Retirees who spend 6 months in one country and 6 months in the other, what do they do with their homes?

[pollyinyourpocket]

Do they have a home in each country and leave it empty for 6 months of each year? Or have I got this totally wrong?

We plan to do this, although it will be probably more like 8 months in Spain and 4 here
The one in Spain will be in a non tourist area and will be our main home but we will have a holiday let here and make use of it when we want to be in The UK.

I used to know someone who did this - they left their home with everything in/car in garage, etc for 6 months but their insurance was through the roof!

Is it possible to do this anymore with new regulations 90/180 day rule in the Schengen area? My in laws have a second home in Europe and would do up to about 3 months at a time (pre covid etc) before coming home to dodge huge insurance.

We will probably also register with a home stay agency and spend some time in other places too.
For the first time in 30 years we will have no dc or animals to plan for so as long as we are well enough to do it then we will. We lan to have no ties at all

I know someone who does this but with 3 homes in 3 countries. 2 they rent out sometimes but not always. Family are also invited to use their houses when they're not there. One is their main home but they probably don't spend much longer than 2/3 months in any of them before they travel to one of the other ones. So they might be empty for 6 months of the year but not all in one go. And they usually have cleaners/gardeners going in year round too.

@Hoppinggreen Where will you go?

I love this idea; but the Shengen 90/180 rules seem to have made it largely impossible

@Hoppinggreen Oh I’ve just seen you said Spain. So you’ll get the visa?

I’ve been debating it… we’ve even had the visa meeting. It seems so much more complex now, though. Declaring all U.K. income in Spain, trading in driving license, etc.

DH has British/German nationality so if we go via Germany for a bit I can get it too.
Plus we have a business so there are ways of getting around the visa issue with that.
We won’t be doing this for 10 years so we will have to see what the situation is then but if it’s the same as now we can do it

We’re a family of expats and a few family members live this way.

You need to buy correctly in the first place to minimise maintenance. A purpose-built upper floor flat in a concierge building is best. Otherwise a flat in a building with some permanent residents able to keep you informed of any maintenance required. Somewhere with communal gardens and pools only, as outside spaces are a nightmare to keep up and the first sign of neglect invites crime.

You can use professional house-sitters or trustworthy friends and relations who can be persuaded to use the property for overnight stays to get around insurance exclusions. Many of our family holidays have been courtesy of our relations.

One property would be impossibly expensive to insure and my family member gets round it by leaving it empty of absolutely everything. The entire contents go into storage and all the doors including internal doors and windows are locked and shuttered when she goes to her second home. Then it’s all brought out again the following year.

It’s all quite complicated and that’s before you have thought about visas and taxes. I suppose family and friendship ties prevent living more simply. I am baffled by people who WANT to live this way.

I know someone who lives in a static caravan on a caravan park in the UK for some of the year and an apartment in Spain the other part. Not sure how it works out financially

I know who people who this, and yes, they pretty much lock up and go! Their 2nd home is mainland Europe so they tend to drive over when they first go and maybe fly back once or twice (often depends on family commitments) while they're staying over there. Since they'd lived like this they've had homes in the UK that are close to neighbours who can keep an eye on the place and family tend to go for weekends away.