that already has a licence. In order to find out if licences are available, you should go to your local town hall or ayuntamiento to enquire before you buy, if renting to tourists is your plan.

If you don’t feel comfortable enough to manage your property yourself or you don’t know enough about local laws, then it’s advisable to get an estate agent or property manager to look after it for you. In big cities in Spain, many locals choose this option anyway. They will sort out viewings, contracts etc and maybe even tradespeople to fix any potential problems. Keep in mind, agencies will charge you a proportion of the rent for their services.

Different options to keep your home maintained

If you need help in maintaining your property, there are several options. Gestors or accountants can help you with all your taxes, property managers can help find and look after tenants, should you want to rent it out, or if you want to rent your property out to tourists, there are several choices from Airbnb to Vrbo or apps to keep on top of everything, such as Barcelona start-up Nester Software. 

Maintaining your property in Spain from another country

If you live in the UK for example, but have a property in Spain, again there are various factors to consider when maintaining your home in Spain – do you want to rent it out? Do you want to use it yourself for holidays? Will your retire in it? 

If you want to rent it out, you’ll have to consider the same points above, but will most likely need a local agency to manage it, as it can be difficult to sort out if you don’t live in the same country and you will most likely need to fly back and forth pretty often.

If you intend to keep the property empty and only use it during holidays, you will need to consider extra security. Buying a property in a community or complex can be sensible as there would be higher security and less risk than a standalone house.

Squatters or okupas can pose a problem in Spain as certain protective laws can make evicting unwelcome-long-stay guests a challenge. Installing security cameras, and having neighbours that check on your property weekly and lights on timers can all help keep your house safe and save you a lot of time and money on legal fees.

Conclusion

By understanding the necessary steps to maintain your home and budget for the expected costs you can step into your home-hunt equipped and empowered to choose the right property for you. Leave all your surprises to discover new favourite places and delicious untasted foods - the adventure begins!