# Opening a Bank Account in Spain



## SeletarHash88 (Oct 4, 2020)

My wife and I are buying an apartment in Seville in January 2021. I am a British citizen and my wife is Spanish. We reside in UK and will use the apartment for visits within the new 90 / 180 days rule and will not register as residents in Spain for tax purposes.
If anyone has been through the procedure as an expat opening a bank account in Spain, please could you advise me of the requirements as I believe there is a lot of bureauracy involved?
Thanks!


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## timwip (Feb 27, 2017)

SeletarHash88 said:


> My wife and I are buying an apartment in Seville in January 2021. I am a British citizen and my wife is Spanish. We reside in UK and will use the apartment for visits within the new 90 / 180 days rule and will not register as residents in Spain for tax purposes.
> If anyone has been through the procedure as an expat opening a bank account in Spain, please could you advise me of the requirements as I believe there is a lot of bureauracy involved?
> Thanks!


Ten years ago, I was in the exact position as you are now. Basically, all you have to do is file for a NIE and open a bank account. I would hire a good gestor to assist you. Then find an apartment and make an offer. You need to budget about 10% more than the agreed upon price in order to pay for the taxes and notario services on the purchase. Have your gestor review all the contractual stuff as you go. If you take a loan out with a bank, they will make sure that there are no liens on the property. If you pay cash, have the gestor do it.


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## Barriej (Jul 23, 2012)

No real


SeletarHash88 said:


> My wife and I are buying an apartment in Seville in January 2021. I am a British citizen and my wife is Spanish. We reside in UK and will use the apartment for visits within the new 90 / 180 days rule and will not register as residents in Spain for tax purposes.
> If anyone has been through the procedure as an expat opening a bank account in Spain, please could you advise me of the requirements as I believe there is a lot of bureauracy involved?
> Thanks!


There is no real issue. 
I opened a non res account 18 months ago and only needed the following (well thats all I needed) for Santander.

Passport
Proof of address (gas, council tax etc)
P60 or a tax return (this covers 2 requirements, address and also you NI number) You can print off your NI number from the .gov website this will be ok as well.
If you have an NIE thats great but if not its not an issue.

As you are buying somewhere I would get the account sorted first, that way your solicitor will be able to get all the bills paid out from the Spanish account.


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## davexf (Jan 26, 2009)

timwip said:


> Ten years ago, I was in the exact position as you are now. Basically, all you have to do is file for a NIE and open a bank account. I would hire a good gestor to assist you. Then find an apartment and make an offer. You need to budget about 10% more than the agreed upon price in order to pay for the taxes and notario services on the purchase. Have your gestor review all the contractual stuff as you go. If you take a loan out with a bank, they will make sure that there are no liens on the property. If you pay cash, have the gestor do it.


Hola, 

I will disagree about Gestor; you need a good English Speaking lawyer and you never should pay cash. I live locally and use the services of Temple Cambria because they speak excellent English 

Davexf


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## timwip (Feb 27, 2017)

davexf said:


> Hola,
> 
> I will disagree about Gestor; you need a good English Speaking lawyer and you never should pay cash. I live locally and use the services of Temple Cambria because they speak excellent English
> 
> Davexf


My gestora is a law school graduate.


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## fhanrah (Feb 16, 2017)

We only purchased 4 years ago using an Irish mortgage, set up the Spanish bank accounts etc. 4 years later we have closed our Spanish bank account and are now paying all our bills from our Irish account {zero fees}. The bank fees in Spain are crazy and they can embargo accounts etc. We just found them so hard to deal with, slow inefficient, we did try 2 different banks and just gave up. If you can I would suggest suppling your UK bank account details from the start when setting up water/electricity/internet, council tax's


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## SeletarHash88 (Oct 4, 2020)

timwip said:


> Ten years ago, I was in the exact position as you are now. Basically, all you have to do is file for a NIE and open a bank account. I would hire a good gestor to assist you. Then find an apartment and make an offer. You need to budget about 10% more than the agreed upon price in order to pay for the taxes and notario services on the purchase. Have your gestor review all the contractual stuff as you go. If you take a loan out with a bank, they will make sure that there are no liens on the property. If you pay cash, have the gestor do it.


Many thanks timwip


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## SeletarHash88 (Oct 4, 2020)

Barriej said:


> No real
> 
> 
> There is no real issue.
> ...


Thanks a lot Barriej


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## SeletarHash88 (Oct 4, 2020)

fhanrah said:


> We only purchased 4 years ago using an Irish mortgage, set up the Spanish bank accounts etc. 4 years later we have closed our Spanish bank account and are now paying all our bills from our Irish account {zero fees}. The bank fees in Spain are crazy and they can embargo accounts etc. We just found them so hard to deal with, slow inefficient, we did try 2 different banks and just gave up. If you can I would suggest suppling your UK bank account details from the start when setting up water/electricity/internet, council tax's


Thank you fhanrah.


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## SeletarHash88 (Oct 4, 2020)

fhanrah,

Can I ask you please if you have incurred any additional costs from your Spanish Utilities Companies and Local Authority for having paid them via your bank account in Ireland? ( I expect not but wanted to ask in case we also decide to pay from a UK bank account as you recommend?


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## proud.to.be.EUROPEAN (Feb 14, 2020)

Just to add few points here for OP.
You can get NIF in ES Consulate in UK, very easy and takes about 4 weeks. You get email pdf with NIF.

As your wife is EU national, you are allowed free movement when accompanied by her. If you then stay longer then 30 days, you must apply for EU residency. Or leave before 90 days and re-enter ES, it can be after 1 day, dont have to wait for 90 days to go back with her. Just keep in mind that if you enter Schengen with her, you must exit with her (you need to show marriage cert and claim you're exercising your rights as partner to EU national.)


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## SeletarHash88 (Oct 4, 2020)

proud.to.be.European,

Thanks very much for your information, it is extremely useful to me.
May I respectfully ask you:
1) if you are in a similar position to my wife and myself ( EU Citizen with non EU partner after 1 Jan 2021)? I was unaware of this right and have never seen it written on Gov.UK so it is very welcome news. Is this right available to read on any official EU website please or do you work for the EU to have this knowledge?
2) quote: “If you then stay longer then 30 days, you must apply for EU residency. Or leave before 90 days and re-enter ES, it can be after 1 day, dont have to wait for 90 days to go back with her“ .
Please could you clarify ( if you choose to), why I would need to apply for residency if I stay for longer than 30 days in Spain? I understood from Gov.UK that for myself, as British, I could visit for 90 days only within a period of 180 days without requiring a visa or needing to register after 31 December 2020)? . I didn’t fully understand your wording regarding returning one day after leaving Spain so would gratefully welcome any clarification. 
Thanks again.


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

SeletarHash88 said:


> fhanrah,
> 
> Can I ask you please if you have incurred any additional costs from your Spanish Utilities Companies and Local Authority for having paid them via your bank account in Ireland? ( I expect not but wanted to ask in case we also decide to pay from a UK bank account as you recommend?


You cannot be charged extra. It all comes under Single European Payment Area (SEPA) terms. 
Refusing to accept a payment from a bank outside spain within the E is an offence under Article 9 of the SEPA regulations;
Here;
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:094:0022:0037:es:PDF
Most large utilities & councils use the scheme.It was introduced in 2009 & all EU states had to comply by 2014 
You will still find , as I have done recently that some smaller utilites have no knowledge of the schem & have to be educated. Once they are & speak to there own banks they comply with accepting payments from banks in other EU states .


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