# Another Newby



## Bobndebs1959 (Jan 13, 2013)

Good Afternoon every body, I am Bob and my wife is Debbie, I am currently coming to the end of a long RAF Careerlane: and we are looking to possibly retire in Spain later this year. I shall have my RAF Pension and some money aside so will be looking to "retire" or possibly do a little part time work.
We have been to Spain, mainly Malaga area, several times, and have served in Gibraltar also so are not totally blind, but are aware there is more to living somewhere than being on holiday!!
We love the idea of living in the Costa Del Sol, we intend long term rental for a while, and will be gathering as much information as possible pertaining to Legal and other matters, but mostly to do with the "real" cost of life in Spain, the actual monthly income etc required to live a simple but rewarding life in the sun, so please bear with us and forgive our questions.
In the meantime, I shall be reading plenty of the articles and hopefully contributing to the forum.:clap2:


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Welcome to the forum. We can't guarantee that all the answers to your questions are here, but there is a good chance most of them will be. Long term rental is a very good idea to start out. As you say, living in a country has little or no resemblance to holidaying here.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Bobndebs1959 said:


> Good Afternoon every body, I am Bob and my wife is Debbie, I am currently coming to the end of a long RAF Careerlane: and we are looking to possibly retire in Spain later this year. I shall have my RAF Pension and some money aside so will be looking to "retire" or possibly do a little part time work.
> We have been to Spain, mainly Malaga area, several times, and have served in Gibraltar also so are not totally blind, but are aware there is more to living somewhere than being on holiday!!
> We love the idea of living in the Costa Del Sol, we intend long term rental for a while, and will be gathering as much information as possible pertaining to Legal and other matters, but mostly to do with the "real" cost of life in Spain, the actual monthly income etc required to live a simple but rewarding life in the sun, so please bear with us and forgive our questions.
> In the meantime, I shall be reading plenty of the articles and hopefully contributing to the forum.:clap2:


Have good look roud the forum and do a search for the towns you're interested in. Would very much like to hear your views of places when you come over to visit.


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## Bobndebs1959 (Jan 13, 2013)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Have good look roud the forum and do a search for the towns you're interested in. Would very much like to hear your views of places when you come over to visit.


Hi Pesky, we stayed in AlHaurin DL Torre last year, in El Sexmo the year before, in Benalmadena the year before and in La Carihuela before that. From a personal point of view we really liked AlHaurin, the town was busy enough, the people freindly, and it was close enough to all the coastal and airport facilities to be just right. I should say these have all been in Villas and with family.
Another question if I may, when you rent somewhere in this area, how much would you expect to pay in Utility Bills, Council Tax and pool maintenance per month on average? or can you expect to cover these costs with the rental, a "one payment all in" type of arrangement?
Many Thanks lane:


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Bobndebs1959 said:


> Hi Pesky, we stayed in AlHaurin DL Torre last year, in El Sexmo the year before, in Benalmadena the year before and in La Carihuela before that. From a personal point of view we really liked AlHaurin, the town was busy enough, the people freindly, and it was close enough to all the coastal and airport facilities to be just right. I should say these have all been in Villas and with family.
> Another question if I may, when you rent somewhere in this area, how much would you expect to pay in Utility Bills, Council Tax and pool maintenance per month on average? or can you expect to cover these costs with the rental, a "one payment all in" type of arrangement?
> Many Thanks lane:


We have a Alhaurin DL Torre expert moderator, so she'll be along soon I expect...


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Electricity will be about the same as UK but gas a lot cheaper. If you rent you won't be liable for council tax, not that it is very much anyway. Pool maintenance is going to depend on the size of pool, whether or not it is covered in winter, heated etc. Our electricity bill averages around €150 a month and we have an 8 x 4 metre pool, electric cooking but gas for heating and hot water. During the winter months we buy two gas bottles a month (€16 each, roughly) and one every 6 weeks once the weather warms up.


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## Bobndebs1959 (Jan 13, 2013)

thrax said:


> Electricity will be about the same as UK but gas a lot cheaper. If you rent you won't be liable for council tax, not that it is very much anyway. Pool maintenance is going to depend on the size of pool, whether or not it is covered in winter, heated etc. Our electricity bill averages around €150 a month and we have an 8 x 4 metre pool, electric cooking but gas for heating and hot water. During the winter months we buy two gas bottles a month (€16 each, roughly) and one every 6 weeks once the weather warms up.


So I should consider Gas Heating, Gas Cooker and Water heating, with Electric for lighting and Pool. Is bulk gas available in the area of Alhaurin DL Torre? and if so is it better value than bottled gas? How does a Log Burner stand in the rankings? are logs readily available and how much per Ton delivered? Once again my apologies for the questions, but all of your answers are hugely appreciatedCheers
lane:


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## stevelin (Apr 25, 2009)

Hi I live in Alhaurin dl Torre have done for about 9 years now. Re your concerns re electric gas etc . We have quite a large house (5 bed) with an 8x4 meter pool,although theirs only the 2 of us most of the time out electric is around 300 euro every 2 month no gas and about 300/450 euro a year for a log burner depends how cold a winter we have. Logs are easy to get around 145 euro for 500 kgs. Hope that is of some help


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## wiggytheone (Dec 3, 2012)

stevelin said:


> Hi I live in Alhaurin dl Torre have done for about 9 years now. Re your concerns re electric gas etc . We have quite a large house (5 bed) with an 8x4 meter pool,although theirs only the 2 of us most of the time out electric is around 300 euro every 2 month no gas and about 300/450 euro a year for a log burner depends how cold a winter we have. Logs are easy to get around 145 euro for 500 kgs. Hope that is of some help


Blimey Stevelin that's a lot for logs we have just changed to a gas fire ( Cant hump the logs about anymore) and we were only paying 85 euro for 1000 kg, are your logs one type ie pine


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## wiggytheone (Dec 3, 2012)

Bobndebs1959 said:


> Good Afternoon every body, I am Bob and my wife is Debbie, I am currently coming to the end of a long RAF Careerlane: and we are looking to possibly retire in Spain later this year. I shall have my RAF Pension and some money aside so will be looking to "retire" or possibly do a little part time work.
> We have been to Spain, mainly Malaga area, several times, and have served in Gibraltar also so are not totally blind, but are aware there is more to living somewhere than being on holiday!!
> We love the idea of living in the Costa Del Sol, we intend long term rental for a while, and will be gathering as much information as possible pertaining to Legal and other matters, but mostly to do with the "real" cost of life in Spain, the actual monthly income etc required to live a simple but rewarding life in the sun, so please bear with us and forgive our questions.
> In the meantime, I shall be reading plenty of the articles and hopefully contributing to the forum.:clap2:


Welcome to the forum, hope you can gleam all the info you need here, I am Ex Mob and my wife and I have been here for a number of years last posting Gib, never looked back, but we are up on the Costa de la Luz


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## Bobndebs1959 (Jan 13, 2013)

stevelin said:


> Hi I live in Alhaurin dl Torre have done for about 9 years now. Re your concerns re electric gas etc . We have quite a large house (5 bed) with an 8x4 meter pool,although theirs only the 2 of us most of the time out electric is around 300 euro every 2 month no gas and about 300/450 euro a year for a log burner depends how cold a winter we have. Logs are easy to get around 145 euro for 500 kgs. Hope that is of some help


Thats brilliant thanks Steve, sounds reasonable to me, there will be just the two of us for the most part also, and we are thinking maybe a 3 or 4 Bed with pool.
Do you have a pool contract? or do you maintain it yourself? and again, may I ask roughly the cost please?
Thanks in advance:clap2:

Cheerslane:


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## stevelin (Apr 25, 2009)

Hi Logs we have a mix of Olive and Encima around here its about 12 cents a kg olive and 15 cents a kg Encima. Its our only form of heating . We do have electric heaters fitted but dont use them. We maintain our own pool cant really say how much it cost electric in with the monthly bills chemicals no more than 50 euro a year probably less


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## stevelin (Apr 25, 2009)

Just realize meant to say 145 euro for 1000 kgs 500 olive and 500 encima sorry !!


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