again in cash, and without a mortgage.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWe now live in a three-bedroom converted water mill. We\u2019re four minutes from the town centre, which has everything we need, including a bank and a supermarket, but we live down a country lane in the middle of nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
As well as property prices, the family finds living costs in Spain are much cheaper.<\/p>\n
As their Surrey cottage was listed and had single-glazed windows, their monthly gas and electricity bill came to \u00a3100, and they were not allowed to add double glazing or solar panels onto the roof.<\/p>\n
In Surrey, their other bills included \u00a31,600 a month for the mortgage, \u00a3250 for council tax, and over \u00a3300 for building insurance. They also ran two cars. \u201cWe\u2019re down to one car here in Spain \u2013 we\u2019re now easy walking distance of the town, so car costs have reduced for us too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, the family pays \u20ac20 (\u00a317) every other month for electricity. \u201cWe have solar power, which makes a difference to our monthly running costs.\u201d They also pay an annual property tax of \u20ac1,000 (\u00a3866) a year, \u20ac40 (\u00a335) a quarter for water, and \u20ac120 (\u00a3104) annually for bin collection.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not big drinkers, but wine here is \u20ac2.30 (\u00a32) a glass. I do a monthly call with girlfriends and joke that I could buy a case of wine for the same price as a glass in London.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the UK, Ms Hazelton estimates they spent \u00a3400 a month on food, and it\u2019s the same in Spain, but they go out to eat more. \u201cWe have been out for lunchtime tapas locally and have had change from \u20ac10-15 (\u00a39-\u00a313).\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Hazelton says she speaks more Spanish than most Brits living here, while her husband is almost fluent and her daughter, who attends Spanish school, is fully fluent, despite having to have a private tutor when they first arrived.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a different pace of life, the siesta here is respected, and shops close at 2pm and open again at 5pm. It\u2019s hard to get your head round at first. Also, Spain is a very face-to-face culture, and it can be annoying if you aren\u2019t used to that. You can\u2019t just send an email or look something up online.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another frustration is the Spanish bureaucracy, and the paperwork associated with obtaining a licence to run a business has taken much longer than expected. While it was being processed, the family had to spend a year living off savings as they were unable to work, post-Brexit, on their Non-Lucrative Visa.<\/p>\n
The couple is planning to stay in Spain for the long term and is in the process of setting up Desk Space Coworking, a co-working space, right opposite the beach in Moj\u00e1car.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea is that people can take advantage of cheap mid-week flights, and can work here for a few days. The space has monitors, wi-fi, and is next door to a gym and restaurant. Flights are cheaper on a Wednesday, and it means you can take advantage of a \u20ac30 (\u00a326) flight without losing holiday days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Hazelton has no regrets about her family\u2019s move from the UK. \u201cA few years ago, a friend of mine passed away and left me a small sum of money. I promised her that I\u2019d use it to pay off my mortgage, and I feel like I\u2019ve honoured that by moving here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Suzanne Hazelton said she and her family moved abroad as everything is much cheaper\u00a0 In July 2020, Suzanne…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,6792,2516,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-284360","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-mortgages","11":"tag-property","12":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114900822247355380","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Spain](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_259665452_ef2cdc.jpg\")
The family\u2019s property in Spain is offering them much better value than in England<\/p>\n