Your eyes fall on the notice pinned to the doctor’s door that informs you about the changes they have made to the electronic prescription – good idea! you think, they seem to be getting to grips with automation here… but what the “improvement” notice doesn’t tell you are the problems this change will give you when you go to the chemist to get your monthly prescription dispensed.

Like lots of OAP’s I take a cocktail of pills each day, some of these I have been on for years, and this gives me no problems at the chemist, they are all dispensed on the same day…

Recently, the doctor changed some of my tablets, and introduced another tablet. Unfortunately, the system does not harmonise the prescription dates with the medication already on my “receta”……

SO, now I have to go to the chemist 2 or 3 times in one month to be able to fulfil one month’ supply of tablets!! This is because in the new part of the prescription one packet of pills there are 28, and in the other there is 30, so they don’t appear on the pharmacist’s screen at the same time – you can only go when you get down to 10 tablets, and the system says they are ready for dispensing. The pharmacist thinks its crazy!!!

Now don’t get me wrong…this is all to stop people hoarding medication, and that has to be applauded , but I think there a couple of gliches to be ironed out here!!!!

When I arrived here 3 years ago, I did everything I should do to make sure I did not fall foul of the law when driving my car.

I dutifully photocopied every single piece of official documentation about myself, and then made the trek up to the Jefatura in Santa Cruz to have my licence inscribed.

45 days later, I went back to collect the paperwork to keep in my car.

Because you have to have a licence for each type of vehicle here, they had made the inscription expire in November 2011 for large vans, small vans etc….none of which I ever drive.

I thought no more about this until an AVISO dropped through my letter box telling me my licence was about to expire!!!

What I could not be sure off, was if this AVISO invalidated my whole licence and not just the bits that really didn’t matter to me. I could not just take the risk, as knowing my luck; I would have been stopped by the police the day it expired.

A friend volunteered to ring the Jefatura and check this out. After several days of trying ( and the 11^th November was getting closer!!!), she eventually managed to get to speak to someone who would give her no information or deal with a general query over the phone…so will someone tell me WHY the office in Los Cristianos gave me this number to ring.???

So with a couple of days to spare, off I went up to Santa Cruz again. An hour’s journey to get there, 10 minutes in a queue, and the nice lady behind the counter said “no pasa nada” – my inscription was OK so long as I did not drive anything where the licence has expired, then an hour’s journey home again.

All this could have been avoided if the AVISO has been more specific, or the helpline has actually been helpful.

The curious thing is that my husband went through this process at exactly the same time – and his inscriptions expire at the same time as mine…. So why did he not get an AVISO as well??

The moral of this story is don’t bother getting your licence inscribed!!!!!!!!

This is a two fold issue:

• The upsurge in professional complainers who are using the threat of postings on Trip Advisor to scare owners into compensation for “spoilt” holidays
• The Tourist Board in Tenerife have clamped down on what they call “illegal” holiday beds – those renting out their own properties instead of using the authorised agent on their complex

Trip Advisor

The upsurge of complaints to Trip Advisor is the bane of every owner of  a Holiday Let property.

Once a bad review is posted, it is there forever – even if it is untrue. It is a sad fact of life that people will very often post a complaint, but would never think about posting for an enjoyable holiday. Perhaps this is true because the client would expect to get an enjoyable holiday, so this is not an exception. On the other hand finding something to complain about  is something they don’t expect, so feel the need to post to Trip Advisor.

However, there is an increase in unscrupulous complainers, who are now using the threat of posting a bad review on Trip Advisor to get compensation from the owners. Such is the power of Trip Advisor as the de facto place to look for comments on locations, restaurants, specific complexes, and specific properties etc. “Pay up or we post a bad review” is nothing short of blackmail, and owners are powerless to control this.

TenerifeTourist Board

There has been quite a lot of publicity in the Local Tenerife Press regarding “illegal” holiday beds. The Tenerife Tourist Board employed an additional 17 inspectors for this year, and many owners have been caught in the net. The fines are heavy, so have scared off a large number of owners.

It is not sufficient to be “legal” in terms of declaring your rental income to the Hacidenda, they will happily (and quite rightly) take your money, and many owners think this is all there is to it. But the Tenerife Tourist Board insists on all holiday rentals being controlled. Your complex MUST be designated as a Tourist Complex, and there should only be one designated agent with the authority to rent out properties.

If you do not live inTenerife, it’s a costly business, and you may not be netting much out of each rental, you may not be happy with your agent, you may be fed up with the damage and destruction wreaked by your guests. So what do you do?

Holiday Let versus Long Term Let

It is a certain fact that whatever you can gross in a month for your holiday let property is probably halved for long term let.

That doesn’t sound like a good proposition on the face of it, but if you sit down and break down your costs, you could be presently surprised.

If you employ a holiday letting agent, in addition to paying them a fee for managing the property, you may also have to pay for laundry and cleaning if it is not included in their fee. There will most certainly be maintenance costs, as a succession of guests tends to increase the wear and tear on your fixtures and fittings. You may find that you are not letting as many weeks as you would like to.

Your fixed costs of insurance, IBI, Basura and Community fees will not change, but if you employ a Long Term Letting Agent, their monthly management fee will be smaller, you will not be paying for laundry and cleaning, and depending on the contract, you may no longer be paying for water and electricity.

If you are thinking this may be a better option for you, give us a call or drop us an email and we will work through the figures with you.

• Who do you trust?
• What do you need to pay for?
• Is your deposit safe?

By far the safest way to choose and agent is by recommendation. If this is not possible, then you need to ask the agent a lot of questions:

• Do you charge a finder’s fee?
• Do you charge for drawing up the contract?
• What security deposit do you require?
• Who holds the security deposit?
• How safe is my security deposit?
• What do I do if I have problems after I have moved in?
• When and where do I pay the rent?
• Do I have to pay for electricity and water?
• Do I have to pay any other household bills?

What is in a Rental Contract?

Your rental contract will be in Spanish, but your agent can provide you with an English translation if you require. The contract has to be in Spanish to be legal.

The Rental Contract needs to set out the following details:

• Owners name and identification details
• Name and identifying details of the tenant(s)
• Start date and length of the contract
• Address of the property
• Details of the rent and the security deposit
• Frequency of the rental payment and method of payment
• Identify who pays the water and electricity bills
• Identify who is responsible for the upkeep of the property and payment of any other household bills
• Identify any special conditions e.g. no pets
• Identify what  constitutes a breach of contract

There may be other conditions in the contract, specific to the property, be sure you understand how these conditions affect you and your security deposit.

Type of Rental Contract

There are 2 types of rental contract:

Short Term Rental Contract

Contrato de arrendamiento de temporada – really designed for holiday lettings, and says that the contract is not your habitual home – hence the temporary nature. You have less protection in law under a temporary contract.  This is generally not a real problem, as most landlords are happy for you to continue in a property with a new contract, although you should remember there is no automatic right of renewal.

Long Term rental Contract

If your landlord is renting his property for the long term, and has no intention of returning to the property himself, you may be offered a long term contract contrato de arrendamiento de vivienda amueblada.  This contract is normally for 12 months, and once you have been in the property for 12 months you have the right to stay for up to 5 years, even if the owner decides to sell. The law protects tenants on this type of contract, which is why it is difficult to persuade an owner to offer them.

The contract should identify notice periods required, and you may also find that there is a penalty to pay if you want to leave inside the initial 12 month period.

Cancellation of a Contract by the Landlord

Your contract should include details that identify conditions that would allow the landlord to cancel the contract if you were in breach. Some of these are identified here

• Sub letting your property – if you rent out a room or the whole property to someone else
• Causing disturbance to neighbours or contravening the community rules
• Damaging the property or the furnishings
• Carrying out a business
• Converting any part of the property e.g making the garage a bedroom
• You haven’t paid your deposit

So what affects the price of your Property Rental?

• Location – in and around the main areas of Los Cristianos and Playa de Las Americas, long term rental property is at a premium, as the bulk of property is in the holiday letting market
• Number of bedrooms – well this is fairly obvious!
• Popularity of the complex – some have better reputations than others
• Amenities on the complex – does it have a working pool, UK TV, is it run down or well kept?
• Holiday Complex – generally have a large amount of amenities that you would be able to take advantage of, but the fees to the owner are generally quite high, so some of this cost will be passed on to you as the tenant
• Standard of furnishings
• The owners – even owners have unrealistic expectations when it comes to the rent!
• Utilities – are water and electric included in the rent?

So with all this in mind, decide on your budget and then look at what is available. Do not be tempted to stretch your budget as you could find yourself unable to pay the rent and subsequently homeless.

Be realistic about the compromises you are prepared to make, and remember you will need to put down at least twice the rent to move in. More on that in another post!

Price Ranges for Rental Properties in Tenerife

Lets take a look at some price ranges for different locations for an average property. I’ve excluded fancy properties with own pools, overlooking the golf course etc as this is a rather specialist market and you would expect to pay over the odds for this.

Playa de las Americas and Los Cristianos – easy walking distance to all amenities

• Studio              €400 – €550
• 1 bed   apt         €500 – €650
• 2 bed   apt         €550 – €750
• 3 bed   apt         €650 – €900
• 3 bed house       €750 – €1200
• 4 bed house       €800 – €1400

If its still in the catchment area, but a generous walk away then deduct about 10% from these prices.

Outside of the main areas, but still commuting distance if you are working look at Chayofa (above Los Cristianos), Las Chafiras ( good bus links), deduct about 20% from the prices above.

Other areas to consider going towards the airport are Golf del Sur, Amarilla Golf, Costa del Silencio (Garañaña is a nice area), Palm Mar. In the other direction, consider Fañabe and Caleta (up market so more expensive, possibly add 10% to the above prices), Playa Paraiso and Callao Salvaje, but in all of these areas you would probably need transport to get about as the bus service is not frequent enough for someone working here, especially if you work strange hours!

General pricing here would be about 10-15% less than the main tourist centres.

Many people will tell you it is cheaper to live in Tenerife than in the UK – and they will usually quote you only the council tax costs – where you pay an average of £1500 in the UK, the cost here is the equivalent of £300 – but if you factor in the community fees if you live on a complex, then you could possibly pay the same or more than in the UK. Do your homework!

The law has changed such that it is compulsory for anyone who owns or buys property in Tenerife or makes large purchases or opens a bank account to have an NIE number. Your passport alone is no longer sufficient identification. You need to apply for an NIE even if you are not planning any other purchase.

If you are registered for your IBI and basura bills with your passport number, some ayuntamientos will stop sending out bills and reminders (not that they do now I hear you cry!!!). But if you rely on the receipt of these bills to trigger either your agent, yourself or a friend to go and pay the bills for you, then this is likely to cause a problem.

Once you have got your NIE (and it is possible that you can only do this in person, but you can apply via the Spanish Consulate where you live), you will need to take the following documents to the Ayuntamiento to incorporate you NIE into your IBI bills:

• Your passport, and a copy
• Your NIE document, and a copy
• The original of your copia simple, and a copy
• Your last paid IBI bill

You will need to do this in person if you do not have someone here with power of attorney.

I suspect that this is just another way of making you known to the hacienda (Tax Office) – so following this exercise, you can probably expect a letter or two from the hacienda.

But what should you check before you go ahead with your purchase?

• Community fees – these can vary enormously, and when you are budgeting for your annual expenses, be sure to add this in! If it’s a small complex, then there are fewer owners to share the cost of the upkeep of those lovely gardens and that really nice swimming pool.!
• Debts – It is a sad fact of life that many owners are in trouble. You should check the level of debt by asking to see a copy of the accounts presented at the last AGM.  The communidad may ask owners to pay more to compensate for the owners who do not pay. Does the communidad have sufficient funds to carry out necessary maintenance and repairs, are there debts owing to tradesmen? Are they planning large maintenance projects that will require extra funding?
• Water – Some complexes have individual water meters and the water company bills each property. However, it is not unusual for the water to be supplied in bulk to the communidad, and then usage by individual properties  is paid for through the community fees.  If the communidad administration do not pay the water company (even if you have paid your bill), then the water company will cut off the supply to the whole complex. So check the community does not have any water debt, ask for proof.

So if you are happy with the finances of the communidad, what else should you do?

Check out the communidad committee:

• How many owners were present at the last AGM?
• Who holds all the proxy votes for absentee owners?
• Who is on the committee, and how long have they been in post? Do they get paid?
• Who does all the maintenance on the complex – this cannot be a committee member!!

Now don’t get me wrong – a stable and honest committee is an absolute blessing, especially if you are going to be an absentee landlord.  It is a thankless task and some communidades find it hard to put this in place.

But there may be times when you don’t agree with the proposals of the committee, or you would like to stand for a committee post yourself – if all the proxy votes are held by a committee member, then you don’t stand a chance of changing anything – it’s a closed shop. Our advice is to attend as may AGMs as you can.

Happy House Hunting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!