Retiring to Costa Calida

Hi

Personally, having had a property there for 17 years, I wouldn’t go for Camposol as there are far too many problems there that are still to be resolved.

The area is great and convenient for travelling further afield. With your income and budget you will surely be able to find a great property in this region and on an urbanisation that isn’t beset with problems.

When you come out in September have a good look round the region including north around Los Alcazares and Torevieja (both convenient for Alicante airport) or south towards Mojacar (not so close to an airport).

Besides income things like proximity to doctors dentist hospitals (we’re all getting older!!). Public transport is also important as well as proximity to local shops and supermarkets. And if you intend to live permanently consider how easy (or not) it will be to obtain residentia post Brexit. The UK WILL rejoin the EU at some stage but that will be years down the line.

One more thing. Find a good solicitor (not easy) and don’t always believe everything you are told, especially by (some) estate agents.

Good luck!

Hi, Carol.  I'm not sure of your position but if you haven't yet explored areas in Spain, then I would do so by renting a property for the 90 day period and see how you get on.  I would probably do this a few times in different areas so you get a feel of what it is really like living in Spain.  I say this because we were ready to emigrate but have found that using our Spanish property as a holiday home suits us better and we are safe in the knowledge we still have a base in the UK.  Not that there is anything particularly bad about being in Spain for 5-ish months of the year (for us) but there are some drawbacks to consider, for example it's certainly not warm all year round and the summer months are very hot!  I know that everyone is different, but it would be awful for you to up sticks with everything and find that Spanish life isn't what you thought or want it to be.  Also, it's fun trying out different areas and may help your tax position if you sell your UK home at the 'wrong' time.  Have a great time exploring Spain x

Hi Carol.

The couple’s requirement at 4x current IPREM for a non-EU resident is 28,800 (2,400 a month) for the first applicant and 7,200 (600 a month) euros for the spouse and each dependent.  So 36,000 euros or 3,000 a month is the figure they will want to see when you go for your joint Non-Lucrative Visa (assuming 2 of you are retiring).  If you are taking kids, add another 1x IPREM for each.

You cannot work in Spain until you get permanent residency at the end of 5 years visas which only grant permission for temporary residency.

This qualification amount can be made up of passive income (investments / pensions etc, anything you do not have to work at to earn), or savings or as you are ask, a combination of both.  So if you and your partner’s combined income from pensions etc is 32,000 euros then you will need to show another 4,000 in savings for your initial visa application.

However, when you renew at the end of that first year, that new visa will be for 2 years so you will need to show 72,000 euros (or whatever 4x IPREM + 1x IPREM is at that time).  The good news is that your passive income is “persistent” so counts double (for 2 years) but your savings element will also need to double - in the example above, from 4,000 for a one-year visa to 8,000 euros when you renew if IPREM remains the same.

Same when you go to renew at the end of year 3, it is another 2 year visa.

Also, be careful when selling your property in the U.K. if you are under 65.  If you don’t time it correctly with becoming tax resident (separate from any visa residency dates, it happens automatically after spending 183 days in Spain in a single year) you can fall subject to Capital Gains Tax in Spain right back to the start of the Spanish tax year.  The Spanish tax year starts Jan 1st.

So, for example if you sold your U.K. property on Jan 2nd 2025 and became tax resident in Spain in December 2025 by virtue of being in the country for 183 days or more in 2025, they can hit you for CGT even though you were not Spanish tax resident at the time of the U.K. sale… because the sale / gain happened in the same Spanish “tax year” you became tax resident.  If you sold it on December 31st 2024 and became tax resident in Spain in July 2025, they can’t touch you.  The magic escape happens if you spend less than 183 days in Spain in the same year you sell your house - that is ANY time spent in Spain, including any holiday time in Spanish mainland or other territories like the Canaries and Balearics.

Have a look at the YouTube channel or websites for UpSticks or YouTooSpain which has a broader scope of content than just visas.  There is a wealth of information on there about non-lucrative visas and qualification, process etc.

Camposol… I personally feel its reputation is not true all over the urbanisation.  I haven’t been there long but it is a perfect base for us to explore the wider region and all it has to offer.  Good facilities and the council are at last officially getting serious about taking responsibility for being “the developer” now after years of problems.  We paid about the same as you are looking to for a 3 bed 3 bath villa on a large plot with a larger than average pool.  Other properties around it are well kept and solid.

But you have to see it for yourself and spend a bit of time there.  Day 1 my wife hated the place and wanted to view villas elsewhere, day 3 she fell in love with a street and a villa which we ended up buying.

Just one point to add to this.

Remember, you don't have to spend all this money, so if you live happily on, for example, €2,000 per month for the two of you and don't touch your savings (or even add to them), then you can use that money again as part of your renewals.

One point: be as certain as you can be that the property and its location are right for you. Property prices in Spain may be low, but they rarely go up, so if you decide you need to move you will have all the costs of selling, with high estate agent commissions, taxes and fees as well as the value of the house more likely to have gone down than up, with too many immigrants buying as cheaply as they can thus keeping prices down . Something simple like a bad neighbour that spoils your life can push you towards having to move, so advice is to rent in the area you choose, talk to prospective neighbours and just see what you think after some months.

If you haven't already started learning basic Spanish get onto it now, as it will ease your life in Spain considerably.

I agree that it would be best to rent first before you buy. As one person pointed out, you need to be sure before committing yourselves. Although we like our property and road, we have some annoying neighbours (non stop shouting, chain smoking, incessant dogs barking etc).

I was interested to read the advice about CGT if under 65. I thought the rules about CGT on property sales applied regardless of age. Is it true that if you are over 65 you don’t need to worry about CGT on a UK house sale? What happens if the house is jointly owned and one person is over 65, but the other just under 65?

I wish you better luck than my wife and I. We planned our retirement to a tee; bought our perfect place in January 2022, and enjoyed a few trips throughout the year... wonderful. 

February 2023 my wife was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer.

March 2nd 2024, I retired. 

March 19th 2024, my wife was told to expect no more than 2 months on this Earth.

Devastated beyond words of course, but the reason for this post is to tell you how glad I am that we didn't sell our home in England (our original plan), nor did we push ahead with residencia. My future is now very bleak, but would be so much worse if I was 'stuck in Spain', rather than being simply 'stuck with a Spanish house'.

Rent for a while, would definitely be my advice... Best wishes. 

Don't restrict your research to Murcia. There are other areas of Spain with much more economic activity and thus infrastructure. Up in the North there is wonderful scenery (as there is down in Andalucia) and less extremes in weather.

A factor with Murcia is that it seems unable to decide if it is agricultural (flat lands full of produce growing) or touristic, so not cater well to either.

Cheap housing attracts poor people - think of Durham in the UK where houses can be bought for very little, but some areas are riddled with antisocial or criminal behaviour.