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Retiring to the sun - further information

Healthcare

As a pensioner living in any country in the European Economic Area, an E121 form entitles you to the same free treatment as your native counterpart would get.

But remember that few countries have a system as free at the point of delivery as the NHS. In France, for example, the government will pay for only around 70% of health costs.

Make sure there are doctors, dentists and decent-sized hospitals within striking distance of your new home and, if you can afford it, give yourself peace of mind by taking out health insurance.

This can cost thousands of pounds per year for a retired couple in Europe, or more like £10,000 a year in the US, but the alternative can be ruinous.

Planning permission

The availability of dilapidated property and land in much of mainland Europe might suggest that these countries will be happy for you to do anything you like to improve matters.

But if your dream home requires work, gaining planning consent is just as fraught a process as in the UK, if not more so.

Running renovation projects at a distance, without a manager on site to marshal the workers, is notoriously unsuccessful.

Appointing an architect or other professional may seem expensive but it can help ensure the work wins approval.

You might even find that going it alone proves costlier in the long run; construction techniques vary considerably between regions, and if you breach the rules you may have to get work re-done.

Retirement complexes

Retirement complexes, a fixture in the US for many years, arrived in Europe more than a decade ago.

The Colina Club in Calpe on the Costa Blanca, was one of the first and was launched as long ago as 1991, offering 50 apartments on long-term rentals to mainly British residents, with shared leisure facilities, organised social events, a 20-bed nursing home and 24-hour access to an English-speaking doctor.

The market is now mushrooming, with far-sighted Spanish developers competing to provide “designer” retirement homes at reasonable prices – often looking more like four-star hotels than residential homes, with marble reception areas, concierges, sporting, cultural and medical facilities.

Developers in Cyprus, France and Turkey are planning similar complexes.

This article was created: 8 August 2006.
This article was last edited: 13 November 2006.

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