Essential extra tasks once you?ve bought your Spanish home

Celebrating is fine once you’ve found and bought your perfect home, signed your title deeds, settled taxes and fees and collected the keys to your new life, but it doesn’t quite end there!

You’re perfectly entitled to break out a bottle of Spanish champagne once you’ve finalised everything to do with purchasing your dream Spanish home, but you’ve a few more bureaucratic hurdles to jump before you can relax in the sun. Your Spanish lawyer hasn’t finished his work either, as he’ll need to transfer your electricity, water and gas supplies and bills from the previous owner’s name into yours. Direct debits will need to be set up, and your lawyer will register your ownership of the property at the local town hall, thus setting you up for council tax bills. If your new home is in a shared maintenance fee complex or resort, a copy of your deeds needs to be forwarded to the owners’ committee.

All property owners, whether expats or nationals, must file an annual tax return, whether or not they are claiming tax residency. The forms are due by the end of December, even if you don’t make any money from your home by letting it out, and a small amount of what’s known as imputed income tax has to be paid. Your lawyer should be able to help you with this. To get buildings and contents insurance, you can either go straight to a Spanish insurer or use a UK-based company which deals with second home owners and expats. Your cover should start immediately you’ve made your first payment,

Changing your locks and installing an alarm system is recommended, especially in major tourist towns, as you never know whether your keys are the only ones issued. Alarms are essential for second homeowners, and highly recommended for everyone else, with your estate agent able to point you in the right direction to a reliable supplier and installer. Getting online can be tricky as you’ll need to arrange this yourself, although your estate agent should be able to suggest reliable internet service providers. The process takes between one and four weeks, depending on the time of year. It’s the same with satellite TV, with your estate agent again able to recommend an installer.