Renting your house out for a year and living in the Sun

We've been doing this successfully and happily in Greece for a number of years. Currently our UK home is rented out fully furnished, with an agent, for six months. We have in the past let it out for longer periods and have never encountered any problems. I'd advise checking the winter weather and house-heating appliances in the country you intend to move to. We found our Greek home on the Peloponnese was freezing in the winter, without central heating and only a fossil fuel fire. Lots of Mediterranean homes do not have central heating. We now spend summers in Greece and winters in the UK, which I know sounds like the wrong way around but having spent a few winters freezing in a draughty, cold Greek house, with closed shops and restaurants, is not great, and, once your UK home has tenants insitu, you're stuck. Apart from that, we feel we have the best of both worlds and thoroughly enjoy our life in Greece - learning the language, the culture, making new friends, eating fresh healthy food in season are all wonderful experiences. We've enjoyed some fantastic adventures and have a fabulous life-style so I'd say go for it whilst you still can and I wish you the best of luck.

If you go down the letting route on six month AST s after the first six months if the same tenant stays it rolls over to a periodic tenancy all of which a good Agent would deal with. Also serving the correctly timed notice should you wish to return. We found it better to let unfurnished and put possessions into storage. Easy to decorate through later. Good luck very exciting.

Renting your house for a year to give it a try sounds fine. Burning your boats is another matter. I know more than one couple who left for Spain or elsewhere in the sun 'forever' some years ago, but things change - health, bereavement, just missing family - and they've wanted to come back. And it's then been very difficult to sell their houses, and/or they haven't sold for nearly enough to enable them to buy anything here, where prices have risen so much more.
An ex colleague moved to France not long ago - but she's kept a bolthole here, in case. Very sensible, IMO.

Be prepared to decorate when you come back and go for it!! Most tenancy agreements are for a minimum of 6 months for unfurnished properties which will give you a good taste for the sun. Best of luck

We did Housesitting in Menorca for almost 3 months,we where in a villa on the harbour (Mahon) it was May when we arrived,weather was perfect,people lovely, had a car,paid for by the clients,to explore a very pretty island.
But by July it was to hot to go outside,I couldn't wait to get home and just stand in the rain!It made us realise that it was not the life for us.

We went the caravan then motor home route Petra and let the house on six month tenancies from 2007. We ve been back now two years getting the house ready to sell and oh we are so twitchy to go again but life and family have delayed our wanderings in the sun.

I knew someone who went to Dubai for work and rented out their home, when they returned to the UK the house had to be gutted back to the brick walls as even the plaster had to be removed. Imperative you employ someone who has your best interests and inspects the property regularly.

How about housesitting - we use Trusted Housesitters

Everything that DeeWBW said, and have to say that Northern Spain is beautiful.
Then we came back to the uk ( always kept a flat here) and after a few years did it again in Bulgaria.
Then after 5 yrs the grandchildren came along so it was back home.
But I have to say that non of them were 'home'
Now we take the motohome to Spain in the winter.

That all sounds very familiar Kk. I think these escape to the sun, grand designs type programmes have a lot to answer for! But dreams are good for you!

We have had the wttest summer for 80 years in Scotland which would send anyone to sunnier destinations.

Right, thats me put off, definitely don't like the bitey flies! I think I would not like the heat and humidity. I only have experience of sunshine holidays and had a rosy picture of pottering in the sun and sitting in the shade and eating al fresco, no flies and not sitting indoors with ac on.....back to plan B....long holidays and regular mini breaks......now does anyone know where I can buy a static caravan near the coast that isn't too expensive for annual fees - this is how my mind works (live in Spain, rent in hot country, buy a bungalow at the coast, buy a bungalow in the next village, perhaps a house, rent my house out, sell my house, do a house swop, get a caravan, build an extension, split house into 2, refurbish) I am all over the place with ideas, don't know why, is it an age thing? BTW! your house looks lovely DEE.

It is several years though since we have had such continually hot weather. I think most of France has been affected this year - most summers the weather is bearable. Where we are it is usually about 3 C cooler than Tricia - we have friends about 30 mins from the Spanish border.

Sorry couldn't copy the location accurately.
Katey maybe choose somewhere further north in Fance, the temps whould be lower.

I agree with Dee et al .
The last week or so has been almost unbearably hot here. Temps. in the upper 30s, then a short thunderstorm, so the humidity is high too. And the grass grows like a jungle.
Even OH, who usually likes the heat, can't bear it. We're not far from the border of Fance with Spain:
www.google.fr/maps/@32.6306475,2.8368919,4.71z

We trade house every year, for a month, with people to the Languedoc region. We also trade NW holiday house with people to the SE. Autumn DH plans on exploring a trade to Spain. He uses an agent, I don't muddle in.

Violette is right about the healthcare - nothing has been decided and the EU - who are doing far more for UK. citizens living in the EU than the UK Govt is - are wanting the reciprocal healthcare to continue. This actually is financially beneficial to the UK - they have an agreement with France and pay something less than £5K per person for the healthcare- it will cost them twice that if everyone moves back to UK. Our mutuelle is less than Violette pays - but it does depend on the level and company - we had more expensive quotes from other companies. (We have the middle cover 200% which has paid all bills fine including ITU).
The post from Venus is in the main scaremongering. Even if there is no reciprocal agreement there will be other options for people to go for such as paying the 8% social charges. People who are working will be fine if their work continues as they are paying charges anyway - it is pensioners who will possibly have a problem.

All that Dee has said is true of Italy too. Ok for a holiday but that's it . All our money is in our house too but the economy in Italy is so bad now that we couldn't sell it. Even my Italian born husband (who lived in England for 44years) has had enough. We shall have to wait and hope it all improves! I might add that when you have a cool shower it's impossible to get dry?

Although scarey, the possibility of the withdrawal of the reciprocal health cover has not yet been decided ...no one knows what is going to happen !

We lived in Menorca, where it was very hot in summer, but cooled by being nearer to the sea ......most people stay indoors with the a/c on as it is necessary. Shops were closed 13,00 - 17,00 or 19,00 but we loved the life ! Then my OH decided he would like to live in France, so off we went to Brittany .renovated an old house, decided weather too much like winter in UK, moved to SW France ....weather today is 37 degrees and too hot ! Topping up of pools is banned by a water use restriction ....we are sitting it out indoors with the a/c on and praying for rain (which was forecast for this weekend, but now has gone back to next Thursday !!! If you like the heat, that's ok .......but I think I would prefer to return to Menorca as although there was a heatwave in 2002 (as there was in France !) nowhere is less than a few km from the sea ....it does not attract 'stag parties' like a lot of Spanish places and the lifestyle is wonderful ...people are friendly ...regret moving from there, but now stuck as house prices have collapsed, the euro exchange rate has collapsed ......hoping we can stay in Europe as couldn't even afford an old caravan in the UK ! Best advice to anyone now would be rent (reduced rents for long term between Sept and June (non holiday times) ...best time to go, explorem ask questions (look at Eye on Spain website ...just seen a winter (Sept to June) i Fuerteventura for 220 euros a month .....you would get more than that from renting in the UK (plus you are allowed something like £4,000 tax free from renting ..but do get a reliable agent, AND only rent FROM a reliable agent abroad .....go for it ...and then decide after the BREXIT negotiations are known, whether to move permanently or not ......some rumours have it that you will only, if at all, receive the reciprocal health care if you have lived in Europe for five years. In Spain, the reciprocal care WAS free, but in France you pay a 'top u p called a Mutuelle, which can be expensive ..for my OH (aged 84) it is E106 pcm and for me E80 at the moment .....do a lot of research ..join forums and discussion groups ....go to visit all the places you have in mind and talk to local ex pats if you don't speak the language ....but maybe you would regret it if you at least don't explore ! Good luck !

Something I've been contiplating for a few years, every time I start to feel time is right something happens that halts it. My friend has done it her house is fine in U.K. And they rent an apartment in Spain and run a little sandwich bar. You need far less money out there to live than here. I say go for it.Dont ever have any regrets.

I was talking with a lady who moved to Palma and she enjoys it but comes "home" in the summer as she just can't stand the 35+ degree heat. She rents out her apartment there as a holiday let, and stays with family for the summer.

She also said that post brexit all her expat friends are getting very, very alarmed that they won't be eligible for any free healthcare at all. She has an Irish passport so this doesn't apply to her.

The European healthcare arrangements with the NHS will stop and in the future everyone with a GB passport will need to buy private health insurance and pay for health services which are now free, including prescriptions, and outpatient services.

Premiums go up if you have to access healthcare- even with insurance, you end up paying cash every time you see a GP and dentist, on top of consultant fees, and inpatient charges.

Factoring in paying for equipment like dental fillings, crowns, IV drips, bandages and crutches, and medicines, and for scans like MRIs or CAT it adds up horrifically as the insurance doesn't even touch the real costs of having any tests, being ill or having a fall, or needing nursing, or convalescent care.

A lot of her friends are moving back to the UK, as soon as they can, as they can't afford the upcoming healthcare costs.

I'm not sure a blast of "the sun" is worth all those costs and worry about becoming ill or infirm, or having an accident and having to sell up to pay for any kind of treatment, including emergency, or care.

You'd be left with absolutely nothing.

Oops! I should have also said by all means rent but stay only a while e.g. three months You really will miss home.

We’ve been living in the sun of N.W. Spain for eleven years now and have just this week put our house up for sale.

All-round sun isn’t what it is cracked up to be. Believe me when I say two months in the sun would be fantastic but living in it is a killer. Why?

Your lawn dries out like hay.
Towels hanging out in the sun come into the house like cardboard.
If you want to enjoy some of the day, you have to get up at about 8.00 a.m. because, if you get up much later, the sun will be too hot to go out into (remember ‘mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun’).
That afternoon siesta (sleep) that Spaniards have is because the heat is too much to get through the day without napping.
When ‘humidity’ falls upon you, it’s horrendous. I didn’t know what humidity really meant and so I asked someone, who gave me a perfect description. She said, “You know when you are hot, you go into the shower to cool down? Well, humidity means that four or five minutes after getting out of the shower and getting dressed, you’re sweating again.” She described the discomfort perfectly and II can tell you that it is like a damp heat, like menopause sweats. Not good.
The abundance of flies arrive when you’re eating outside and flies bite, so think nothing of having six or seven bites on one leg only.
And more ….
So that is why we have a beautiful house in N.W. Spain (www.myhouseinspain.wordpress.com), which we will be leaving behind. And bear in mind that while we are having 35C / 95F in our garden, the holiday resorts where most people decide to buy a house to live the dream are getting 45C / 113F. Give me 24C / 73F any time and, with a little bit of rain scattered in between, we get a beautiful lawn, washing that dries perfectly, more timid flies and all day to enjoy the gentle heat.
Our house would be ideal as a holiday home but, unfortunately, all of our cash in this house and we need to sell, so as to buy something once again in England.

All hail England!

I rented out my house for 3 winters, mainly to show my children, who thought I would never dare. I did have a reputable agent, who ensured house met standards , found me tenants, collected rent, dealt with any maintenance problems. I visited the place Albir before moving there, I spoke spanish, but benefitted from an established ex-pat community, to tap into. I loved the fiestas, winter walks, sunshine, new friends. I was 65 at the time - not sure I would drive across Spain now at 74! Prepare well and go for it is my advice

As well as reputable Agents in your area look at Major Companies/NHS Trusts for staff who are moving to the area for further training/placements they always want good homes to rent for their staff and you can be certain of your income every month.We first thought of moving abroad yrs ago and did not go until the children left home a major mistake we should have done it when they where small,but hey-ho we had nearly 10 good yrs and don't have to think when we are older "if only we tried it" we did it enjoyed the experience and would move back to-morrow .