EARNERS? - HOW ABOUT A FRANCHISE The UK franchise directory lists the top franchise opportunities for sale in the UK, with Franchise Information and free franchise packs available. The top business franchises for sale range from cheap, low cost franchises and part time franchises for sale through to new franchises and full time franchise opportunities.  Worth a look! - this could help to finance your Spanish lifestyle! ....OR LETTING YOUR PAD? ...

Bookmark this page via the link above to keep abreast of breaking news PLUS facts relevant to you, if you are living in Spain, or working in Spain, or if you are considering moving to Spain. We try to update this page as often as time permits, with links to important information for those people considering buying property and living in Spain. If you need a card for Xmas or Birthday etc., see this BLACK SPOTS IN SPAIN -  Map of many of Spain's problems Read the latest here   Check the timelines on news bulletins - things change!  . . . it has cost up to €150 to get a landline  installed in Spain, (even if the lines and sockets are already in your house!) More information here

News Headlines

3 new limited offer Fixed Rate saving accounts and bonds have been launched in the last 2 days 28/05/2011

BST  11/11/2009 12:41 UK (top of page)

Greetings card company, Fluppet.com, is offering expats a service which allows them to order and personalise English language greetings cards, which they can order and tailor online, which are then posted in the UK.

Living abroad makes it difficult, if not impossible, to purchase English language cards.  Fluppet.com also eliminates long posting dates and expensive airmail charges of sending card from abroad to the UK.

Fluppet.com offers users to the ability to send hard copy personalised greetings cards, uploading their own pictures and signatures, by “snail mail” but without having to leave the their computer. 
The service costs as little as £1.99 – including postage and a charitably donation – which is often less the price of gift cards from traditional retailers.

Registered users will even receive timely reminders of significant dates by email, so they never need forget another birthday or anniversary.

BST  04/08/2009 12:41 UK (top of page)

"Cement Graveyards"
More interesting observations from 'El Pais' on the woes of the massive over development of Spain's Costas or coastal regions here.

BST  04/08/2009 12:51 UK (top of page)

An entire urbanisation of around 40 properties in the village of Palau-Saverdera, in the Alt Empordà region of Catalonia, north of Barcelona, must be demolished before 5 December, the High Court of Catalonia (TSJC) has ruled. Demolition work is set to begin after the summer, reports the Spanish press.

Not far inland from the Costa Brava, the Sun Village urbanisation is predominantly holiday homes owned by a mixture of nationalities, mainly British and Dutch. Only 8 families are reported to live their year round.

The court ruled that Sun Village was illegally built on land zoned for a hotel. If demolition goes ahead, the owners will seek damages of 12 million Euros, or 310,000 Euros per property, according to press reports.

Narcís Deusedas, the Mayor of Palau-Saverdera for the last 30 years, claims he is doing everything he can to fight the demolition order, though it was he who granted illegal planning permission in 2001.

Deusedas warns that the municipal budget can’t afford the costs of either demolition or compensation. “It would be a death sentence for the village,” he told the Spanish press.

BST  18/05/2009 13:41 UK (top of page)

It was interesting to read a recent opinion piece in Spain’s leading daily paper ‘El Pais’, entitled ‘El Gran Saqueo’ or ‘The Big Plundering’, lambasting Spain for the mess it has made of its real estate sector, environment, and reputation. 

“You can hardly understand how such a huge scandal could have been swept under the rug for decades,” writes the author Rafael Argullol. As we all know, and that includes even Spanish politicians, you can’t solve a problem until you acknowledge that you have a problem, so this is surely a positive sign.

Admittedly it’s just one article, but at least this kind of self criticism is now being given space in influential media, which is progress of sorts.

Sadly, politicians from both of Spain’s mainstream parties are still in denial.

Will Spain recover from it's past development excesses and in particular a coastline grotesquely disfigured by over development, a warped economy, a corrupt body politic, and a poorer, dysfunctional society?

Maybe this is a 'chink of light in the darkness that has come to envelope this beautiful country?'

Anyone who is interested can read the El Pais article, as it was published in English a few days later at the El Pais / International Herald Tribune website, under the title ‘Land Grab’ (pdf document, opens in new window).

CET  18/03/2009 18:41 SPAIN (top of page)

Families are now 17% worse off, thanks to plunging house prices and the collapse of the stock market… ..and in real terms that means each household is, on average, £45,000 worse off as a result.

In something that won’t come as a shock to many of you, a new report shows that £45,000 figure relates to the value of our homes and our investments in pensions, shares and ISAs. See more here

CET  18/03/2009 18:54 SPAIN (top of page)

Nationwide is taking a bit of a kicking in the popularity stakes at the moment!

Only recently they caused a uproar by announcing they were going to charge you to use your cards abroad.  Now some of you who are Nationwide mortgage customers have erupted in protest at a new policy that prevents those who pay to escape a fixed-rate mortgage from applying for a new mortgage!
Check it all out here

CET  03/03/2009 10:41 SPAIN (top of page)

AT LAST! - a good news story to gladden the heart! (as well as a lesson on how NOT to do something, then to to get it right in the end).  We think Martin at Moneyhospital.co.uk should employ this man.

This personal account of a Spanish property investment gone wrong is a lesson to us all in what out forbears practised through two world wars - never give up!

Though a thoroughly unpleasant experience for the investor, he ended up making money, and doing vastly better than he would have with his money tied up in a blue-chip British banking stock like, say, RBS, (contributing to Fred 'the Shred's vastly obscene pension!), or even in an index like the FTSE.
Read more here

CET  03/03/2009 10:29 SPAIN (top of page)

People laughed at us a few years ago, when we decided to sell up on the coast and move to an inland city.  Judging by the horrendous stories of the high number of illegal properties now under the threat of demolition, (or as this story well illustrates : Being demolished after years of failed legal wranglings!), we 'got out' just in time!.

We always felt that as well as finding the real Spain, it would bring us peace of mind.

Little did we realise how that would become so important to a peaceful life in Spain.

As well as illegally built properties, there are developments, known to us, that were never 'signed off' and given habitation certificates by the College of Architects, (mainly in coastal regions, and mainly because the Architect never got final payments from the developer).

After years of legal wrangling, the illegally-built Sun Village development of 40 flats with communal gardens and a pool in Palau-Saverdera, in Catalonia’s Alt Emporda region, will be demolished.

The owners of the flats, mainly Dutch, British, and French, have been given 6 months to comply with a demolition order resulting from a decision by Catalonia’s High Court in 2006. All efforts by owners and the town hall to block demolition have now failed. Read more here

CET  19/02/2009 15:59  SPAIN - (top of page)

More than a hundred owners in Marbella risk losing their properties as a result of the collapse of the Icelandic bank Landsbanki, reports the Spanish press. The case is being treated as a potential fraud, and most of the victims are British pensioners. Read more on this story . . .

CET  19/02/2009 15:49  SPAIN- (top of page)

Spain gets another mauling in the latest EU report on sinister town-planning practices and the ‘land grab ‘ scandal that has brought misery to Spanish and foreign home owners, principally in the Valencian Community.

The Petitions Committee approved the report by 24 votes to 11, thwarting an attempt by an unnatural alliance of right and left wing Spanish MEPs to water down the report with a series of amendments. The report will now be debated in the European Parliament on 26 March - read all about it here

CET  19/02/2009 15:29  SPAIN- (top of page)

This report on the difference between the English and Spanish town planning systems was provided by Abusos Urbanisticos No - a citizens group that defends property rights in Spain

"I thought Franco was dead and this place was NOW supposed to be a democracy" - this really makes interesting reading! - Ed.

GMT  06/01/2009 14:30  SPAIN- (top of page)

Property owners in Spain who fall foul of the Ley de Costas, or Spanish coastal law, (which roughly translated says; "No building within 100m meters of the Foreshore"), are suffering “dramatic economic problems” claims Carmen del Amo, president of national platform for those affected by the Ley de Costas

The Ley de Costas, known in English as the Coastal Law, nationalised the entire Spanish coastline in 1988, effectively confiscating thousands of private properties and businesses located close to the shore. As well as failing to provide affected owners with any compensation, critics say the law has been inconsistently applied, and that boundary changes are made without any judicial oversight.

Homes and businesses situated on the “public land” of the coast will ultimately be demolished, though owners may be able to get a concession of use for between 30 and 60 years. In the meantime owners are not allowed to do any building work on their properties, which they will also struggle to sell.

Few foreigners are aware of the Ley de Costas issue, and every year a number buy what they think is a dream property on the beach, only to find out that they have walked into a nightmare.

The Valencian Community has the biggest problem with the Ley de Costas, says Carmen del Amo, who expects the problems to multiply as the boundary between public and private land continues to be drawn. Only 50% of the Valencian coastline has been done so far.

The coastal department of the Ministry of the Environment has rarely taken any notice of the suffering caused by its arbitrary application of the Ley de Costas, riding roughshod over the interests of affected owners. But according to Carmen de Amo, there are small signs that the Ministry is taking a more conciliatory approach, making the situation of affected owners “more hopeful”. “It seems that the Ministry has adopted a different way to deal with this, and is looking for solutions,” says de Amo.

GMT  30/12/2008 08:49  SPAIN- (top of page)

In Good Faith or The Road to Hell is paved with good Intentions

With all the problems people are having with property in Spain, the amount of people using the defence that they bought in “good faith” is on the rise. But what does “good faith” actually mean? A little research produces the following definition:

“Good faith, or in Latin bona fide, is the mental and moral state of honesty. If you act in good faith, you believe that what you are doing is right and legal.”

GMT  22/12/2008 12:49  SPAIN- (top of page)

A new glossy magazine available on quarterly subscription has been launched. 
Entitled LIFETIMES, it is aimed squarely at Brits living in Spain, or more more precisely in Andalucia.  It looks well produced and offers many interesting articles.

The first issue (Autumn 2008) actually arrived free via the Correos a week ago.

This was presumably a marketing tactic, to get the magazine moving, as the cover or news stand price is €2.50, (which may be a bit of a strain on many, (particularly British pensioners), who are particularly hard hit by the pound / euro exchange rate just now!).

In common with many new periodicals, it contained the odd 'special offer', or 'discount voucher' to "whet the appetite" of it's target audience.

Unfortunately - one such offer by Healthspan actually expired LESS than 2 weeks after the magazine dropped through the letterbox - Ill thought out? - Particularly when using the Spanish Post Office, not withstanding the mailing's proximity to Christmas and early New Year.

PLUS - the same offer code is in their latest AD in the Winter edition of the mag!

Now I don't know about you, but MOST un-solicited stuff found in my mailbox (whether e-mail or snail-mail), goes directly to the trash bin, SO, you would think wouldn't you, that where someone has actually got a chance of their correspondence being opened and read, ANY Advertiser in there would ENSURE that any offer would have a good long life span - 

LET ALONE BE OUT OF DATE BEFORE THE MAG WAS EVEN ISSUED!

Whilst on the subject of Healthspan, (who despite their ill thought out advert timing, do incidentally, offer minimal cost delivery to Spain).  This is to be encouraged.

However, if you plan on ordering, be careful how you go about it - at the time of writing, their website, according to my Internet protection software, appears to be downloading a script containing a *Trojan virus. (search Google to find out what this is).

This, combined with a 'not particularly friendly' website leads me to say if you are desperate for any of the products they sell and cannot obtain them elsewhere, at least protect yourself by using the advertised UK phone number or postal address.

* under investigation with Trend Virus Laboratory.

GMT  22/10/2008 16:49  SPAIN- (top of page)
Telefonica appear to have have changed their charging policy.  We stated elsewhere on this news page that booking a telephone line installation via a Telefonica retail outlet cost €150, whereas, booking an installation via their website cost nothing.

It has not escaped our attention that many Telefonica shops have now hastily added hand-written window notices saying "Free line installation", or actually "Linea instalacion Libre".

Maybe people in high places do take notice eventually.

At least this way, you don't have to be either Internet or Spanish savvy, as many of the shop assistants do speak some English.

Anyway, make sure you know exactly what you are getting before you sign anything.

Also, don't agree to taking their Domo telephone! - It's an expensive option.

Buy a phone at one of the many electrical outlets or hypermarkets, and simply plug it in when your line has been installed.

GMT  22/10/2008 16:26  SPAIN- (top of page)
Vodafone have a little known service available in Spain, and judging by the way they rip off people who use it - maybe it's best to keep it that way!

Just in case you do hear of it and are tempted - here's the low-down;

They offer connection to the internet for your PC via a suitably equipped pay as you go (pre pagar) mobile phone, in order to browse and deal with emails, etc., for €1.90 a day.

Allegedly offering up to 19 megabytes of download, it looks at first glance to be reasonable value - 10¢ for a million bytes?

DON'T BE FOOLED!

We connected twice over 2 days (€1.90 a day remember) and they reduced our card balance by over €20!

According to their records we downloaded around 28 Mb in total over the two days.

We are still trying to find out how they arrived at their charges, which for the record were:

Day 1 €2.90 + €8.70 giving a total of €11.60

Day 2 €8.90 giving a GRAND total of €20.50

Total bytes used (allegedly*) 28,836 (28.1 Mb)

I say allegedly, since I think it was less than this.  BUT, even if this figure was accurate, we were supposed to get 19Mb per daily connection, or 38Mb based on connecting over 2 days!

So, in fact, we use 10Mb LESS THAN OUR ALLOWANCE!

Given the general reputation and anti-customer antics of Spanish telephone service operators, we don't expect to get anywhere with this, despite contacting and complaining in writing.

Their customer service were unable to explain why we were overcharged.  They simply said it "was a very expensive way to connect to the internet" - can't argue with that!

Our Advice? - AVOID THIS SCAM! - VODAFONE'S PROFITS WORLDWIDE ARE BILLIONS!
(not difficult to see why given their charging policies and dubious practices!)

Does anyone have a good word for ANY phone company in Spain? - let everyone know here

GMT  17/04/2008 13:26  SPAIN - (top of page)
"Looks like you could be getting your money back" - Spanish lawyers are starting to take up the cases of non-residents who paid too much Capital Gains Tax when they sold their property in Spain.

It seems that the law (recently changed), that insisted that non-resident property owners pay CG tax at a rate of 35%, as opposed to residents  rate of 15%, was illegal - well fancy that - who would have guessed?

It has been calculated, based on property sales records, that the government could owe each non-resident house vendor up to €8000 + interest.

Sounds like another issue that the Spanish can wriggle around with for a few years to us.

Watch this space.

GMT 21/03/2008 13:03 UK - (top of page)
"Don't get screwed on your UK Mobile" - Have a look at the 3 network from Hutchison Whampoa in the UK.

The 3 (three.co.uk) network have launched a pay as you go service in the UK with a number of desirable features.  

They offer a number of top-up facilities between £10 and £50 via vouchers that can be purchased at many high street stores such as Tesco, or after registration via any credit card including AMEX.

Once your account is topped up you can use this money in a variety of ways.  

You can buy straight call time, or a mixture of calls and text messages, all calls, all texts, and/or a number of additional add-ons.

In addition to calls, texts and add-ons (more later), you get automatically FREE Skype calls.

For those of you un-acquainted with Skype, it is a system of allowing FREE computer to computer voice calls via a reasonably fast internet connection (broadband preferably).

The difference with this? - you don't need a computer, AND, because it's via your cellular phone - it's fully mobile.

OK - what's the catch?

Well you need a "Skype enabled phone", which start at around £50.  If you need to make frequent calls abroad, (back to Spain, or children in the USA, like us - it soon starts to pay for itself)

If you spend more on your phone, you start to get additional features - Internet connection for your PC or laptop for instance.

I bought a Nokia 6120, which as well as offering Skype facilities, allows a broadband connection to the internet (up to 2.8 mbits/sec in most parts of the UK, and up to 750 kbits/sec in the rest, for my laptop).

Even at the slower speeds, it's still much, much faster than dial-up connections, and because it's mobile, it's more convenient.

The phone now costs around £70.  It offers lots of features available on higher quality cell phones.  It has a 2meg camera with built-in flash, video camera, bluetooth and USB connections as well as a number of 'office type' functions. 

Three now do a specific SkypePhone WITH 3.5G HSDPA.  (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access, which is good fast internet on your PC or Laptop via the mobile phone).  It's called the S2 and is available on both PAYG and contract.  It's a breeze to set up as all the PC drivers etc are actually stored in the phone itself, so NO PROBLEMS if you have a Netbook or PC without a CD or DVD drive - just plug the phone into a free USB socket and follow the instructions - foolproof!

Purchase a £10 credit voucher and as well as FREE Skype calls you can purchase a very useful add-on.

Mobile broadband - £10 gives you up to 1 Gigabyte (about 3 hours browsing a day, plus your emails). 

If you spend £15 you get 3GB, which is probably more than adequate for all but the most ardent Internet TV watcher or games player!

You can connect your computer via bluetooth if your PC is thus enabled (or you have an adapter), or via the provided USB cable, and a free USB port.

It all works under Windows, including the latest Vista. (I believe an Apple version is also available, but check before you buy)

All in all ten quid a month for a pay as you go no-contract broadband connection for anyone spending short to medium periods of time in the UK is a definite plus, never mind the FREE Skype CALLS.

Vodaphone offer a similar service in Spain.

It is via a USB modem at around £60, (which is an option available from 3).  

Unlike 3, it is not available as pay as you go, but requires signing up to an 18 month contract at around 37 euros a month!

Finally, if you travel to Italy, Austria, Hong Kong or Australia with your 3 system - you can use your top up credits in exactly the same way - with no further roaming charges.

Roaming? - Call costs are in-line with most other Pay as you go providers, BUT watch out for internet connecting which is £3 a megabyte if you use it OUTSIDE of the UK, or the areas mentioned above.

That being said, if you are like us, and spend a number of months in Spain, and in the UK, then a look here is certainly recommended.

A good idea, whilst you are in Spain, is to have a look around for a good "Cyber cafe", (most charge around a euro an hour), or even a free Wi-Fi connection, both of which, are starting to spring up all over the place.

In Antequera, for instance, the are a number of both.

I also heard that a number of local authorities are offering free broadband connections via Wi-Fi to residents.

Don't ask me - enquire at your local town hall.

GMT 26/07/2007 18.31 SPAIN - (top of page)
“Illegal Hotel” - painted on Caba de Gata hotel - GREENPEACE claim work is still going on at El Algarrobico.

Greenpeace used gallons of black paint to paint letters around 10 metres high and covering most of the front of the controversial El Algarrobico hotel.

Members of the environmental group scaled the 20-floor complex, built on land inside the protected Cabo de Gata Natural Park, and painted the words “Illegal Hotel” on its frontage.

Last May, the Junta de Andalucía regional government said steps had been taken to demolish the 411-bed hotel, built on protected land.

See more NEWS here

GMT 25/07/2007 14.38 SPAIN - (top of page)
Motril man latest in child porn crackdown

A MOTRIL man arrested as part of a police crackdown on paedophilia had 300 pornographic photos on his computer, according to police.

The man, was among 66 people detained throughout Spain during Operation Penalty.

See more NEWS here

GMT 24/07/2007 10.11 SPAIN - (top of page)
Deadly

Oleander, seen in many urbanisations, along motorway central reservations, as well as lots of private gardens in Spain, is an incredibly poisonous plant, with toxic components which can be deadly to people - especially young children. Oleandrin and neriine, which affect the heart, plus, the bark contains rosagenin, which acts in a similar way to strychnine.

The entire plant, as well as the sap is toxic. Even when dried, the leaves can still be lethal. One leaf holds enough poison to kill a small child.

Animals who mistake this plant, sweet to the taste, for food, often die within days. Clippings are particularly dangerous because of this.

See more NEWS here

GMT 02/07/2007 13.31 SPAIN - (top of page)
New Planning law came into force yesterday -  will it help reduce 'urban sprawl' in Spain as well as corrupt practices?

A new law entered the statute books un-opposed in Spain yesterday.  It is designed to 'clean up' the Spanish property industry, curb wild development and banish corruption from local administration.  It will make many contentious planning decisions, such as land re-classification from rural to urban status, more transparent by forcing local councils to identify the construction companies who benefit from these changes.  (Hope they identify the corrupt officials also?)

GMT 01/07/2007 13:56 SPAIN - (top of page)
Criticism of the Spanish Administration over "corrupt practice", and land grabbing in Valencia and Murcia.

The investigative visit to Spain by two MEP's with regard to the 'shady' practices in some provinces of snatching land from owners and 'giving' it to developers, has produced a damning report from the two (one British and one Polish MEP).

This happened after the European Parliament received a 15,000 signature petition from the affected people in Spain.  Typically, Spanish MEP's, (one from Valencia), have shrugged off the report, thinking it was a leftist plot, and saying it "undermines national competences". - Really? - what about the poor dispossessed owners of ALL nationalities?

See more NEWS here

GMT 29/06/2007 12.20 SPAIN - (top of page)
Alhaurin El Grande in Malaga province is the centre of the latest scandal on Mayoral corruption.

It looks like Mayor Francisco Escobedo is being spotlighted for his dubious, but profitable (for him?), dealings with developers - so what's new?

See more NEWS here

GMT 26/06/07 14.32 SPAIN - (top of page)
Albox, in Almeria province, is the latest area in Spain with 'building irregularity' problems.

It seems that builders were allowed to build illegal properties by bribing officials in power at the time, and now owners have been told their properties will be demolished, despite the fact they bought them in good faith and even lawyers were fooled into thinking they were legal.

see more here

GMT 13/06/2007 10:30 SPAIN - (top of page)
If you use the internet via your Telefonica line you need to read this!

It appears that not ALL local calls are equal under our prime telephone provider's rules and regulations.

It has recently come to our notice that people using dial-up modems, rather than broadband or ADSL to access their e-mail and browse the internet, could be paying almost double what they need to, depending on which ISP company they use to dial into.

For instance, most but not all numbers beginning with 901 are classed as standard local calls, rather than Internet access calls, for which the charging rate is lower.

Telefonica S.A consider only numbers starting with 908 to be Internet access numbers, and they quote the cost of these to be "0.02eurocents per minute normal time*, and 0.01eurocents per minute reduced time*, and calls to 901 numbers, which are considered to be metropolitan, can cost upto double"

This would be fine if it were consistent.

However Telefonica would not be Telefonica, if this were so.  In fact, what they appear to be doing, is trying to get users to switch to their - yes you guessed - 908 number!

For instance if you use Gonuts4free on 901929200 as your dial-up internet provider, not only will you get a fast connection, but you will pay a lot less than if you use Wanadoo on 901900109, and indeed the same as Telefonicas own 908 number!

Why do Wanadoo charge more? - well as they say, there is no such thing as free lunch.  The only way these "FREE access" dial-up connections can remain in business is by stipulating how much Telefonica should charge per connection and then per minute each time their access number is called.

They then get paid the difference between Telefonica's cost to them, and the charge to you.

It would seem obvious to us that some companies are 'greedier' than others, and unfortunately, this is not evident until you get the bill, and then only if you happen to check it closely.

So if you are using dial-up and it's not via Gonuts4free.com, then we advise to to scrutinise your Telefonica bills a little more closely - you may wish to change your provider?.

To add insult to injury however, as well as not making these differences clear, Telefonica choose not to itemise Metropolitan numbers on your bill, (unless you shell out an extra 6 euros a month for the privilege). - Dubious?

And yes, you guessed it 908 numbers (and some 901 numbers), are classed as Metropolitan numbers, which makes it very difficult to analyze your bills accurately. - 
Even more Dubious?

(Plus if bills only arrive every two to three months, these excess charges can have accrued mightily before you know it!)

Fortunately, like BT in the UK, Telefonica are now having to comply with European ruling and open their systems to competition who are taking over the local wires (and in many cases replacing them with fibre optics and internet speeds up to 20mbits a sec downline).

Unfortunately these competitors (such as Jazztel), are not viable suppliers in all areas throughout Spain.

After analysis of a recent Telefonica bill, the following companies' charges, based on similar 5 to 6+ minute duration call connections made between 12 noon and 1pm on Friday 11th May, AND after 8pm on Monday 16th May were: