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PROOF OF LIFE Required for Brits Abroad Aged Over 80, Spain's GOLDEN VISA and are BUY TO LETS Dead?
Oct 29, 2024
If you're aged 80 or over and receiving a UK State Pension here in Spain, payments may be stopped if you don't let them know that you're still alive.
Christina Brady from @blacktowerfinancialmanagem7049 let you know what you need to do during her chat with Kal last Thursday, and there was more on the total scrapping of Spain's Golden Visa and the possible death of the BUY TO LET property market in Britain...and Spain!
Hear Christina every other Thursday with with Kal at 16:00 CET
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0:00
with us uh for our B monthly catchup is
0:03
Christina Brady from Black Tower
0:04
financial management since we last spoke
0:07
the news that Spain now wants to
0:09
completely eliminate the golden Visa
0:11
scheme which gives residency to wealthy
0:13
foreigners not just the housing 500,000
0:16
Spanish home but all the other options
0:18
as well Christina socialist government
0:20
has decided it wanted to scrap all
0:21
golden Visas so before you could either
0:24
buy a property or you had investment
0:26
opportunities you could put 1 million in
0:28
shares in a Spanish company you could
0:30
place 2 million in government bonds or 1
0:32
million in a Spanish bank and what that
0:35
meant was you then had your golden visa
0:37
and the good thing about the golden Visa
0:39
is it meant you could work in Spain and
0:41
if you didn't want to work you could
0:43
live in Spain but you didn't have to
0:44
become tax resident so what they've done
0:48
is they've got rid of the only Visa that
0:50
you could possibly have to live in Spain
0:53
where you didn't become a tax resident
0:56
if you take out a non-lucrative Visa a
0:58
nomad Visa any of the others you are
1:00
become a tax resident in Spain so what
1:03
they've done is they've said right we're
1:05
going to get rid of this and before they
1:06
tried to pass it through Parliament it
1:08
didn't get ped but they think they found
1:10
a loophole oh God how can they find
1:13
these loopholes but anyway they think
1:15
they found a loophole which means they
1:17
can pass this through um but they
1:20
haven't said what they are going to do
1:22
to existing golden Visa holders that was
1:24
going to be my next question because
1:26
there are apparently about 15,000 of
1:29
those um most of them were Uh Russian
1:32
Chinese Iranian but there were Americans
1:35
UK If you obviously lived outside the EU
1:38
you need you to apply for a Visa and
1:40
they haven't said in any way shape or
1:43
form what they are going to do and
1:46
people are still processing
1:48
golden someone going through quite
1:50
quickly as well at the moment yes
1:51
they're going through very quickly and
1:53
that but but no one knows what's going
1:56
to happen they can't just say right your
1:58
golden visa when it runs out in 5 years
1:59
is that's it you've got to get out the
2:01
country because they fulfilled all the
2:03
criteria at the time when they applied
2:05
to live here they might say you can stay
2:09
but as long when your golden Visa Runs
2:11
Out you become a tax resident after five
2:14
years ta can be legislation that could
2:17
go through on that count I would imagine
2:19
um in the current sort of you know the
2:21
way that the the Spanish Parliament is
2:23
because it's everybody having to do a
2:25
deal with everybody else to get anything
2:26
through um it's like France it's a
2:29
complete yes the um what was I going to
2:31
ask about this um there was something
2:33
else to do with the uh oh yes I know
2:35
what it was since they said they were
2:37
going to scrap the uh the golden Visa
2:40
nothing's happened for ages so how soon
2:43
will something happen pass through as
2:45
law but it it wasn't it they rejected it
2:48
so they tried to pass it through the
2:50
house but it was rejected so this time
2:52
that's why they're saying that they
2:53
found a loophole because they were
2:55
worried this was going to be rejected
2:57
again uh so we will have to see if they
2:59
have actually you know found a loophole
3:02
and it does withstand scrutiny and as
3:05
you said if other people back it because
3:08
they haven't got a majority they are
3:10
relying on smaller parties to back them
3:14
and I think I think it's wrong I think
3:18
scrapping the golden Visa is wrong I
3:21
think if they should keep it but they
3:23
should say you become a tax resident in
3:25
Spain it doesn't give you the freedom
3:27
not to be a tax resident I think maybe
3:29
the property yes but I think if you're
3:32
investing in a Spanish company or you're
3:34
investing in government bonds that is
3:36
good for Spain so why scrap something
3:40
that is fundamentally good for the
3:41
economy of your country is it all part
3:43
of those politics that we've been
3:45
talking about and you know some people
3:47
want something could well be all right
3:49
well we'll keep an eye on it and you
3:51
know as developments develop we'll talk
3:53
about it um now about B toet because
3:56
there have been some concerning
3:57
headlines about B toet in Britain this
4:00
week the market shrunk uh the telegraph
4:03
even said the buy toet Market is dead y
4:06
they are calling the death of The Bu
4:07
toet market and it's that is despite
4:10
retail yields being at their highest on
4:12
record across most of the country uh
4:15
investors are abandoned in the sector
4:16
you know it's it's they're literally
4:18
running for the hills and this is due to
4:20
higher mortgage rates is a small small
4:23
fraction the uncertainty about what
4:26
labor is going to do with landlord
4:28
rights you know know it's got a it's got
4:30
a Reform Bill in place and it's giving
4:34
tenants too much power um so land
4:38
Lords don't like this it's similar to
4:40
Spain you know if you have a long-term
4:43
renter God forbid you want them to move
4:45
out it's near no impossible well it
4:47
depends on depends on the situation but
4:50
you know if if it's within a family it's
4:52
it's much easier than perhaps larger
4:54
companies trying to move people out but
4:56
however they're still doing it they
4:58
still still happening there's so much
5:00
red tape now and there's a a lack of tax
5:03
relief which obviously George Osborne
5:05
got back and so what we've seen is um
5:09
you know the market for people buying um
5:13
property okay to buy rental property it
5:16
took up 177% of the market that is
5:17
shrunk to 8% of the market so that is a
5:20
huge decrease in people buying
5:22
properties by toet and most of the
5:25
bigger firms you've seen some of the
5:27
bigger companies they are offloading
5:29
their proper is a phenomenal rate and I
5:33
think that's that's bad but in a way
5:35
it's good because if you think how much
5:37
it costs to rent a property in the UK
5:41
most people if they had to get a
5:42
mortgage on that property it would
5:43
actually be less even with the higher
5:45
rates than paying the rent and that's
5:47
what annoys me there was someone on
5:48
Facebook or Tik Tok saying the bank
5:50
thinks I can pay 2,500 a month on rent
5:54
yet it won't let me get a mortgage where
5:56
I'd only have to pay
5:58
1,900 and you got the crazy crazy
5:59
situation where UK mortgage rates have
6:02
now pushed about 320,000 adults into
6:05
poverty because they've been soaring but
6:07
actually there are fixed rate mortgages
6:09
below 4% back on sale there are still
6:12
but the trouble is if you've already got
6:13
a mortgage you can't just pull out of it
6:16
to take one of these usually you are
6:18
fixed for a year or three or five years
6:21
so when rates initially rent up if you
6:23
came to the end of your threeyear
6:24
one-year term the bank then came to you
6:26
and said right the new rate is 6% 7% or
6:29
whatever at the time they weren't the
6:31
better deals and if you try and get out
6:33
of it you have to pay a penalty which
6:35
then negates going into a lower rate
6:37
mortgage the banks have got it all sewn
6:38
up so that is only really good if you're
6:41
coming up to the time when you need to
6:43
renew your mortgage deal or if you're
6:45
buying you know a first-time buyer or
6:47
you're you know you need a mortgage for
6:49
a new property um if you've got an
6:51
existing mortgage it's very very
6:54
difficult the banks have it sewn up and
6:56
I feel very very sorry for people and as
6:58
far as interest rates go I was going to
7:00
say next week the good money says that
7:02
um there will be the first cut in four
7:04
years in Britain no no I don't I'm not
7:08
sure unless Labour just want to do 0.25
7:11
but I would say if they do that will be
7:13
the only rate rise we see before 20125
7:16
well it's a 15year high still isn't it
7:18
5.25% at the moment 14 times it's gone
7:21
up and the EU is not going to reduce
7:23
rates anymore with the figures that are
7:25
coming out and the US the US May reduce
7:28
rates but if they reduce them now it's
7:30
going to be seen as them leaning towards
7:33
the Democrats with the election coming
7:35
up so soon if they were going to reduce
7:37
rates they needed to have done it sort
7:38
of May June time but they may still do
7:40
it but it's only going to be a small cut
7:42
the economic data coming out of
7:44
everywhere is not
7:46
solid it's it could change at any time
7:50
as we've seen um so it's very very
7:55
difficult I think people and also people
7:57
just haven't got mortgages they've got
7:58
debt you know people have credit cards
8:01
the rates on that is astronomical
8:03
they're in if they don't pay off every
8:05
month they've got HP in you UK most new
8:08
cars are sold on
8:10
HP um and if that bubble bursts oh my
8:13
God God help us so there are things out
8:16
there to be very very worried about but
8:18
I think the bu toet I think a lot of
8:20
people and this is normal individuals
8:22
have used that as your their pension um
8:25
they've invested in other properties and
8:26
let them out and seen that as a way of
8:29
financing their retirement with
8:31
everything that's coming up it looks
8:33
like that bubble is going to burst and
8:35
people are going to be pulling out this
8:37
Market in a big big way in recent times
8:40
we've talked about revolute Christina
8:42
it's now finally got that UK banking
8:45
license been waiting for three years so
8:47
are we all okay with the fact that we we
8:50
trust it and it's safe enough for us to
8:52
start using I know a lot people do told
8:55
people to use it anyway it applied three
8:57
years ago it didn't get the license
8:58
because it hadn't filed its accounts
9:00
properly which again is very worried but
9:02
I'm not sure if any Bank actually files
9:04
its accounts properly and I don't I know
9:06
the EU doesn't so it has got his UK
9:08
banking license it's still restricting I
9:10
think the amount you can put into 50,000
9:13
at the moment um until it gets more
9:16
stable because obviously it's got lots
9:18
of uh red tape to go through and lots of
9:20
paperwork and then once it does you will
9:22
have the same guarantees on your
9:23
revolute account if it's in the UK that
9:26
you do for a normal bank account okay
9:29
thanks very much for that and uh what
9:31
are we going to do with our money in
9:33
these times then we know that you can't
9:35
get on to the Department of work and
9:36
pensions because it's about 753 years to
9:40
wait for a reply that's collectively of
9:42
course people trying to get through to
9:43
the Department of work and pensions and
9:45
people are worried about uh you know the
9:47
retirement crisis a number of people
9:49
haven't been saving enough uh for their
9:52
uh retirement can I quickly say
9:53
something about UK State pensions if
9:55
you're 80 and you you've just become 80
9:58
you should have received a letter saying
10:01
that you need to prove you're still
10:02
alive now I've sent an email to all my
10:04
clients telling them the links and the
10:06
British Ambassador was worried because
10:07
so many Brits living in Spain haven't
10:11
received the information from the UK or
10:13
haven't replied to it and if they don't
10:15
get proof of Life they will stop paying
10:17
your state pension this is if you're 80
10:19
or over okay if you're just coming up to
10:22
80 you're here next year it's when you
10:24
reach your 80th birthday so I just I
10:28
sent an email to my C C I've had quite a
10:30
few of them come back and said oh thank
10:31
you for this we've been in touch there's
10:34
a year backlog or something right but
10:37
but anyway just to warn people if you
10:38
have received something and you didn't
10:40
reply to it please read it again and if
10:42
you need proof of Life all you need to
10:44
do is get someone to certify your
10:45
passport and sign a form to say that
10:48
they are witness that you're still alive
10:50
so that's somebody who's who it can't be
10:52
anybody can it it's got to be no it
10:54
can't it has to be someone an accountant
10:56
uh someone a lawyer financial advisor
10:59
can do it um notaries can do it so it
11:03
does give you a list of who's acceptable
11:05
to sign that passport just to warn
11:07
people uh if your pension does stop and
11:09
you are over 80 or you are just become
11:12
80 maybe you didn't reply to this form
11:14
and give proof of life so I wouldn't
11:17
Panic just get in touch with them as I
11:18
said wait for five days on the phone
11:21
before they come back to you or they
11:23
answer um but that's something to be
11:25
aware of okay if anybody needs some
11:27
financial help or some wealth management
11:30
uh then how do they get in touch
11:31
Christina right they can email uh info@
11:35
blow fm.com put for the attention of
11:38
Christina Brady and it will come through
11:40
to me um remember we don't just cover
11:43
Spain we cover all most of the countries
11:45
in Europe the UK US uh we've got an
11:48
office in Australia and one in Dubai so
11:51
if you're anywhere and you need advice
11:53
please get in touch
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