18 Sep 2021 22:44:

That sounds bizarre, Micky.....what if someone only want to rent for a year or two years? as is quite normal. Do you say he has to rent for 5 or 7 years like it or not? I'd like to hear Maria's take on this.

Thread: ending a rental contract early

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16 Sep 2021 22:19:

I have an intelligent Spanish guru who explained that Spain has lots of strict laws that if strictly enforced would be a recipe for paralysis....so a lot of latitude is given, which is why tax evasion is a national pastime. He said that the Catholic church exemplifies....and was probably responsible for this attitude. Very strict rules that Catholics must follow, but if you break these rules.....go to confession....and start all over again..

Thread: Blocking a rental license

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19 Jun 2021 09:52:

We bought a 3 ha finca with a casa apero (smallholders shed to keep tools, plough, etc) in La Vera, Extremadura in 2008.. We got permission to "repair" the tiny 25 sq m property, lifted the roof a metre and added another floor, built an extensive tile-roofed porch  (to dry pimientos, lol).....and got electricity connected.  We turned it into quite a neat little cottage. We had a lot of support from neighbours, builders, lawyer and even the notary was on our side. It is a very Spanish area, no Brits around. After a couple of years we managed to get it registered as a house. So it can be done, but you need to be very patient and not have money worries as it's a gamble. We would not have done it if we knew what was involved but in those heady days  the owner of the property said (so to speak) "yeah, do it up, move in, get it regularised,,,,piece of cake"......and we took this at face value. It was definitely not a piece of cake...but all's welll that ends well.

Thread: Rustic property in La Marina village, Alicante

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25 May 2021 19:14:

My wife does half an hour a day with Duolingo....she's become fairly fluent.

Thread: What is the best way of learning Spanish at home?

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21 May 2021 22:06:

I had a South African friend wanting to visit in 2019. We went the fOrmal route, umpteen visits to Guarda Civil with our official invitation, offer of accommodation, etc and got nowhere, we had to provide tax returns, deeds to our property, proof of our own financial viability, on and on and on...it wasn't that we couldn't comply, but we lost interest as it was so much schlep. We told our chum to sort it out himself in Cape Town just as if he was a tourist with no friends in Spain.

He went to the Spanish consulate and was interviewed by a friendly Spaniard who didn't want to see his "invitation" from us, nor his booking.com hotel bookings, nor his bank statements....just looked him up and down and gave him a three months Schengen visa and wished him a happy stay in Spain.

Moral of the story is not to get your knickers in a twist.

Thread: Fake news...hope so

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