August 2007


There is a phenomenon that has been going on for a couple of years now in spain, it is the mobbing (illegal pressures on tenants) on people having an old rent and paying less than 100 Euro of rent, usually it goes like this , the speculation and inflation make the prices go up however some people signed a contract so long ago like that old woman paying 40 EURO /Month since 1936 her landlord mobbed the flat causing damage that she couldn’t afford to repair and also making difficult to her to stay in that place. Mobbing is a way for property owners to kick tenants out so they can find someone else that will sign a new contract to today market condition and pay much more.

In Barcelona, 201 mobbing case have been reported from January 2005 to May 2006. I’m not aware of any law for a better protection of tenants as far as I’m concerned being a property owner is the way to go.


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Is the U.S mortgages financial crisis caused by subprime (the practice of making loans to borrowers who do not qualify for market interest rates because of problems with their credit history or the ability to prove that they have enough income to support the monthly payment on the loan) has an effect on people in Spain ?

That crisis caused a lot of mess with companies , financial products with no investors on the markets to buy. The European Central Bank and many other central banks put cash on the markets to ease the crisis , today investors are feeling safer espcially about the banking sector.

According to expert the access the price to obtain a loan will no grow because it would cause a slow down of the Spanish economy (who want that ?)

Anyway, according to Jean-Claude Trichet the CEO of the European Central Market the markets are coming back to normal.


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Prices of rent has increased in Spain of +4,3 % in just a year., prices of charges (water and other services) also rose of +3,1 % during the last 12 months.

Highest increase has been in Madrid and Asturias with +4,1 % followed by the Canary Islands with +3,8%, Community of Valencia +3,7 %, Catalonia +3,5 %, Basques Country +3,1%

Lower raises have been observed in Andalucia and Rioja +2,7%, Navarre +2,5%, Cantabrias and the Baleares +2,4%, Aragon and Galicia +2,3%, Melilla, Castilla and Leon +2,2 %, Murcia (+2.1%), Castile-The Spot (+2%), Extremadura (+1.7%) and Ceuta (+1%).

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spanish property alicanteIf you consider a mortgage loan to finance the purchase of your property, they are two aspects that will tell how much you can borrow.

The value of the property – A valuation company will determine the value of the property, in some case the valuation and the purchase price may differ greatly.
You pay the valuation process ( a valuation is like a survey report) whether you get the loan or not.

Income - Spanish lenders generally calculate a ratio of your net disposable income that will be used to repay borrowing and will want to ensure that you have the ability to service the loan. If it is a family or joint purchase then multiple incomes can be used. lenders usually
recommend that the monthly instalment you will have to pay for the mortgage loan, should not exceed a certain percentage -around 30%- of your monthly income. It is safer for you: you avoid the risk of non- payment if you have unexpected expenses.
(more…)

One thing I noticed in Spain is the high level of noise in certain apartment, your neighbour way too high…. It was the case when I various flats in Valencia. As I remember Alicante was a quieter place especially where I stayed en La Urbanicazion La Marina (Elche)
Now some good news on the front of sound isolation in Spain.

According to minister Carme Chacón, 1/3 of Spanish homes have too much noise it affects 12 millions people in a country of 40 millions people.
There are new projects to increase the level of sound protection of homes. It involves better isolation of walls and windows.

At this level of the project, they are just doing studies and writing a new official document on the subject.


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Nowadays, new properties on the Costa Blanca are built with security doors, protection grills and monitored alarms. A property in a community is even more protected because a community is occupied all year round.

Some recommendations:

Don’t make easy to enter your property (security doors), don’t let a ladder in your garden or things that make easy to access your house.
Lock the windows when you aren’t home.

Don’t show off your stuffs (plasma TV, dvd players) usually thieves know you have that stuffs when you get rid of the boxes or if you let the boxes in your garage, so take the boxes away to some place where they could be recycled.

Even if you live alone put several names on the entry doors.

Ask your neighbour or someone to collect your mails when you aren’t home.

If you contracted a video monitoring system connected to a central make sure that the company offering this service is registred with the Registro de Empresas de la Dirección General de la Policía.

Infra-red detector is the most modern security system, it detects the people by the temperature of their body (37 degrees Celsius), if you have the money for that system go for that.


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