HEALTH IN VALENCIA

British people who are early retirees and job seekers should get a form E106 from DWP Newcastle. This has limited validity depending on the holder’s contributions and, after presentation to the INSS (Instituto Nacional de Seguridad Social) can be taken to a health centre to obtain health care. The health card (SIP) would have to be periodically renewed up to the expiry date of the original form E106. For more details the telephone no. of the British consulate in Alicante is 00 34 965216022.

What is an Urbanization or a “Residential Area”?

Often in our English descriptions we hesitate to write the word `urbanization’ which conjures up a picture of rows of identical little houses in neat lines whereas in most cases nothing could be further from the truth, particularly here in the Valencia area, where there are many different styles and sizes around. The advantages of living in an urbanization are that the land is urban (see last month’s newsletter) i.e. building land, it is protected and it has all its utilities like water & electricity at least. The disadvantages are that you will have to pay a communal charge for the maintenance of communal areas, which is dependent on the type of urbanization it is. For a normal urbanization the cost is negligible while others, which have their own country clubs, golf courses, tennis courts, security guards etc. included in the quota, the charges are of course considerably higher. Our Spanish clients always aspire to have a home on an urbanization, so therefore we actively advertise this fact in large print! Next time you see us describe a property in a `residential area’ shshh …..you now know what we mean!