Healthy medical prospect and without contribution

Q: I HAVE seen newspaper articles about obtaining access to the Spanish Social Security health service either by paying a modest monthly or yearly fee, or simply applying if from a country that has agreements with Spain. I am interested in this possibility because my ill health has forced me to retire...

Must you carry ID when driving a car

Q. Can you clear up the issue of what documents you must carry with you in your car and produce when required by the Guardia Civil? I have read that a driver in the Valencia region was stopped by the Guardia Civil and received a multa (fine) for not having his UK Passport and his Spanish Certificate of...

Tax questions need professional advice

What are my tax allowances here? Q. I have not really given much thought to Spanish taxes until now. Can you answer one question? How much could a married man – self-employed and sole breadwinner in the family – earn last year before being liable for Spanish income tax? R.A. (Costa del Sol) What are my...

Employer cuts wages without notification

Q. I have looked in the latest edition of You & the Law in Spain but I was unable to find the answer to some queries. My employers are cutting our salaries without even letting us know the percentage in advance. They simply remove 10 or 20 per cent, apparently as they see fit. Can they do this or is...

Community disputes are settled by vote

Q. We settled in a pleasant development of about 80 houses, which is built in a horseshoe shape with beautiful gardens, a swimming pool, and a stream in the centre. There is an extended family, a sort of clan, which owns a dozen houses here that they rent out. This clan and a few others form a pressure...

What rights go with an 11-month rental contract?

I have three months left on my third consecutive eleven-month rental contract on an apartment. The owner has informed me that he is going to put the apartment up for sale. I think that I have the right to stay until the end of the current contract. I am also aware that he must offer the apartment to me...

Read your contract or face consequence

WE purchased a villa in 2004 on a development of 200 individual villas. We have now been told that the development is an “Entidad de Conservacion”. The owners were not aware of this when they purchased. I have since found that it was in my contract, but my conveyancer did not mention it nor did any...

Warning: tax fine comes years later

Q. In 2003 we needed more space for our family. We were told that we should go to the Town Hall with the architect’s drawings and construction plans, and pay a percentage of the cost of building (This was only a request for planning). We waited for a reply but were told it could take two years to...

Doctor decides on medical exam

I expect you are fed up with hearing sagas regarding driving licences, but here is one more. When my husband was 70 in November, 2009, he applied for a Spanish licence and was given one for two years. When I was 70 in March, 2011, I was given one for three years, so we queried the difference and were told...

Neighbour objects to his extension

I have a problem with a proposed extension to my solarium on the first floor of my house in Spain. My neighbour objects on the grounds that all the properties on our community should look the same, and that an extension would look unbalanced with his property and would have an impact on any future...