Talk Quesada forum

I was told by my solicitor that is is illegal to sign the patron if you are non resident. I don't think the solicitor is based in Rojales however.

I think the matter Is quite simple. Where, if you live in Spain for 180 days or more in any year then you MUST sign on the patron that Is the LAW.

Typical Spain , the goal posts and the interpretations are always mobile ...!!!!

Ask a simple question get 10 different answers ....!!!!

Ron Hill wrote:I think the matter Is quite simple. Where, if you live in Spain for 180 days or more in any year then you MUST sign on the patron that Is the LAW.

Absolutely right Ron. Anyone staying over the 6 months is de facto a habitual resident in Spain ( and will be deemed as such by the Spanish Tax Authorities ) and yes they are obliged by law to sign on the padron. It is simple for anyone resident - they should all be signing on. Some residents may not be aware of this and it's good that it is being publicised widely. ( Martin the Artist is brilliant for all of us in keeping the forum informed of things coming out of the Town Hall and other Rojales activities - THANKYOU Martin.

The hotly debated issue is whether people who are not in fact habitually resident ( spending less than 6 months per year ) should be signing on the Rojales Padron as well .By signing on you are saying you are habitually resident in Rojales and so the Town Hall can count you as a resident and claim money. Some people are happy to go along with this and sign up ( bearing in mind that it means Rojales gets more money from Central Government for everyone signed on and many folk are doing it to be helpful) . Rojales currently appears to permit non-residents to sign up. For individuals being on the Padron also means you have access to a range of services that only official residents can get.

However other people have expressed some unease at this and do not wish to sign on the padron saying they are habitually resident when in truth they are not resident. Both because a) some people don't like saying something - particularly officially - they know is not true and b) noone knows how the law may be enforced in the future and signing on the padron when you are not really resident clearly carries a risk ( however small, it may be very small) of muddying up your status should you , for example, ever have to prove to the authorities you stay less than the 6 months. This probably doesn't really matter if you are only here 1 or 2 months a year and there is a clear preponderance of evidence that you really live elsewhere that you can produce if necessary. But if you are trying to be scrupulous in keeping to the 6 month rule specifically to keep your tax affairs and residence status straight ( e.g for very good and thought through tax management reasons you definitely definitely don't want to be Spanish tax resident ) it would really be something of a hostage to fortune ( and indeed, the more I think about it, sheer madness ) to go and sign on the padron effectively declaring you are habitually resident...

So , crystal clear for residents to be signing on and yes they should ( and legally must ). But a bit more debatable for non-residents...

Excellent post Shiva!

camionpilot wrote:Typical Spain , the goal posts and the interpretations are always mobile ...!!!!

Ask a simple question get 10 different answers ....!!!!

You´ll always get different answers if you ask people who don´t know the answer

If you arent on the padron where I am you cant get residendcia. No padron there is no Health cover.