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Whether you are easing yourself into retirement in sunny Spain or gagging to get out there and do business, there’s a book to help you do it.
Its official, we love Spain more than France. Last year for the first time, the number of visits by UK residents to Spain, including the Canary Islands, exceeded those to France. And we don’t just go to Spain on holiday. We buy properties, whether as investment or sun-drenched bolt-holes and we set up businesses. Or we retire there. Whatever we are doing in Spain, one thing is for sure; the publishing industry is keeping up with our ever increasing status as a nation of Hispanophiles.
There is now a mini industry of books promising to guide you through the maze of relocation, investment or legal dealings win Spain. We take a look at four just on the market.
Tom Provan’s “Gone to Spain” with its subtitle “you too can realise your dream of a better lifestyle” probably wins the prize for plain speaking. The author upped sticks for the Costa del Sol after a long and successful career in marketing and PR but writes with an honesty and directness not always evident in the works of mailshots and spin. Provan does not pretend to have written an encyclopaedia detailing every issue that anyone moving to Spain will face, but a rather more down to earth book, the kind that seeks to empathise with its readers.
As such the book – published by howtobooks is not strong on legal issues, nor does it contain a glossary of Spanish terms but it does cover practical and rarely visited topics such as removal and gardening. Provan also helpfully draws attention to the dangers of buying property off plan (i.e. on the basis of architects drawings) and stresses that legal advice should always be sought. It is difficult not to be enthused by his book again because of its honesty. “Possibly for the first time in years, we are really happy, stress is a distant memory. With just a bit more than the minimum amount of money to cover utility bills, clothes and food we can and do live very well. We reflect often on how wise our decision was to move to Spain”
From the sounds of his books, “Retiring to Spain”, journalist Cyril Holbrook’s similarly pleased with his decision. Holbrook moved to Spain wit his wife and son in 1986 and seems barely to have looked back. Indeed far from retiring, he seems so busy with a number of ventures that he could be accused of disqualifying himself from being able to write about retirement. But nevertheless, he has written a smart and succinct guide, published by Age Concern packed with anecdotes to put flesh of the bones of his stories.
As Holbrook says “around 700,000 Britons have already settled in Spain but it is vital that people have accurate information to make the life changing move successfully. Unfortunately many people use the little the have learned on holiday s the basis for their move to Spain as a full time resident”
Holbrook’s book provides that little bit of extra information without which a move simple cannot be contemplated. It covers a myriad of issues from security, town halls, and taxes and pets to motoring, health care and whisper it quietly – going home. For some the idyll doesn’t work out but armed with Holbrook’s books anyone thinking of returning to Spain has as good guide to the pros and cons as any.
A much more technical read is “Starting a business in Spain” by Guy Hobbs and published by Vacation Work. The United States and the UK are among the largest overseas investors in Spain and many leading American and UK companies operate in Spain either through subsidiaries or in joint ventures with Spanish partners. In a world of email and mobile commerce, for many business people location is no longer relevant. All that matters is being able to communicate.
Hobb’s book looks at both large investment opportunities – the outright purchase of a business in Spain to run it as a going concern or the creation of a business in various diverse sectors – as well as working on self-employed or cuenta propia basis. There is a mine of vital information in his book, which covers everything from tax, pensions and employing staff to the joys of Spanish red-tape, marketing and selling on your business. There is also a very useful glossary of business terms, including the words: estudio de Mercado (market research). The publishers and Guy Hobbs clearly did their, for this is a well-researched, carefully put together book which has a bigger potential readership than one might first expect.
David Searl, a legal writer broadcaster and researcher in Spain for more than 20 years has updated his “You and the law in Spain”, published by Santana Books. This is the 15th edition of a very fine book which ably sets out the intricacies of the Spanish legal system. The book is a vital accompaniment to any serious thought about a move to Spain, covering every aspect of Spanish law affecting foreigners.
The new edition explains recent changes to the law, for example, a new inheritance tax break in Andalucia that makes individuals who inherit up to 125,000 euros exempt from tax as well as the 2004 traffic code that cracks down on drunken driving and requires drivers to carry reflective vests which they must wear when they get out of a stopped or damaged car on a highway. Searl’s book continues to deserve its tag from The Times as “The bible for foreigners in Spain”
Searl is in good company: each book has its strengths, and all are useful additions to a market that seems set to keep growing, as much as we Brits are destined to continue our love affair with Spain.
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