Key Takeaways
- ✓ Brexit changed nothing about a British citizen's right to buy Spanish property. There is no restriction and no extra permit.
- ✓ It changed how long you can stay: 90 days in any rolling 180 across the whole Schengen area, unless you hold a visa or residency.
- ✓ It changed your annual tax rate. Non-EU owners pay the higher non-resident income tax band on imputed rental value: currently 24% rather than 19%.
- ✓ The property route into the golden visa is closed. Buying a house does not buy residency, and anyone telling you otherwise is out of date.
- ✓ British buyers still concentrate in the same belt: Orihuela Costa, where we hold 48 live properties from €155,000, and Torrevieja with 250.
The single most useful fact for a British buyer in 2026: you can buy a house in Spain on exactly the same terms as a German, a Finn or a Spaniard. No permit, no quota, no additional tax on the purchase itself. What Brexit changed sits either side of the purchase: how many days a year you can be in the house, and what you pay annually for owning it. Everything below is about those two things.
The 90/180 rule, properly explained
As a UK passport holder you can be in the Schengen area for up to 90 days within any rolling 180-day period, without a visa. Three details trip people up.
- It is rolling, not calendar. There is no "reset in January". On any given day, count backwards 180 days; you must have spent no more than 90 of them inside Schengen.
- It is Schengen-wide. A week in France, a long weekend in Amsterdam and a Christmas in Portugal all consume the same 90 days as time in your Spanish house.
- Part-days count. Entry day and exit day are both full days.
In practice that means a comfortable pattern of, say, six weeks in spring and six weeks in autumn works easily. A traditional five-month British winter in Spain does not, unless you get a visa or residency. That is the real Brexit change, and it is the one that decides which property makes sense: a lock-up-and-leave apartment behaves very differently from a house you expected to live in half the year.
Border stamping is being replaced by an automated entry/exit system, which makes days counted precisely rather than approximately. Keep your own record anyway. Overstaying is a genuine problem that can carry entry bans, and "I lost count" is not a defence.
If you want more than 90 days
| Route | Who it suits | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Non-lucrative visa | Retirees and the financially independent | You must show passive income or savings, and private health cover. You cannot work, including remotely |
| Digital nomad visa | Remote employees and freelancers with non-Spanish clients | Income thresholds, proof of the employment relationship, and a specific tax regime to understand first |
| Work or self-employment visa | People taking a Spanish job or starting a business here | Slower, and usually needs an employer or a business plan |
| Family route | Spouses and dependants of EU or Spanish citizens | Straightforward when it applies, irrelevant when it does not |
| Golden visa via property | Nobody, any more | Spain closed the property-investment route. Do not plan around it |
All of these are applied for from the UK, before you move, at the Spanish consulate. None of them are granted because you own a house. Owning the house helps only in that it satisfies the accommodation requirement. If you are weighing the residency question seriously, moving to Spain from the UK and Spanish residency for retirees go deeper than we can here.
One hard line to keep in view: spend more than 183 days in a Spanish calendar year and you become Spanish tax resident on your worldwide income. That is a decision, not an accident, and it needs an accountant before it needs an estate agent.
The paperwork, in order
Buying from the UK is a well-worn path and the sequence is short:
- NIE number. Your Spanish tax identity. You cannot buy, pay tax or connect utilities without one. Apply at a Spanish consulate in the UK or in person in Spain. Full walkthrough in the NIE number guide.
- An independent Spanish lawyer. Not the seller's, not the developer's, not ours.
- A Spanish bank account. Needed for utilities, community fees and direct debits. Some banks will open remotely with video identification; others want you in a branch.
- Power of attorney, if you cannot fly out. Optional but common, and it lets your lawyer sign the deed while you stay in the UK. See buying in Spain with power of attorney.
Moving the money
Your price is in euros; your money is in sterling. Between signing the arras and completing at the notary there is usually a gap of weeks or months, and the rate moves in that gap. Two practical points. First, compare providers on the total euros delivered, not on the advertised commission. The margin is inside the rate. Second, decide deliberately whether to fix the rate for completion or to accept the movement. Neither is wrong; drifting into it unconsciously is. Detail in currency exchange for a Spanish property purchase.
If you are borrowing, Spanish lenders do lend to UK non-residents, generally at a lower loan-to-value than they offer residents, and they will want UK income evidence translated. Mortgages in Spain for foreign buyers covers what is realistic.
What you pay every year as a UK owner
This is where Brexit costs real money, and it is small but permanent.
| Cost | Who pays | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Non-resident imputed income tax (Modelo 210) | All non-resident owners | Payable even if you never let the property. Calculated on a percentage of the cadastral value |
| The rate applied | Non-EU residents pay more | Currently 24% for non-EU including the UK, against 19% for EU/EEA residents |
| Deductible expenses | EU/EEA residents only | The bigger post-Brexit sting when you do let: UK owners generally cannot deduct costs against rental income |
| IBI (council property tax) | All owners | Set by the town hall on cadastral value |
| Rubbish collection (basura) | All owners | Billed separately by most municipalities |
| Community fees | Most owners | Varies enormously with pools, lifts and gardens |
The deduction point is the one people underestimate. If you plan to let the property out, a UK-resident owner is taxed on gross rental income at the higher rate without the expense deductions an EU resident gets. It does not make letting pointless, but it changes the sums materially. Run them before you buy, not after. Everything annual is set out in property taxes and annual costs in Spain.
Healthcare, briefly and honestly
A UK GHIC covers necessary treatment on visits, not residence, and it is not health insurance. If you take a residency visa you will need private cover or, if you are a UK state pensioner, to explore the S1 arrangement with the relevant UK authority. This is one of the few areas where the rules genuinely differ by circumstance, so take advice specific to yours. Retiring to Spain and healthcare is the fuller picture.
Where British buyers actually buy
The pattern has not changed much: the Orihuela Costa strip and Torrevieja, for the combination of price, English-speaking services and Alicante airport within a comfortable drive. These four are live in our book right now, all resale, all in the band British buyers use most.
€155,000Two-bed bungalow, Playa Flamenca
Orihuela Costa · Playa Flamenca
€175,000Two-bed apartment, Los Dolses
Orihuela Costa · Los Dolses
€179,900One-bed apartment, La Zenia
Orihuela Costa · La Zenia
€192,000Three-bed bungalow, La Florida
Orihuela Costa · Los Almendros-La Florida
See everything current in property for sale in Orihuela Costa, 48 live listings from €155,000, or the larger Torrevieja market, where 250 properties run from €89,900 upwards.
The short version
Buying is unchanged. Staying is limited to 90 days in 180 unless you take a visa. Owning costs a little more each year than it does for an EU resident, and letting costs noticeably more. None of that is a reason not to buy. It is a reason to buy the right property for the pattern of use you can actually have. The full purchase sequence is in the complete guide to buying property in Spain, and the traps are in 12 pitfalls of buying property in Spain.
Tell us your budget and how many weeks a year you expect to be here, and we will send back what that combination genuinely buys this month.