This is the excellent company I use:

 Ronda is where you should go, if you ever go to Spain on a honeymoon or if you ever bolt with anyone. The entire town and as far as you can see in any direction, is romantic background… If a honeymoon or an elopement is not a success in Ronda, it would be as well to start for Paris and commence making your own friends....... Ernest Hemingway

Spain is so much more than this

Once you get away from the 'Costa's', which foreigners created, it really is a very beautiful country.  

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A typical 'white' village nestling in the mountains

Northern Spain, Basque country, is amazing and a wonderful cruising ground. In southern Spain and with Gibraltar at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea you can have the best of both the British and Spanish worlds.  The countryside and national parks are breathtaking in the splendour and size - in the winter you can ski in the morning then drive to the beach and swim in the afternoon.

If you become a resident there is a National Health System, which is considered to be one of the best in Europe, and a living standard which is both high and inexpensive.

The countryside and mountains are spectacularly beautiful.

This is a very lovely and cultured country with a wonderful proud history. There are 500 million people speaking Spanish  as first or second language - 2nd only to Mandarin!

If you decide to live permanently or mainly in Spain, then you should Register yourself  into the system. It's madness and expensive not to. 

When you eventually sell your Spanish apartment or house, if you are not in the system, you will pay an extra 10-15% sales tax.  Your motor car will become illegal and if you are involved in an accident, even if it's not your fault, you stand the risk of being prosecuted for not having an MOT, no Road Tax, and possibly insurance which is not truly valid.  You will also have to pay an annual non resident's tax on your home.

It is a hassle to become a legal Spanish resident, and there are costs involved  but it is a one off operation and the benefits, not least of which is an excellent National Health service, properly insured vehicles for less than the 'dodgy' insurance offered to 'expats'. 

There are marinas every 10 kilometers or so along the Mediterranean coastline - some fairly inexpensive and some only for the rich and famous. If you come to live in Spain then you must register your boat. If you do it when you first arrive you can avoid the 12% matriculation tax on it's current valuation. If you fail to register your boat (and you can still keep it British Flagged and sail it under British rules) then one day the Guardia Civil will impose fines which will make the matriculation tax look like peanuts!

Ronda is where I now live and is a beautiful town up in the mountains and about an hours drive from the sea. Wonderful place to be in. Vejer de la Frontera is a white hill town near the entrance to the Straights of Gibraltar. Probably the most unspoilt of all the hill towns - white villages in Southern Spain Boat Import tells you how to handle the importation of your boat legally into Spain and how to avoid paying the 12% matriculation tax. Car Import tells you how to change the plates to Spanish registration, and if its a near new car how to avoid the 12% matriculation tax - How to Register gives full details of how to 'clock into' the Spanish system if you are going to become a resident Northern Spain is just that - a wonderful cruising area for yachties and far removed in every way from the 'Costa's' Banking in Spain give some helpful info on what can be expensive and complicated.  With the current 'crises' it's quite a 'cash' society so you need easy and cheap transfers.

I have just been to the bank to pay a three thousand Euro fine to Malaga Cultural department because, I obtained planning permission from the Cultural department in Malaga.  Handed the plans to these awful people and asked them to build my terrace.

 The building works carried out for me by

RP- Ronda Properties - Serrania Property Services and their builder Augustine  

were totally illegal!.

 RONDA PROPERTIES - La Serranía Services 
Inmobiliaria-Real Estate 
Calle San Jose,1 
29400 Ronda, Málaga 

 after they finished the new terrace it leaked!

They had used the cheapest possible waterproof membrane and because it was laid on top of a maze of electrical wires they perforated the membrane.

I have now had to pay to have a new legal staircase put in, the terrace totally rewired and retiled.

if you want to know more about this horror story then read:

ROLLED IN RONDA

However these people are not Spanish rather  English and Columbian, so I cannot blame Spain for this!

no apology, no regrets, no offers of reimbursement  just 'give us more of your money'! 

If this is how they treated me over a building project that I had obtained all planning permissions for,  I do wonder what it is like to buy a house, farm or flat through these people?

I highly recommend  builders,  who recovered the terrace disaster and installed the  inside staircase with all the works done to the highest standards at very, very reasonable prices.

They cover the entire Andalucía area and Carlos speaks perfect English & German. Email:-  jcsalas@salasduran.com