Buying a Legal Property in Spain

Before parting with any money or signing any private contracts there are some basic steps you should take.

This will ensure that you can have an electricity meter and a legal registered property.

1. Proof of ownership by way of escritura together with an up to date nota simple with the vendors name on it.

2. Status of the property in the Property Register. Check that the property is registered in the vendors name, and that there are no outstanding debts or charges on the property. This check can be carried out by the Nota Simple or even better a Certificacion Catastral which gives greater guarantee to the buyer.

3. IBI (Impuestos de Bienes Inmuebles) similar to rates, this can sometimes be referred to as Contribucion Urbana. Every property owner must pay IBI on any property they own. The buyer must ascertain that the contributions are in the sellers name and have been paid.

4. If you are buying or building a new property on land that has recently been urbanised you must make sure there are no outstanding debts on the land or urbanisation. If there are any debts these have to be paid for by the developer, however if the developer does not pay the burden falls directly on the property owners.

5. Building Licence: If you are buying property of recent construction ask the ayuntamiento for a copy of the Licencia de Obras. This is document gives the property legal status, and is essential for the next step.

6. Licencia de Primera Ocupacion is a document that assures that the property has been constructed correctly meeting all necessary legal and building requirements. Without this document the property is not considered habitable by law and is therefore not permitted to have electricity or other mains services.

The last point may come as a shock to some. However it appears to be the underlying problem behind many of the posts in this forum. Without the Licencia de Primera Ocupacion, Endesa are not permitted to supply electricity.

Article by Cadiz Builders www.cadizbuilders.com

Employment Advice Spain

Jobs and employment on the Costa Blanca

The Council of Europe regulations forced Spain to end all restrictions on the free circulation of European Union workers as of January 1st, 1992 - which means that all EU citizens can work in Spain under the same conditions as Spaniards complete with employment contracts and employers contributions into the Spanish Social Security system on your behalf, giving both yourself and your dependants, access to the Spanish National Health Service. These rights extend even to family members who are non EU nationals.

For example, if a Briton working in Spain is married to, say - a US national, the non EU spouse will have full rights to residence and employment in Spain. In addition, children of foreign workers will have the same rights to trade school education and apprenticeship programmes run by the state as nationals of that State. All of these rights, and more, are set out in EU Regulation 1612/68, regarding the free circulation of workers within the European Union.

Article 5 of Title I of that Regulation also states that any EU foreigner looking for work in another EU country shall receive the same help from State employment offices as its nationals seeking work, they even mean that the foreign worker, should he/she lose his/her job in Spain for reasons beyond his/her control, providing they have paid sufficient sums into the Social Security system of the said State during their employment, can have access to unemployment payments - the Spanish dole, just like a Spanish worker.

If you are considering living permanently in Spain, you must register both yourself and any dependants with the local Police Station and obtain a NIE certificate (Numero de Identificacion de Extranjeros) - Foreigners Identification Number. This certificate should be carried on your person at all times, together with your passport or residents' permit.

Once you have this certificate, any EU national looking for employment should present himself to the nearest office of the INEM (Instituto Nacional de Empleo) - Unemployment Office, to register as a 'demandante de empleo' - unemployed. The only problem is - you must be able to speak at least a little Spanish as very few government departments will have an English translator on hand, and the staff will very quickly become short tempered with you if you expect to find employment with a Spanish company without at least being able to say good morning to the boss !

Once you have found employment, pay particular attention to your contract. Spanish companies are notorious for insisting that you are paid half in 'white' and half in 'black', which means only half of your salary is declared to the government saving the employer - not you - a large tax bill. Problems arise when you are not able to prove your earnings should you require a mortgage or a loan of any kind, or you loose your job and you find that insufficient funds have been paid into the Social Security System for you to draw unemployment benefit.

Should you be thinking of setting up your own business in Spain, don't expect things to be any clearer. You may have to battle through a lot of red tape to obtain the proper licenses and permits - even if you plan to work from home. Find yourself a 'gestor' - business advisor and don't try to do it yourself. The following is a guide of the steps you need to go through before you can sell your first 'widget' ! Not all of the items will be required in every case, but it gives you some idea of what's in store.

Title or degree - If you wish to practice medicine, architecture, gas fitter or any other business that requires a certain measure of safety, you must present your titles and certificates from the EU institutions you attended. If your titles are gained outside the EU they will have to undergo a lengthy verification process.

I.A.E (Impuesto de Actividades Economicas) - Business License or Tax on Economic Activities. This will need to be paid in advance and varies depending upon the type of business you intend to begin.

Registration with the Spanish Social Security as a trabajador autonomo - self employed person. It is illegal to work in Spain without paying into the Social Security system.

Licencia de Apertura - Opening License. If you plan to open business premises you will need this license from your local Ayuntamiento - Town Hall who will need to come along and make an inspection.

A written explanation (in Spanish, of course) of the activity you will carry out. Licenses are issued specifically to cover the specified activities and any diversifications will need to be re-submitted to the authorities - so make sure you include everything.

Title deed and lease contract for business premises.

If you are forming a limited company, the incorporation charter.

Any other permits relating to your special profession - such as a food handlers certificate should you be thinking of opening a restaurant.

For further information on this and other topics about living in Spain, visit Costa Blanca World.

Good Luck !

Karen Milacic is a graphic and web designer living as a British expat on the Costa Blanca for the past five years. Visit her other web sites at: http://www.villa-angels.com; http://www.thedesignbusiness.co.uk; http://www.costablanca- webhosting.com

Schools in Spain

Schools and Education on the Costa Blanca

As in any other country, there are two types of school/college for your children - public (in Spain this refers to state run schools), or private.

Private International Colleges throughout the Costa Blanca provide an english curriculum taught in the medium of english. Fees are generally much cheaper in the private schools than they are in the UK and some of them, in an effort to appeal to spanish parents, now offer the spanish speaking student the opportunity to sit the national spanish 'Bachillerato' exams in order for them to be able to enter the spanish university system.

If you are at all worried about whether your child will be able to cope with the added trauma of a new language as well as a new school and a new country, take heart from my own experience. I have two daughters who were aged 6 and 10 when we came to Spain 5 years ago. Although I considered the private route of education, I liked the smaller classes and friendly atmosphere of the local state-run village school. Now 11 and 15 respectively, both girls are fluent in Valencian (the local regional language, which is a cross between French and Italian) and Castilian (the national spanish language). It took them just 12 months to learn and my youngest is consistently the only member of her all spanish class to get full marks in her spanish exams! Generally speaking, the younger your child is when you move to another country, the easier they will integrate with their classmates and so learn the language.

Under the spanish curriculum, your child will be taught, maths (bear in mind that calculations are done in different ways on the continent, so you may find it hard in the beginning in helping with the homework!), Castiliano (like english grammar but obviously in spanish), Conocemiento del Medi (a mixture of geography, geology and biology which is studied up to the age of 12), Plastica (art), Gym - which in Spain includes a degree of theory/written course work, Religion (Catholicism - although your child can opt out of this and take Etica - which should be another subject but ends up being free time to catch up on homework), Sociales (history and geography for the older students), Naturales (natural sciences/biology for the older students), Drama, Prensa (history of journalism and print), Tutoria (an hour of student/teacher communication to discuss work or social issues), plus also languages - French, English and Valencian (the regional language). In some schools, more than half of your childs' lessons will be conducted in Valencian rather than Castilian (the national spanish language), great if your child is of an age where they will absorb new languages easily (normally up to the age of 10), more difficult for older children where the level of study is more complex.

In many of the villages, Valencian is the language of choice by most spaniards, although without exception they will also speak Castilian. But if you want your child to integrate with the local village children, it would be a good idea to learn the two languages. You'd be surprised how quickly they pick it up in the playground. If you do opt for a spanish school, don't expect to be shown around by the head teacher when you go to enrol your child - for some reason, this is not the 'done' thing in Spain, so you may get faced with a blank stare if you ask !! Also, books and lunch are chargeable. Books will normally have to be bought from a local shop, and can amount to quite a lot of money. You will be provided with a list when your child starts school. Lunch will be paid by standing order from your bank account, so you will have to provide the school with your details. Each school sets it's own rate, so ask first.

To enrol your child in the spanish school you will need to provide the school with a Certificado de Empadronamiento, which is a certificate of proof of residency in your village (you can get this at the local Town Hall or Ayuntamiento by supplying your passports and title deeds to your property or a rental contract), and your childs' passport. As the school needs the paperwork for each child enrolled in the school, it is a good idea to get a Certificado de Empadronamiento for each member of the family and keep copies as they will be needed for other things aswell.

In September, my eldest daughter started at Xabia International College in order to take her GCSE's. As she is now fluent in Spanish, she will be able to sit her A level Spanish at the same time, as well as the Spanish School Leaving Certificate - ESO (Educacion Secondaria Obligatoria), giving her the option to choose between an English further education or Spanish.

If you would like more information on living in Spain, visit Costa Blanca World.

Karen Milacic is a graphic and web designer living as a British expat on the Costa Blanca for the past five years. Visit her other web sites at: http://www.villa-angels.com; http://www.thedesignbusiness.co.uk; http://www.costablanca-webhosting.com

Spanish National Health System

Are you covered by the Spanish National Health System?

If you are in Spain as a tourist, you will probably have brought along your copy of the E111 form obtained from the national health service in the UK, or you may have taken out private health cover with your tour operator. In either case, you will be covered for accidents and urgent illnesses during your stay. The E111 form will only cover you for emergencies, not for treatment of chronic illnesses or for undertaking an operation in Spain that you would have to wait a long time for in your home country. If you run out of or mislay your regular medication whilst in Spain, your E111 form can be used in any pharmacy to obtain a replacement.

You will have to use the doctors, surgeries or hospitals of the Spanish national health services, called INSS. If you go to a private doctor or hospital, they will ask you to pay, so if you are unfortunate enough to need to call an ambulance whilst on holiday, make sure the driver knows that you need to be taken to an INSS hospital. There are many private hospitals along the Costa Blanca, and you may find yourself arriving at one of them as the driver has assumed you had private health cover. If this happens you should communicate this to the INSS within 24 hours. The personnel at the private hospital will assist you.

If you have contributed to the national health services of your own country, and that country has an agreement with Spain on health services, you can also be covered if you stay for longer periods in Spain, or become a permanent resident here. Then you need to bring a form E-121 in two copies with you to Spain, and register it with the Spanish health authorities. The registration is with the local Centro de Salud. They will keep one of the copies of the form, and fill in and stamp the other one, to be kept by you. After a while you will receive in the post a card identifying you as a person with certain rights to use the Spanish national health services. On it will be given the name of the doctor you are to visit in case of illness, as well as the address of the next INSS health centre. If you go on visits to other countries from Spain, you must remember to get an E-111 from your local health centre, to be covered as a tourist abroad, even in your home country.

If you are not included in the national health services of your home country, you may have contracted a private health insurance there. Find out with the insurance company if they will pay your medical bills in Spain as well. If you are completely or partly without cover abroad, and a travel insurance does not fill the gap, you should take private health insurance. Some foreigners feel more comfortable with private insurance in addition to the public one, because they like to choose their doctor and hospital, or because they doubt the quality of the state health services. To the last point we can say: The national health services in Spain are of a very high standard. You do not have to make appointments in advance to see a doctor, you turn up at the surgery early in the morning, sign your name on the list, and wait your turn. You may have to wait a couple of hours before being seen, but the receptionist usually tells you roughly what time your turn will be based on how many are in front of you in the queue so that you can go away and have a coffee and come back. As with any country, there are waiting lists for operations, but not nearly as long as in the UK.

I have known of cases whereby people have been diagnosed with terminal cancer in the UK but been refused treatment because of budgetary or time constraints. Those same people have then moved to Spain to spend their last days in the sun, have been advised to visit the local doctor and then been admitted to hospital within days to have life saving treatment.

If you do wish to opt for private health cover, there are a number of private Spanish or foreign health insurances offered to the foreigners in Spain. The most popular ones being Adeslas, Asisa, La Estrella, DKV Seguros, Sanitas and Winterthur. Today, all insurance companies have their "Defensor del Asegurado" (ombudsman for the insured) who you can present your complaints to if you feel the company is not dealing correctly with you. If that does not work, you can approach Dirección General de Seguros (phone 91-339 72 00) in the Ministry of Economy.

If you decide to take up employment in Spain thereby making contributions to the Social Security system, you will obviously be covered by the Spanish national health service. Your gestor will assist you in filling out the appropriate forms and register you in the Spanish Social Security system. Currently, as a self employed person, the monthly contributions are 220 € per month (£146.81), and it is your responsibility to ensure they are paid. Once you are in the system, the authorities will track your contributions and if you do not advise them of a change in circumstances, they will expect you to pay the contributions. Failure to do so will result in fines and eventually, a withdrawal of health services.

Everybody should keep, next to the phone, the name and phone number of a doctor speaking your language, or of the local health centre, as well as a company providing ambulance services, and the closest hospital where you would want to go to in an emergency (depending if you are covered by the National Health Service or rely on private services).

Karen Milacic is a graphic and web designer living as a British expat on the Costa Blanca for the past five years. Visit her other web sites at: http://www.villa-angels.com; http://www.thedesignbusiness.co.uk; http://www.costablanca-webhosting.com

Land Grab Law

Much has been written in the press about the Land Grab Law or L.R.A.U - Ley Reguladora de la Actividad Urbanística, where people have fallen foul of the greed of developers who have abused this, well meaning regulation brought in by the Valencian government to provide low cost social housing and infrastructure improvements. Although introduced in 1994, it is only in the recent few years that unscrupulous developers have taken advantage of the complex wording of the L.R.A.U. and distorted its meaning to their own gains - to forcibly obtain land either without compensation or at well below market value prices and then inflict hugely inflated charges on innocent foreign country house owners for 'contributions to the improvement of infrastructure'.

Only applicable to the Valencian Community, the L.R.A.U. has been a thorn in the side of many estate agencies trying to encourage investors to the area, as people have been falsely led to believe that all properties can be affected by this law. On the positive side, the risk of getting caught up in this law can be minimised in many ways. Using a solicitor specialised in this area can safeguard your investment and make the buying of a property in this region a safe investment. One must always seek legal advice before buying any property, and a good solicitor will do the appropriate searches and background work to ensure that your investment is safe.

What can your solicitor do for you?

Your solicitor will find out about the planning status and in particular, the classification of the land you are planning on buying. Land is classified in three types - urban, non-urban and developable.

Urban - Buying a property on urban land can be more expensive, but it is totally free from risks as all of the planning has already been done for the area and is unlikely to change dramatically to effect your investment.

Non-Urban Land - property situated on non-urban land is safer than developable land as there cannot be any urbanisation or improvement plans. However, there is a small risk that the land can be reclassified to developable at a later date, especially if this non-urban land is near urban or developable areas. A solicitor can tell you before buying a property if any future plans exist for the reclassification of the area.

Developable Land - Property on developable land, which has not had infrastructure installed is liable to attract costs at a later date. Your solicitor can help by getting a planning certificate from the local town hall (ayuntamiento) assuring that there is no development planned for the future and that they must notify you of any such change or discovery of plans.

Fortunately, after much canvassing, the European Courts has taken notice of this loophole in the L.R.A.U. and are now taking steps to ensure that no one else is victimised by these cowboys.

If you would like more iinformation about this subject or others relating to the Costa Blanca visit Costa Blanca World.

Karen Milacic is a graphic and web designer living as a British expat on the Costa Blanca for the past five years. Visit her other web sites at: http://www.villa-angels.com

http://www.thedesignbusiness.co.uk

http://www.costablanca-webhosting.com

Flag of Spain

The Flag of Spain - the national one - is almost as colorful as the country itself, with its wonderful red-and-yellow horizontal triband!

Its sunny, yellow stripe rests in the middle - and it's twice as tall as each red band.

The height of the glorious flag is two-thirds its width.

You'll also see a simplified version of Spain´s coat-of-arms pictured on the yellow band - towards the hoist side.

The Spanish coat-of-arms includes the royal seal - framed by the Pillars of Hercules - representing Gibraltar and Ceuta on either side of the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar.

The red banners display the motto in Latin PLUS ULTRA, which means "More Beyond" - alluding to Columbus´ famous discovery of the New World.

The two columns flank a shield that displays a castle, a lion wearing a crown, red-and-yellow vertical stripes, chain mail, and three fleurs-de-lis in an oval in the center.

An ornate red and golden crown sits atop the shield.

The Spanish Flag used in the country today was officially adopted on 19 December 1981.

Previous to this, there had been an eagle on it as well but - in 1981 - the eagle was removed, leaving the current red/yellow/red triband with crowned arms.

The red and golden-yellow colors of the Spanish Flag were first used as long ago as the late 1700s - by the King of Spain as he tried to easily differentiate his ships from those of other countries!

They were the original colors found within the coat-of-arms of both the Castile and Aragon regions of the country - those glorious regions first united by famous King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

A legend exists maintaining that the colors of the Spanish Flag are derived from the bullfight arena - the red respresenting the blood shed, and the yellow the sand of the arena!

However, this is just a legend and not based on historical facts!

The pledge to the Spanish flag is called the "Jura de Bandera", meaning "Oath of the Flag".

Spain is divided into 17 different regions or autonomous communities and each community also sports its own regional flag.

However, the red-and-yellow national flag of Spain is recognized by all Spanish regions.

So, now that you know all about the Spanish Flag, do come on out here and watch one flapping in the warm, Spanish breeze!

by Linda Plummer of Top Tour of Spain