New law in Spain regarding residency for foreign property owners.

From my understanding this has not been passed yet?

I had contacted the Spanish Embassy in Madrid. They confirm the law has not been past

Wait, why would there be a Spanish Embassy in Spain?

We are now into June of 2013 and this residency/property ownership thing is about as clear as mud to me. We have owned a little village house in the village of Cervera del Maestre for more than eight years. We paid all the taxes, architects, builders etc etc etc and are quite legal in that respect. Mind you the house was originally built in the sixteenth century so it should be legal. What is confusing to me is this....we don't want to become residents of Spain much that we love the people and the country. We live in a home in the UK part of the year and we live in our home in Spain the other part of the year. Sometimes we do a couple of months, other time maybe as long as six months. We also have a UK registered car and a UK registered motorhome which we use for getting to Spain from the UK and back again. We are hearing that if we own property in Spain and maybe spend more than six months of the year in Spain then our UK property will be taken into account re Spanish taxation. We pay our taxes in the UK. We don't ask anything of the Spanish monetary wise and we are also being told that should we keep a vehicle in Spain for mor than six months that also will be taken into account for tax reasons and more to the point we are being told we will become residents.......something we don't want to be in any way shape or form. Can you enlighten me on this please? Regards, David.

Hi all. It's official. Madrid passed a new law on May 24th 2013. offering resident permits ro foreigners who buy a property value at more that 500.000eu or 2 million of public debt. The Times Sat May 25th 2013. So much for the original proposal of 160.000eu

Buying or having a property does not automatically make you a resident of any country in the world or in this instance Spain. Residency test is more of facts i.e. how much time you actually spend and stay in a particular country. In David's case because each year appear to be different you need to assess each year on its own merit. In simple terms if you spend more than 183 days in any tax year (which starts from 6 April to following 5 April) then you are more than likely to be classified as Tax Resident in the UK and subject to UK taxation laws. However this doesn't mean you are not also a Spainish resident in the same year as I am not sure of the exact number of days to qualify as a Spainish resident. Whatever happens because of the Double Taxation treaty as long as you have paid all your taxes in the UK, you should not have to pay or be liable for anything in Spain.

Buying or having a property does not automatically make you a resident of any country in the world or in this instance Spain. Residency test is more of facts i.e. how much time you actually spend and stay in a particular country. In David's case because each year appear to be different you need to assess each year on its own merit. In simple terms if you spend more than 183 days in any tax year (which starts from 6 April to following 5 April) then you are more than likely to be classified as Tax Resident in the UK and subject to UK taxation laws. However this doesn't mean you are not also a Spainish resident in the same year as I am not sure of the exact number of days to qualify as a Spainish resident. Whatever happens because of the Double Taxation treaty as long as you have paid all your taxes in the UK, you should not have to pay or be liable for anything in Spain.

We are now into January of 2015 and this residency/property ownership thing is about as clear as mud to me. We have owned a little village house in the village of Cervera del Maestre for more than eight years. We paid all the taxes, architects, builders etc etc etc and are quite legal in that respect. Mind you the house was originally built in the sixteenth century so it should be legal. What is confusing to me is this....we don't want to become residents of Spain much that we love the people and the country. We live in a home in the UK part of the year and we live in our home in Spain the other part of the year. Sometimes we do a couple of months, other time maybe as long as six months. We also have a UK registered car and a UK registered motorhome which we use for getting to Spain from the UK and back again. We are hearing that if we own property in Spain and maybe spend more than six months of the year in Spain then our UK property will be taken into account re Spanish taxation. We pay our taxes in the UK. We don't ask anything of the Spanish monetary wise and we are also being told that should we keep a vehicle in Spain for mor than six months that also will be taken into account for tax reasons and more to the point we are being told we will become residents.......something we don't want to be in any way shape or form. Can you enlighten me on this please? Regards, Jinson.