Holiday home overseas

[Marygold78]

We are considering purchasing a holiday home overseas, 2 ours flight, somewhere sunny and near the sea to go for long weekends and holidays; escape the hustle and bustle of London; we both have busy and demanding jobs.

I am looking for advice for people who have holidays home; what things do we need to consider? Is it a drain on your finances or do you make money from holiday rentals? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

The biggest thing my relative has learned is that you aren't the only one doing this and Facebook and WhatsApp groups are incredibly helpful. If you pick somewhere popular, plenty of Brits will already have had to do everything you need to do and be able to recommend people the same as in the UK.

By asking around, they have an English speaking solicitor who deals with all their taxes and with whom they have a will. When one half of the couple passed away, the solicitor could hand hold them through the process.

We have a holiday home - three hours drive away so in theory easy enough to go thereand no issue with flights, car rentals etc.
And we do and we love it but as the kids get older they are refusing to go as they want to be with their friends at home and most times we go we find ourselves doing diy / cleaning /fixing etc. We do rent it out which means we just about cover the costs for outgoings (we own outright so no mortgage).
The idea was much nicer than the reality.
So unless I was actually living there for significant amounts of time I would not recommend

Thank you for all the responses; lots of things to consider. All I know is that I don’t want to live in England all my live; I am tired of the English weather, grey skies and wearing a jacket for 8 months a year. I am trying to wait on and keep positive until the kids finish secondary school but I think I have been ready to move on for at least 5 years so I think a holiday home may be a solution for the time being.

Hi, I promised I'd come back to you on this, sorry for the delay. I've now got some information from my DH.

The important thing to remember is that the relevant rules that apply are those for third country nationals travelling with or to join an EU spouse.

The EU passed law L158 on April 30th 2004, and each country then passed their own law to adopt it.

For example, the EU law was passed into Spanish law by Royal Decree 240/2007 of February 16th 2007.

The EU law applies in conjunction with the Practical Handbook for Border Guards C(2019) 7131 of October 8th 2019 , revised 28.10.2022 [C (2022) 7591 Final) and issued to all member countries.

Section 2.1.2 of the Handbook is very helpful and sets out the rules and provides examples, the first of which is relevant.

See page 22 of this link. https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2022-11/Practical%20handbook%20for%20border%20guards_en.pdf

You are still limited to 90 days at any one time in a Schengen country, but you are then free to move on to another Schengen zone country for up to 90 days and so on. Alternatively you could leave the Schengen zone for eg 24 hours and then return. The limitation of 180 days does not apply to EU spouses and family members.

Remember you must be travelling with, or going to meet your EU family member. When you are not, the normal 90/180 days rules apply.

If in doubt, please make your own enquiries in relation to your particular circumstances.

This is true. However it's the most expensive part of Spain so that needs consideration

Also you probably need a tourist license so not automatically allowed to rent it out of this is something you would like to do

Sorry @Andywarholswig , above should read page 21 of the EU link

Oh, for an edit button!

Thankyou so much this is exactly what I wanted! You are a star!!

You are very welcome. 😊