Renting in Spain for a year

Hi everyone looking for information regarding the new Spanish rules regarding the amount of time we can stay in Spain for long term rental.
I have a EU passport
My husband has a UK passport
His sister and our brother in law are married and have been living in Spain for 15 years they have residency.
Our son also has residency as he worked and lived in Spain for two years but no longer living there now.
I'm retired aged 67 but my husband still works in the UK at the moment he's 64.
Does all this information stand us in good stead for renting would it be straight forward for us for long term rental and what paperwork would we need to cover us please?
Any help would be much appreciated as we feel we are going round in circles 🤦‍♀️😡
Kind regards
Sandra
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Hi, you may have a challenge renting being retired, many owners of properties here like their tenants to be in full time employment as they feel that gives them protection if rent's are unpaid, so this could limit your options or possibly incur a higher than usual deposit being paid.

Taking that to one side as an EU passport holder you can rent here permanently, your husband has a couple of options if he is going to retire he could apply for a T.I.E. as your spouse which would give him 5 years residency and this is renewable, alternatively he could apply for a non lucrative visa which gives him residency rights providing your accounts meet the requirements, these would basically show that you can without state assistance.



I hope this helps.

Kevin
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Thank you Kevin will look into that information very helpful.
Sandra
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Kevin would I be able to stay over the 90 days or would I have to go back to Uk ?
Sandra
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@sanmaid

Greetings! And welcome to the expat.com forum. Good luck with your move to Spain...

As @kevin4626 says, your EU passport allows you to move to Spain.

With your passport you can stay indefinitely (although you should register as EU citizen). Your husband enjoys the 90 days visa-free allowance with his UK passport.

It's indeed possible for your husband to get the NLV (no lucrativa visa) as mentioned. But it's far easier to do it on the basis of your EU passport.

This is a two step process (both done at an immigration office in Spain using their online appointment booking system or cita previa). I've included the official immigration links too (in Spanish, but I'm sure you can use a translating brower like Google Chrome to view them).

- first, you do the EU Citizen Registration (which gets you a little official certificate, signifying you are a Spanish resident).


- second, you then apply for "family reunification" for your husband, as family member of EU citizen.


It's a bit of bureaucracy, so they have some requirements for you to meet. These are proof of funds (such as pensions or savings) to support your life in Spain, proof of health insurance (usually a private Spanish health insurance policy, or if you're retired a UK S1 form), and proof of address (long-term rental contract or deed for your new home in Spain).

It's not a difficult process, so you can be confident that you can move to Spain, if you want to. So I don't think it should be an issue that dissuades you from making the move, and signing a rental contract.

I'd agree that owners would often prefer employed tenants, but I'm sure many retirees have managed to find something. I'd suggest you just decide which area you want to live, then go out and spend a few weeks looking around the region, and viewing properties. I'd guess that a local agent would have no trouble finding a number of rental options for you to look at. For research, you could also have a look at idealista which has lots of listings all over Spain, so you can see what kind of property you can get for your budget.

The cita previa online is here:


The Spanish immigration portal is very helpful and tells you exactly what documents you need, and what you need to do. Many people just follow these directions and go to immigration on their own (we did, and we did exactly the process described above for me and my Brazilian partner). If you're lacking Spanish, it's safer to take a translator/helper. You can also, if you'd prefer some help, engage an immigration attorney (more expensive) or a local gestoria (cheaper).
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@gwynj thank you so much for all the information you have supplied for us much appreciated.It's nice to know my EU Irish passport that I've had for 50 years could now come in useful at last.
Sandra 

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The registration as an Eu citizen and then reunification of your spouse, as detailed by gwynj, is probably the best way to take up long term residence.

I am retired and living in Spain, and what I have done for renting is provide a copy of my bank statements etc showing financial resources.  Have had 3 apartments and have never had any issues. 

As far as the rental contract, all the contracts I have seen have been for a 3 year period (but I've heard of 5 year period contract), with a minimum of usually 6 months to one year.  I believe that there's a statutory (legal) limit of 6 months minimum but I don't have a link for that.

I do know that I had a 3 year contract with a 1 year minimum but I wanted to get out after 6 months, and when I mentioned the statutory 6 month time period, the landlord released me with no penalty.  And he was a lawyer.



Regards
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