To store or not to store?

Hi James

The key decision is really whether you have furniture etc that is of high value, or to which you are sentimentally attached?

Removal costs for a full house of furniture, etc to Spain will be around £3,000 - £5,000, which could probably fully equip your new property with new furniture - and it may feel nice to be able to move country and totally restyle / refresh your furniture. Plus, the style of the property you choose here (and I appreciate that you would only be renting initially) may not suit the furniture which suits your property in the UK. Obviously, if you sold most of your big furniture, you would pay a lot less for a part-load removal.

We already owned our property here, so had already bought a fair amount of furniture before we moved permanently; but we also had fairly expensive furniture that we liked and would also suit our new property here, so we sold beds, etc. in the UK and the money we received pretty much covered the costs of our move (although we moved ourselves with a one-way van hire, which may not be everyone's choice).

Not sure this answers your question, but hope it helps your thought process!

Unless it is very special to you, forget the big stuff. Perhaps bring your bed if it is very comfortable because the mattresses out here are not the best. To bring over our personal and small items cost us around £1500 wrapped, packed, customs cleared and delivered.

Think about this another way. Rent a furnished apartment in Spain long term that has equipment to your liking and then if you decide to stay, keep renting long term and buy a new settee or whatever you fancy, because they are relatively cheap to rent and you keep your place (and money) in the UK. If you wanted to sell a property in Spain you will probably end up losing anyway as they don't move very fast AND you will pay around 14% on top of the purchase price in legal fees/taxes etc. You will not re-coup this if you sell one day because you'll be paying another 14% on the selling price in commission/taxes/fees To sum up, if you bought a place for (say) Euro 100,000 it will actually cost you Euro 114,000 and to break even you would need to sell at Euro 129,960 which is HIGHLY unlikely.

James,

Suggest you get proper advice from a Tax Advisor/Accountant in relation to your suggested proposal for your UK home.

If you are resident in Spain for tax purposes you may be taxed on the sale proceeds of the UK property! You may need to structure your time in Spain if possible to avoid this otherwise you need to decide to pay the tax or sell now!!

Hi, thanks for the reply and advice.

I have thought of every possible solution, put my stuff in storage, sell my stuff ( obviously keep personal belongings) ship it across to Spain….which brings me to a quote a recently got from a removal company ..£ 500 for 3sqm and £120 admin fee. I worked out what I could get in 3sqm and I couldn’t get my clothes in. Can I ask what you managed to ship for £1500 and if you feel it was value for money ?

As I don’t know If this plan will work out I have set myself two years and if I don’t feel it’s working I’ll just return to my property in the UK and carry on as before. I just don’t want have to start from scratch should that happen. It’s a dilemma.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond 

Jb

Hi again. Firstly removal companies deal in cubic metres (cbm) and not square metres. A cubic metre is therefore a "block" and not just a square laid out on the floor. If you have seen the larger packing boxes the companies use, there are roughly 4 of these to a cbm. In your case 3cbm would be the same as 12 cartons, which should be more than enough to pack your clothes.

We brought over a 43" TV, 3 large pictures and 15 boxes, 2 suitcases, a dressing table stool and a large wall mirror....... No large items !!

What is the admin fee for ?

Regards

The admin fee is aperantly for customs ?

JB

That suggests that they are using a 3rd party to do the clearance. Most "first class" removers would do it "in house" and include it in their removal fee.

Whereabouts in the UK are the goods for moving and I maybe able to recommend a company. 

I have mentioned this because you don't want to end up with the removal company "passing the buck" if anything goes wrong and your goods are delayed.

Regards

I live in lancashire and planning on moving to the Murcia area

JB  

Can I suggest you phone Britannia Movers International and St.Georges European and tell them you have 4 cubic metres to be packed and shipped and would like a price.