Interest in Spain Increases

 

Spain's British Expat community has grown from a registered 274,000 in 2005, to almost 1 Million by 2009, according to the British Embassy, based one those who lived at least part of the year in Spain.

However the statistics can be misleading as it was remarked that many British home owners choose to remain officially resident in the UK for tax or pension purposes, so as far as the British authorities are concerned, they never actually left.

Earlier this year the British Ambassador to Spain, Giles Paxman, told Radio 4 that well over 800,000 British people are officially resident in Spain. Given that since 2005 the number of British expats living in Spain has almost tripled, it should come as no surprise that the number of complaints regarding illegal property issues has increased at a similar rate.

With an increase of 11% in the total number of British visitors to Spain between January and May this year, figures show that Spain has welcomed around 19 million tourists - a 7% increase on the same period last year. It is many of these British visitors who go on to buy a property.

Earlier this week Her Majesty's Treasury announced plans to review the UK's residency laws with regards to what does and does not constitute a UK resident - mainly for tax purposes. The move is partly intended to make it easier for non-UK residents to invest their savings in British Banks and to encourage the economy of the UK. The plans are currently at the consultation stage but, if approved, should be applied by April 2012.