UK/Spanish house swap?

[jojo]

How easy/difficult would this be??? We're renting in Spain at the mo. We have a house in the UK and we have some friends selling their house in Spain to go back to the UK, they like the look of our UK house and we like their spanish house. They're both of similar value - give or take cos of the exchange rate. Although I have no intention of doing anything illegal, should we decide to do this, is there any way we could all pay less stamp duty, spanish gains tax, etc etc...! The Spanish house is mortgage free and has all the correct paper work, the UK house has a mortgage which we will need to transfer

Any thoughts????

Jo

[Stravinsky]

Originally Posted by jojo

How easy/difficult would this be??? We're renting in Spain at the mo. We have a house in the UK and we have some friends selling their house in Spain to go back to the UK, they like the look of our UK house and we like their spanish house. They're both of similar value - give or take cos of the exchange rate. Although I have no intention of doing anything illegal, should we decide to do this, is there any way we could all pay less stamp duty, spanish gains tax, etc etc...! The Spanish house is mortgage free and has all the correct paper work, the UK house has a mortgage which we will need to transfer

Any thoughts????

Jo

You'll need to re register the Spanish House, and you'll need to pay capital gains tax on it. I think you'll have to treat the two totally separately

[Big Pete]

Originally Posted by Stravinsky

You'll need to re register the Spanish House, and you'll need to pay capital gains tax on it. I think you'll have to treat the two totally separately

Just a thought to overcome capital gains taxation

If the 2 are both written well down in value like say if there worth 200k now then call them both 125k

No Capital gains tax at all .. just an idea ..

[jojo]

Originally Posted by Big Pete

Just a thought to overcome capital gains taxation

If the 2 are both written well down in value like say if there worth 200k now then call them both 125k

No Capital gains tax at all .. just an idea ..

Now thats a possibility, although we're gonna have to move the mortgage over and that may make the property in Spain less attractive to the mortgage lender maybe?? - plus, if we want to sell in the future, we'd have an even bigger capital gains tax to pay (...... assuming the property does gain??????) However, that would also solve the stamp duty problem at the english end. Hhhhhmm!??!!! I dont mind bending the rules a little, but I dont want to do anything illegal

If we do this, I think we'll need some very "clued up" lawyers both ends. any reccomendations????


Also, am I right in thinking that it isnt the norm to have a surveyor look over Spanish properties as is done in the UK??

Jo

[Stravinsky]

Originally Posted by jojo

Now thats a possibility, although we're gonna have to move the mortgage over and that may make the property in Spain less attractive to the mortgage lender maybe?? - plus, if we want to sell in the future, we'd have an even bigger capital gains tax to pay (...... assuming the property does gain??????) However, that would also solve the stamp duty problem at the english end. Hhhhhmm!??!!! I dont mind bending the rules a little, but I dont want to do anything illegal

If we do this, I think we'll need some very "clued up" lawyers both ends. any reccomendations????


Also, am I right in thinking that it isnt the norm to have a surveyor look over Spanish properties as is done in the UK??

Jo

I may be wrong, but I think that you might find questions would be asked on the property value in Spain. They are in to finding black money payments at the moment ..... anyway i thought you didn't want to do anything illegal

[Big Pete]

Originally Posted by jojo

Now thats a possibility, although we're gonna have to move the mortgage over and that may make the property in Spain less attractive to the mortgage lender maybe?? - plus, if we want to sell in the future, we'd have an even bigger capital gains tax to pay (...... assuming the property does gain??????) However, that would also solve the stamp duty problem at the english end. Hhhhhmm!??!!! I dont mind bending the rules a little, but I dont want to do anything illegal

If we do this, I think we'll need some very "clued up" lawyers both ends. any reccomendations????


Also, am I right in thinking that it isnt the norm to have a surveyor look over Spanish properties as is done in the UK??

Jo

Yep could have a problem when you sell it with Cap Gains good point hmmmmm
I dont think its illegal its your property sell it for what you like . specially at the moment it will be ok to be lower as the current market , is iffy isnt it ..

Yep surveyors will look to ensure mortgage is covered but they dont really give a stuff being honest, as long as there moneys covered ..


I shall put me thinking cap on it for you Jo and if i can think of solution will advise

[Stravinsky]

What you have to appreciate Pete is that the Spanish authorities don't care about the UK part of the transaction, it means nothing to them. They will be interested in the documentary values of the property. Every house has a documented value, and this will be noted at the time of sale.

The whole thing about black money means that many houses seemed to be under declared in value to save taxes, and thats why this will look iffy to them as they have been trying to clamp down on it.

[Big Pete]

Originally Posted by Stravinsky

What you have to appreciate Pete is that the Spanish authorities don't care about the UK part of the transaction, it means nothing to them. They will be interested in the documentary values of the property. Every house has a documented value, and this will be noted at the time of sale.

The whole thing about black money means that many houses seemed to be under declared in value to save taxes, and thats why this will look iffy to them as they have been trying to clamp down on it.

yep i know what you mean , it was all to common a while ago this black money thingy , and i know they are hot on stopping that . yep thinking cap job for sure ,

Think you could get away with a small drop due to the market decline at the moment , without alarm bells ringing though.

i shall sleep on it , well not on it literaly, but will give it some thought before i go of to Petes World in me sleep

[jojo]

thanks guys, I appreciate your time and knowledge, its all way above my head at the mo, but I'm learning! All I know is that our house in the UK is dropping in value, the house in Spain is dropping in value and the exchange rate is "pants"!!

When we first decided to move to Spain last September, we put our UK house on the market and looked in Spain at houses of roughly the same kinda value. The UK house wouldnt sell eventhough we dropped it significantly and we're now seeing the same properties we were looking at to buy in September still on the market and they are at least 50,000 - 100,000+ euros cheaper!!

If we were to sell our UK house on the open market, it would take months to sell and I'm not sure we'd get a good deal as the market seems to be in mid crash The same seems to be the case in Spain. These friends have had their property on the market since September too, they've reduce the price and are now getting desperate (they have family issues in the UK). Anyway, my point is that I'm not sure anyone knows how to decide what the true value of either property is right now!?! I think I'm safe in saying that niether property is gonna go up!

[Big Pete]

Originally Posted by jojo

thanks guys, I appreciate your time and knowledge, its all way above my head at the mo, but I'm learning! All I know is that our house in the UK is dropping in value, the house in Spain is dropping in value and the exchange rate is "pants"!!

When we first decided to move to Spain last September, we put our UK house on the market and looked in Spain at houses of roughly the same kinda value. The UK house wouldnt sell eventhough we dropped it significantly and we're now seeing the same properties we were looking at to buy in September still on the market and they are at least 50,000 - 100,000+ euros cheaper!!

If we were to sell our UK house on the open market, it would take months to sell and I'm not sure we'd get a good deal as the market seems to be in mid crash The same seems to be the case in Spain. These friends have had their property on the market since September too, they've reduce the price and are now getting desperate (they have family issues in the UK). Anyway, my point is that I'm not sure anyone knows how to decide what the true value of either property is right now!?! I think I'm safe in saying that niether property is gonna go up!

jojo you are right and i think that doing a deal together is superb for you , NO agents fees etc etc , 1 good solicitor to do the whole thing = half the costs . NO chains and hassles .

all in all a spot on situation , i would go with it , if your happy with the place then you have it cracked . i would lower the valuations slightly for transaction purposes and go ahead .

My opinion anyway

ps; dont use todays Euro as the set rate , thats unfair on you go for a average say 1.42 ish ..