'Place in the Sun' ban will stop UK citizens moving to Spain
New Spanish rules will effectively ban British expats from moving to the country, experts say. While the hundreds of thousands of UK citizens who have moved to Spain for a life in the sun won't be hit, the move will stop anyone new moving out there.
Around 280,000 UK citizens currently live in Spain - a drop from 314,000 in 2013. Buying a property in Spain is a dream seen on TV shows like A Place in the Sun.
But now the country's prime minister Pedro Sánchez, is planning a 100% tax on properties in Spain bought by non-residents from outside the EU. He said he could even ban sales altogether.
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It comes after Spain scrapped the 'golden visa' scheme, which granted even non-EU citizens a right to live in Spain if they invested £420,000 in the country, through buying property or other means. That rule ends on April 3.
Spain is currently in a severe housing crisis and is fighting overtourism, so the new rules are, in part, designed to discourage people from flocking to the country and strain local services.
At one point, UK citizens made up 43% of foreign property buyers in Spain. Even after Brexit that number is 8.5%.
Mark Stücklin, founder of the website Spanish Property Insight, told The Telegraph: "Foreign buyers are a very small group. If they were all buying in Madrid or Barcelona then there might be a problem, but they’re spread out across the country. Most are buying villas on the costas. They’re not on the whole competing for residential property in major cities where there’s a severe housing shortage.”
Mohammad Butt, of estate agent Lucas Fox, said: “We don’t even know what a 100pc tax means. Will it be that you pay a million in tax on a one million-euro property, or does it mean a doubling of the current 10pc rate?”