Spanish Bureaucracy

Well after my fifth trip to the Town Hall Mum and I are now officially on the electoral register and can start to proceed with our Residencia applications. As I sat there this morning on my fifth visit I thought about all the horror stories I was told about Spanish Bureaucracy and how slow everything is. Well as I sat looking out at a lovely little Plaza with orange trees, roses and other flowers all topped with beautiful blue skies I thought yes this is terrible ! Lets face it we are foreign nationals trying to gain residency in their country, a country where we barely speak the language. In the UK would it be any easier? - and if so why? It shouldn't be simple should it?
So when we moved here I made a decision that it is what it is and to accept it with patience, good humour and a smile - and that is what I am doing. Lets face it there are worse places to fill out paperwork !  :cool:

Lucky you.  We obtained Spanish residency a year ago, but according to our mayor we still don't live here.  He refuses to give a padron to anyone who does not live in the village, despite it being illegal.  He should give a padron to anyone living in the area covered by the adjuntament, wherever they live.  I checked out the Spanish law.  But mayors of small towns and villages are a law unto themselves.  According to the records we now live in a house in the village with a previous mayor.  The present mayor knows very well we do not live there but couldn't avoid the law that far. 

I think there is still a lot of after effect of the Franco war despite the long time that has passed.  If your family supported Franco the Brits are the enemy.  If your family supported the royal family the Brits are heros for coming over to fight for them.  We are just waiting for an anti Franco mayor to be voted in.

Since my last post we now have a new mayor.  So we decided to attempt another try at getting a Padron.  A week later we received a letter refusing on the grounds we lived outside the village.  In oher words we still have to be registered in a village house.  We have also had to pay part of the rates for the village address.  I don't object to that as his rates went up because officially there are now two more people and a dog living there.  The problem is that we now have a sedula for our house, and are waiting for the catastral to see how much rates we will need to pay for our house.  I certainly do not want to pay for two lots of rates.  We are trying hard to do the right things.

Interestingly the letter was signed by the adjuntament secretary, not the mayor.  So I wonder if the mayor did not even see the request for a Padron.  We have now asked for an appointment to see the mayor ( four days ago and still no appointment).  I have tried to look up the relevant laws on Padrons, which are Ley 7/1985 Articles 15 and 17, and Ley 30 1992, as far as I can see.  I am having a problem finding them in full.  Loads of English speaking sites with short excerpts but no full copies in English or Spanish.  I even tried looking them up on the Bodlian library, Oxford web site, and the Library of congress web site.  Does anyone have a link to get the full law in Spanish on line. Thanks

Why does this bloke/blokess want to keep you off the padrón? It dosn't make sense. Funding follows population and wherever we've wanted to sign on the padrón the town halls have alwayys made it as easy as possible.

http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2015/03/24/p … 5-3109.pdf

and also here http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2015/03/24/

I and a lot of others around here are just as bemused by the town hall Culebronchris.  The only thing I can think of is the last two mayors have been from a different party to the one previous who was happy to give padrons, and it is to spite him.  Although they are breaking Spanish law they seem to just get away with it.  Sounds daft, but cant think of any other sane reason.   I got the last letter translated today (it was in Catalan although Castillian is the official language), and they say I must have a cedula and be registered on the cadastral.  They will get a nasty shock on Monday as I already have a cedula and applied for registration for cadastral a couple of months ago.  I am wondering what excuse they will come up with this time.  And although the letter was dated 3 July, it was being driven round in the local sherrifs car till Wednesday (five days) and gives me ten days to produce the documents.  If I had not gone in to the adjuntament on Wednesday I would never have got the letter in time.  I have decided it is all out war now.  I don't plan to buy a new car in the near future, but I am up the swanny without a paddle when I do, without a padron.  If they refuse it again on Monday, I will have a denuncia issued.  It is no wonder I read the other day that almost a quarter of EU immigrants have left Spain.  Surely the government realise what a goldmine us non Spanish pensioners are.  We personally spend an average of 1000 euros a month in Spain, and the money comes from the UK.  Multiply that by the half million odd other pensioners from Europe living here.  The only thing stopping me going back to England at the moment is the dreaded winter temperatures.  Especially on a day like today, the thought of 2 degrees C is quite frightening.

Have A Look At
" ANGLOINFO " site Very good Information there

Thanks Anne Marie