Working from Spain - good idea?

[MrMark]

According to the Br expats site, there are plenty of longer-term lets going for 450+ a month, so long as you look around. Someone who's had a year with no earnings will snap your hand off if you offer 5k for 10 or 11 months, surely? Important thing is to get a place with fast internet coverage - towns and cities are good, but if you opt for a place in the sticks, beware.
Also, most people on that forum state that if you live/work more than 6 months you are liable to pay Spanish tax - but a good accountant can offset it against the tax paid in Blighty. To be honest, if you register as non-resident ie holidaymaker, and invoice, provide work in the UK, who's to know?
Property search engines - Idealista and Kyero are the ones to seek out

[PAH]

While researching this idea (working via the internet in a nice private villa with pool in Spain) I think a couple of issues I uncovered were:

1. The best rental deals (e.g. 4 bed 2 bathroom private villa with pool for around £500/month) are for 12 month initial term, but these agreements give you much better protection than typical UK agreement. Stuff like the landlord can only increase rent in line with inflation, and you can automatically renew for 3 or 5 years after the 12 months. The downside being that I think you need to provide an NIE number, which puts you on the authorities radar as being there long term so all the tax implications may apply.

2. If you take your UK registered car over you can only use it for 6 months before you have to get it naturalised in Spain at significant cost. So probably better buying one out there if you need wheels, plus it will have the steering wheel on the left.

3. Many expat areas are turning into ghost towns through over building or retired expats returning to the UK due to the poor exchange rate and poor interest rate on their savings, or working expats returning due to the lack of work opportunities in Spain now there's lots of unemployment out there. Not a problem if you want to embrace the Spanish culture, learn the language, and rent away from the typically grotty expat areas.

It's still my fallback plan but it does need careful research if going for more than a few months at a time.

[cykophysh39]

I'm impressed that you're able to get "work from home" jobs like that!

[pedroPM]

me too

I'm impressed that you're able to get "work from home" jobs like that!

Could the OP give a clue as to what line of work they're in? It sounds quite appealing...

I'm a PM based in Madrid. Not contracting at present (I was back in the UK), I'm working for an outsourcing co posted at a big bank. I'm a big believer in being able to work from home, if the role suits, but unfortunately the concept is not very common here. So even though most of my dealings are with people in the rest of europe or india I need to spend two hrs of my life every day coming to/from an office

Oh well I'll continue my campaign to change the spanish working culture...with one eye looking out for cushy numbers like that of the OP!

[Hercule]

from experience.... as intriguing as it may sound there's a couple of things people might not be aware of. All these places in Spain / Mediterranean which are so lively and nice in summer may look totally different comes end of October. Shops and bars close. Streets empty. And a winter in Spain can be much colder then most people anticipate, with the humid air and houses not being properly insulated. You may end up spending the days shivering in front of the screen ... brrrrr
And the summers... i think its too hot there to really perform any serious work. Even with A/C and access to a pool it's really hard to work when it's hot outside.
As always.... YMMV