British homeowners in Spain can still apply for a Golden Visa and potentially avoid needing a fresh €500,000 – this is how

British homeowners in Spain can still apply for a Golden Visa and potentially avoid needing a fresh €500,000 – this is how

SPANISH prime minister Pedro Sanchez recently announced his intention to cancel the Golden Visa scheme.  The Socialist PSOE leader said the move would stop speculation of the property market. The programme grants any foreigner residency if they buy a home worth €500,000 or more.  The law was approved in 2012 in the middle of a recession following the real estate crash in 2010. Its main aim was to reactivate the Spanish property market and attract foreign investors to buy all the real estate portfolio left with the banks, especially in those days when prices were extremely low and economies were suffering across the EU. During its first years, the main […]

Do you have a mortgage in Spain? Take our two-minute test to see if you’re owed money by your lender

Do you have a mortgage in Spain? Take our two-minute test to see if you’re owed money by your lender

Forget the coronavirus… there is something almost as bad for many homeowners in Spain. Let’s call it the BANKING PANDEMIA, or the Floor Clause illness, also known as the ‘Clausula Suelo’ or ‘Suelo Hipotecario’. This was simply a clause that was inserted into variable rate mortgage agreements in Spain during the last 20 years that affects the interest rate payable on the mortgage. And it means that mortgage holders are being conned and do not benefit from the fall in the EURIBOR as there will be a minimum rate of interest payable on the mortgage (this floor, also known as a ‘suelo’ is often 3- 4% depending on the bank). […]

Door opened for a million mortgages in Spain on ‘abusive’ IRPH rate to be cancelled

Door opened for a million mortgages in Spain on ‘abusive’ IRPH rate to be cancelled

One of the top legal advisers in the European Union has said that about one million mortgages sold in Spain on a different type of rate to the standard Euribor can be subject to judicial review. The rate being questioned is known as the IRPH (mortgage loan reference index) and is an alternative offered to customers of banks when buying their property. It is a national average of the cost of mortgages over a period up to three years, meaning it is less variable than the standard Euribor. However, homeowners complain that while Euribor rates plummeted in recent years, the different way of calculating IRPH keeps their loans higher. Many […]