New Opportunities for Costa del Sol Expats to learn Spanish

For the lucky ones who made it through the worst recession in living memory, the first signs of an improved labour market at the Costa del Sol mean that they can be hopeful to find a new job. Working and living in Spain should mean that every expat coming to stay at the Costa del Sol should speak Spanish, but more often than not this is not the case.
 
Commencing 9th October the Mijas Foreigners’ Department is going to re-launch their Spanish lessons for expats again, language exchange workshops that are designed to introduce local Spanish people to native English speakers in a relaxed and friendly environment. If you have recently purchased a property in Mijas, why not give this Spanish language programme a try?

For those who love to teach there’s also an opportunity to get involved. The Mijas Foreigners’ Department is looking for volunteers to participate in the “I speak English” programme which aims to enable Spanish schoolchildren to learn English with the help of volunteer Expat teachers.

All along the Costa del Sol such programmes are being run, so lookout for your local language exchange in Marbella, if you’ve just bought a home there and wish to become a permanent or semi-permanent resident.

Learning Spanish should really be an essential item on every expat’s relocation “to-do” list, especially as the Spanish government is introducing so many changes to the country’s legislation that will have a direct impact on expats living at the Costa del Sol. For example, if you are in the process of buying a Marbella apartment with the help of mortgage financing, you should read all about a new draft bill the regional government in Andalucía has just approved.

The bill aims to tighten the mortgage lending rules to do away abusive clauses in house buyers’ mortgage contracts. From now on Andalucía notaries must warn prospective house buyers, if their mortgage contract contains clauses that are detrimental to the future owners rights. The bill aims to improve the rights of property purchasers and is hailed as the first of its kind in Spain.

This new bill will force lenders to offer clear and easy to understand information on the mortgage terms offered. For example, there must now be a warning notice to inform borrowers that there will be a floor and ceiling interest charge on the variable Euribor rate, which can make a mortgage considerably more expensive over the term, when the Euribor rate rises drastically.

Learning Spanish also makes a prospective job candidate more attractive in the eyes of employers. Over the last six months Spanish unemployment figures have finally started to decline, which is mainly due to improvements in the services sector. With record numbers of tourists visiting Spain this year, which has seen the agricultural food sector in the Malaga province increase its export activity, too.

The property sector in Andalucía and the Malaga province has also much improved and showed an overall average gain of 3.6%. In the Malaga province this has largely been driven by foreign demand. Foreign house buyers accounted for 40% of property purchases between January and July this year.

Although there is now far more online information available for house buyers, some of it published by Spanish notaries themselves, much of it is still rather confusing, which is partly due to poor translations and partly due to too many changes in legislation being rushed out nationally and on regional level in a very short period of time.

While buyers should naturally always hire a bilingual legal expert to decipher the legal jargon employed by lenders to obfuscate charges and abusive mortgage terms, it is nonetheless advisable to learn at least the basics of the Spanish language and the buying process’s main terms before embarking on an Expat life and homeownership in Mijas, Marbella or Estepona.