Casa de Flores is now registered – Casa in rural Galicia Ribeira Sacra No. 101

05-2020 This is an old post the procedure has changed significantly. For advice on how to register nowadays feel free to contact us.

Finally we have come round to officially register the Casa de Flores in the provincia of Lugo as a casa vacacional in the Ribeira Sacra.

Considering the usual bureaucracy it is a reasonably painless process.

It costs Euro 9,85 for the registration. Expect to fell a tree to gain the required amount of paperwork and spend time on getting a copy of your NIE/NIF – compulsada – (certified) and spend some money at the notario for a copy of the escritura as this needs to be compulsada as well.

For the province of Lugo it is easiest to plan on spending a morning in Lugo, thus you can find the ugly multiuso and in the cellar is the department for tourismo.

There you can obtain the – solicitud de inscricion de registro activades touristica -, no I’m not making this up, the questionario de datos and a payment form.

You require, if you do it remotely:

Copy of ID / passport – compulsada – (per person)
Copy of escritura – compulsada – as well as copia simple.
If the property to rent is in more than one name it is advisable to have a power of attorney for the person who registers – Poder para representacion – informal.
Description of the house.
The form – solicitud de inscricion…..
Questionario de datos.
Pagamento de tassa.

The payment can be done at any Caja Galicia. If you have the original of all the papers you may be able to present these directly in Lugo and maybe avoid the compulsada bit.

We schlepped the whole paperwork to our local concello who will give you a form confirming all the papers have been sighted and put them in an envelope and can send these via the internal post. It is important, whenever dealing with Spanish bureaucracy, to get a stamp and confirmation that the required paperwork has been delivered. Otherwise, you may be felling trees  forever.

We tried to get away without too many – compulsada’s that is – and promptly received a letter stating that these are required – compulsada -.  So we felled another tree, made paper, got stamps and send these as well.
Two weeks later we received the official notification that we are now registered and have the all important number to show.

A word of advice: To register a casa vacacional or casa completa is simple. Obviously when asked one only provides the key and the rest is up to the renters. You are not allowed to use “Casa Rural” within the title or any advertising, as these are the B&B kings of Galicia and admittedly have to jump through hops to get their certificate and it is expensive as well as there are permanent checks. I have been told – but this maybe a broma – that the springiness of the mattresses is checked as well.

So its a casa in rural Galicia, namely in the Ribeira Sacra in the province of Lugo.

Another “broma” is that you have to pay a hefty tax on rental income. This is only true when you are not resident in Spain. As a “real” estranjero you are obliged to pay a 24% flat tax. If you are resident in Spain, any income derived from such undertaking is taxed as normal income. Thus you can also offset any costs. You are also not obliged to file a tax declaration if your (per person) income is below 20+k / year and any rental “income” is below 1000 Euro / year. If you just have rental income there is an abbreviated filing form. Please note I’m not a tax expert and so you should double-check this.

Oh and before I forget its nearly spring.

Expat